RAPID Collaborative Proposal: Spatially-explicit, High-resolution Mapping and Modeling to Quantify Hypoxia and Oil Effects on the Living Resources of the Northern Gulf of Mexico

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On April 22, 2010, the drill platform Deepwater Horizon sank in nearly 1,200 m of water in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Since this date various estimates of oil and added chemical dispersants have been released from the site with dispersion both at the surface and at depth. The transport of this oil and dispersants has been influenced by wind-driven currents over the shelf and by the Loop Current and its derivatives offshore. To date the exact amount and paths of movement of the Horizon spill remain speculative. Since 2003, with funding from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA, this group of investigators has conducted 5 summer cruises in the northern Gulf of Mexico using high-resolution sampling to define the spatially explicit relationships the physical environment and pelagic zooplankton and fish. Thus, this research group has one of the most comprehensive, synoptic data sets on temperature, salinity, oxygen, phytoplankton, zooplankton and fish in the northern Gulf of Mexico for conditions prior to the oil leak.The current RAPID award will allow this group to repeat their high-resolution mapping of hydrography, oxygen, plankton and fish in the northern Gulf of Mexico. The study will cover the previous survey region in the hypoxic zone west of the Mississippi Delta and the area east of the Mississippi where more oil transport from the spill is expected. The cruise will take place in the late summer period because the investigators have 5 years of baseline data during this season to compare the results. The measures of species diversity and abundance, biomass size spectrum, fish diets, fish growth rate potential and the results produced from their use of ecosystem models will be extremely useful to assess the possible effects of the oil spill on the living resources of the northern Gulf of Mexico. This group also will send scientists on the ORV Oceanus to conduct high resolution vertical zooplankton measurements and MOCNESS zooplankton tows at deeper stations and broader mapping surveys to extend our spatial coverage of the affected area. They will coordinate our zooplankton and fish measurements with other investigators assessing the biogeochemical and biological impacts of the BP oil spill. Data from previous NOAA studies will be deposited in the NSF Biological NSF Biological and Chemical Oceanographic Data Management facility. Broader Impacts. Given the economic importance of the Gulf of Mexico commercial fisheries (about 20% of the U.S. total landings representing about $991 million) and recreational fishing (generating ~30% of the nation's saltwater fishing expenditures and supporting nearly 25% of the nation's recreational saltwater jobs), it is imperative that knowledge of the effects of the BP oil spill on the pelagic ecosystem be assessed. The Horn Point Laboratory and Oregon State University are part of the National Science Foundation Center for Ocean Sciences Education Excellence (NSF-COSEE) and Experience for Undergraduates (REU) programs. Where possible in this NSF RAPID response grant, we will involve REU undergraduate students and teachers in our proposed research program.