International Research Fellowship Program: A Comparison of HAB Dynamics in Two Upwelling Regions Using Novel Technology

0853106卢卡斯该奖项由2009年美国复苏和再投资法案(公法111-5)资助。国际研究奖学金计划使美国科学家和工程师能够在国外进行9至24个月的研究。该计划的奖项将提供联合研究的机会，并利用国外独特或互补的设施、专业知识和实验条件。该奖项将支持安德鲁·J·卢卡斯博士为期24个月的研究奖学金，他与南非海洋和海岸管理的格兰特·皮彻博士、开普敦大学的弗兰克·希灵顿博士、加州大学圣克鲁斯分校的拉斐尔·库德拉博士和加州大学戴维斯分校的约翰·拉吉尔博士合作。赤潮是一个日益严重的全球问题，每年造成数亿美元的经济、环境和健康损失。自主的波浪动力剖面仪(Wirewalkers，WW)正被用于从拉格朗日(自由漂移)和欧拉(系泊)的角度研究赤潮动力学。这些研究正在本格拉洋流系统(BCS)和加州洋流系统(CCS)中进行，研究人员来自海洋和海岸管理(南非政府的一个部门)、南非开普敦大学海洋学系、加州大学圣克鲁斯分校和加州大学戴维斯分校。自主波浪驱动的WW剖面仪正在提供第一个足够分辨率的拉格朗日数据集，以明确测试关于赤潮种群平流和原地变化的假设。这项研究的结果加强了正在进行的对本格拉南部和蒙特利湾北部上升流系统中赤潮动力学的比较研究。上升流系统的物理动力学和浮游植物水华形成之间的相互作用还没有完全了解。这一事实限制了预测个别赤潮事件的开始和严重程度以及全球气候变化对赤潮频率、强度和地理范围的影响的能力。正在进行的研究正在提供第一套分辨率良好的、同时从系泊和拉格朗日测量的角度对物理和生物变量的测量，这些测量是在活跃的上升流条件下和在松弛期间进行的。这一独特而详细的数据集促进了我们对控制赤潮发生、维持和向沿海水域运输的小规模物理动力学的理解。我们对这些物理控制的机械理解的增加将使我们能够改进对HAB事件的预测能力。通过低成本监测、卫星产品和数值模式的组合准确预测赤潮事件可以提供巨大的社会效益，特别是随着赤潮缓解战略的演变-潜在地节省了大量资金，最重要的是，保障了受影响沿海社区的人类健康。在全球气候变化的驱动下，CCS发生了强烈的长期变化，改变了物理环境，导致甲藻赤潮的发生增加。CCS水文性质的变化表明，在全球变化的强迫下，它正变得更像BCS。因此，BCS和CCS之间的比较研究，如目前的项目，正在增加我们对全球变暖驱动的CCS和BCS发生重大生物变化的可能性的理解。

0853106LucasThis award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).The International Research Fellowship Program enables U.S. scientists and engineers to conduct nine to twenty-four months of research abroad. The program's awards provide opportunities for joint research, and the use of unique or complementary facilities, expertise and experimental conditions abroad.This award will support a twenty-four-month research fellowship by Dr. Andrew J. Lucas to work with Dr. Grant Pitcher at Marine and Coastal Management in South Africa, Dr. Frank Shillington at the University of Cape Town, Dr. Raphael Kudela at the University of California, Santa Cruz and with Dr. John Largier at the University of California, Davis.Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) are a growing global problem, causing hundreds of millions of dollars of economic, environmental, and health losses each year. Autonomous, wave-powered profiling instruments (Wirewalkers, WW) are being used to study HAB dynamics from a Lagrangian (freely-drifting) and Eulerian (moored) perspective. These studies are being performed in the Benguela Current System (BCS) and California Current System (CCS) in collaboration with researchers from Marine and Coastal Management (a Department of Government of South Africa), the Department of Oceanography, University of Cape Town, South Africa, the University of California, Santa Cruz, and the University of California, Davis. The autonomous wave-driven WW profilers are providing the first Lagrangian dataset of sufficient resolution to explicitly test hypotheses concerning advective versus in situ change in HAB populations. The results from this study are augmenting ongoing comparative studies of HAB dynamics in the southern Benguela and northern Monterey Bay upwelling systems. The interplay between the physical dynamics of upwelling systems and phytoplankton (HAB) bloom formation is not fully understood. This fact limits the ability to predict the onset and severity of individual HAB events as well as the influence of global climate change on HAB frequency, intensity, and geographic extent. The ongoing research is providing the first set of well-resolved, simultaneous measurements of physical and biological variables from the perspective of moored and Lagrangian measurements under conditions of active upwelling and during periods of relaxation. This uniquely detailed dataset is advancing our understanding of the small-scale physical dynamics that control phytoplankton bloom initiation, maintenance, and transport of HABs to coastal waters. Our increased mechanistic understanding of these physical controls will permit an improved predictive capability of HAB events. Accurately forecasting HAB events from a combination of low-cost monitoring, satellite products, and numerical models can provide enormous societal benefit, particularly as HAB mitigation strategies evolve?potential saving significant sums of money and, most importantly, safeguarding human health in impacted coastal communities. Strong secular change in the CCS, driven by global climate variability, has modified the physical environment and led to increased occurrences of dinoflagellate HABs. Changes in hydrographic properties of the CCS show that it is becoming more like the BCS under forcing by global change. Thus comparative studies between the BCS and the CCS, such as the current project, are increasing our understanding of the potential for significant biological change in the CCS and BCS driven by global warming.