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July 31, 2003
Highlights
- Bonnie McCay, chair of the Department of Human Ecology, has
been appointed a member of the Federal Advisory Committee on Marine
Protected Areas. She also continues her work as a co-PI on an
NSF planning grant to study linked socio-natural marine systems
of the Pacific Coast of Baja California.
- Peter Rona and Dolf Seilacher, professor of paleontology at
Yale University, made an Alvin dive at the TAG hydrothermal field
on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge on July 2nd to sample and perform experiments
to determine the origin and function of the enigmatic living fossil
form, Paleodictyon. The dive was sponsored by Stephen Low Productions
as a scientific product of the upcoming IMAX film, "Volcanoes
of the Deep Sea," and the samples have been distributed to
leading biologists for genetic (Colomban de Vargas), microbiologic
(Costa Vetriani), and morphologic (Joan Bernhard) studies.
- Sybil Seitzinger was a member of the Visiting Team at NSF for
"Water in Complex Environmental Systems" (29-30 July)-
a potential new initiative at NSF under their emerging "Environmental
Research and Education" program.
Buoy recovered in Canary Island*...
Hello Captain González,
Thank you for your inquiry to the NOAA Ocean Explorer
Web Team.. As the buoy that you found was marked with a Rutgers
University label, I am forwarding your request to a few faculty
members at Rutgers University who are involved in the deployment
of oceanographic instruments. The phone number on the label belongs
to the Rutgers University Marine Field Station in Tuckerton, NJ
so I have also CC'd Dr. Kenneth Able, the Director of the Field
Station on this email. I hope that someone from that University
will be able to assist you with the details of the buoy. Thank you
for contacting our agency.
-Laura Rear 
NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration
Jefe Centro Salvamento Marítimo Tenerife wrote
From: Jefe Centro Salvamento Marítimo Tenerife
Sent: Thursday, July 24, 2003 10:57AM
Dear Sirs
This is the Maritime Rescue Center MRCC Tenerife belonging to Spanish
Administration in Canary Island (Tenerife Island). On 10th August
1998 in position 28º 23.6 North 016ª 00.2West, 13 miles
off S/C Tenerife harbour a Yellow Buoy was picked up by one of our
Rescue Vessel. In blurred letters had the inscription "RUTGERS
UNIVERSITY RESEARCH BU 609-296-526".Buoy Characteristics Form
Can buoy Height 3 meters aprox. Colour Yellow Light Unlit Top Mark
none Radar Reflector Yes on the top ( Firdell blipper ) Stamford
CT 06902Bouy manufacturer Gilman Corp. Gilman CT 06336. We shall
be very pleased to receive all available information about this
buoy, that probably drifted by the Gulf Stream and maked its way
across all Atlantic Ocean and finally arrived to the Canary Island.
Specially we want to know the position and date which was launched
to inform to the Nautical School, Oceanographic Deptº of Tenerife.
Actually the "AMERICAN BUOY", so it is known here, is
exposed at the entrance in the Nautical Club of Güimar (Tenerife).
Thanks very much indeed in advance for your invaluable cooperation.
We expect your notices.
Best Regards Captain Tomas González, Chief MRCC TENERIFE
*Buoy was identified by Rose Petrecca as one of the original guard
buoys for the Node at LEO-15. It was found in Aug. 1998 and now
guards the entrance of the Nautical Club of Güimar (Tenerife)
in the Canary Islands. By Bob Chant’s calculations, the buoy
traveled at an average speed of 15cm/s. (Picture and Map courtesy
of Bob Chant)
Meetings Attended
- Barrett, K. R., F. J. Artigas, and M. A. McBrien. 2003. A Chemical
and biotic assessment of a degraded brackish marsh in the Meadowlands
of northeastern NJ. Abstracts, Annual Conference of the Society
of Wetlands Scientists. New Orleans, LA, June 2003.
- In his role as lead proponent, Peter Rona presented the drilling
and logging plan of the TAG II proposal for a second leg of drilling
at the TAG hydrothermal field on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge to a meeting
of the interim Technology Advisory Panel (iTAP) of the Ocean Drilling
Program at the University of Rhode Island Graduate School of Oceanography
on July 15, 2003. ITAP endorsed the proposal and evaluated it
as feasible with present drilling and logging technology.
- Lee Kerkhof presented research results on microbial community
structure in replicate bioreactors at the International Conference
of Engineered Systems (ICES) meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia
in July. Additionally, a research paper was accepted at the conference
entitled, Assessment of microbial community variability in replicate
tubular nitrifying bioreactors using PCR and TRFLP analysis by
Lora McGuinness, Leticia Vega, Karen Pickering, and Lee J. Kerkhof
for Advanced Life Support Systems under development at the Johnson
Space Center.
- Jim Ammerman attended the workshop on "The Next Generation
of in situ Biological and Chemical Sensors in the Ocean"
at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution from July 13-16. He presented
a poster entitled "In situ Measurement of Microbial Enzyme
Activities at Ocean Observatories."
- Jim Ammerman attended a Principal Investigators meeting on July
21, for projects recently funded by NOAA's Coastal Ocean Program
(CSCOR/COP), to address the hypoxia problem in the Gulf of Mexico.
On July 22, he presented an invited seminar to the Coastal Ocean
Program entitled "The Case for Phosphorus Limitation in the
Mississippi River Plume."
New Grants
- Karen Bemis is PI, and Peter Rona and Deborah Silver (Associate
Professor, Rutgers Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering)
Co-PIs, of a successful NSF ITR (Information Technology Research)
Grant, "VIP (Vent Imaging and Processing) A System of Dynamic
Data Analysis and Prediction for Hydrothermal Plumes."
- Maxim Gorbunov and Oscar Schofield from IMCS in collaboration
with Zvy Dubinsky (BarIlan University) were awarded a United States-Israel
Binational Science Foundation grant to study the biophysics of
photosynthesis in marine algae.
- Lee Kerkhof has been awarded a 3 year grant thru the Dept. of
Energy’s Natural and Accelerated Bioremediation Research
(NABIR) program as co-PI to investigate microbial and mineralogical
controls on uranium immobilization at a DOE field research center.
The PI on the grant is Joel Kostka in the Dept. of Oceanography
at Florida State University. Other co-PIs include David Balkwill
in the College of Medicine at FSU and Joseph Stucki in the Natural
Resources and Environ. Sciences Department at the University of
Illinois. Total award amount is for $1.2 M.
Publications
- Ahn, Y. B., S. K. Rhee, D. E. Fennell, L. J. Kerkhof, U. Hentschel,
and M. M. Häggblom. 2003. Reductive Dehalogenation of Brominated
Phenolic Compounds by Microorganisms Associated with the Marine
Sponge Aplysina aerophoba. Applied and Environ. Microbiol. 69:4159-4166.
- Häggblom M. M., Y. B. Ahn, D. E. Fennell , L. J. Kerkhof,
and S. K. Rhee. 2003. Anaerobic Dehalogenation of Organohalide
Contaminants in the Marine Environment. Adv. In Applied Microbiology.
In Press.
Student News
- Jose Perez-Jimenez successfully defended his Ph.D. dissertation
in Environmental Sciences, on July 18 at IMCS. Jose’s research
focused on molecular characterization of sulfate reducing bacteria,
and his committee included Lee Kerkhof (advisor), Lily Young (co-advisor),
Tamar Barkay, and Costantino Vetriani. He will begin a post-doc
in the Biotech Center at Foran Hall by the end of the summer.
- Rebecca Ludwig is a graduate student from the Max Planck Institute
in Bremen. She is working in Paul Falkowski's lab as an intern
in NASA's astrobiology program. Rebecca will be here until 15
September.
Let's Welcome
- Dr. Kirk R. Barrett joined IMCS in March 2003. Since 1999, Kirk
Barrett has served as the Research Director, Meadowlands Environmental
Research Inst. (http//cimic.rutgers.edu/meri), a unit of Rutgers
University (Newark) CIMIC center, in collaboration with the New
Jersey Meadowlands Commission, the state agency which oversees
the Meadowlands. His specialties are estuarine and wetland hydrology,
hydraulics and water quality; ecological engineering and restoration;
and urban stormwater runoff and non-point source pollution control.
- Tom Bibby joined IMCS as a post-doctoral research fellow working
in Paul Falkowski's lab. Tom is a biochemist who received his
degree from Imperial College in London and will work on how eddies
influence net and export production in the Atlantic.
- Visiting researchers at IMCS this summer include Ilana Berman-Frank
and Ondrej Prasil.
- Sang Hoon Lee is working on bacteria trapped in ice - for the
last 15 million years. He is on sabbatical from the Korean Oceanographic
Research and Development Institute for a year. He just received
a driver's license from the State of New Jersey - a testimony
to his endurance of pain!
Congratulations
- Jennifer Francis was promoted to Associate Research Professor.
- A sad farewell to Antionetta Quigg who leaves IMCS for the green
pastures of Texas, where she has accepted a position as an Assistant
Professor at Texas A&M in Galveston. Antionetta leaves in
early August, and her absence will be conspicuous. But we also
congratulate her on the acceptance of her recent work to Nature!
- Andrew Irwin, a post-doc in Paul Falkowski's lab, will leave
IMCS at the end of August to take a faculty position as an Assistant
Professor at the City University of New York at Staten Island.
- Congratulations to John Kerfoot and Nicole Stevenson who were
married July 19th.
- Hilairy Hartnett will be starting a new job in the fall at Arizona
State University. She has a joint appointment in the Departments
of Geological Sciences and Chemistry & Biochemistry, and is
looking forward to doing biogeochemistry in a very warm climate!
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