New aquatic tools: seismic oceanography, and a new method to measure lagrangian exchange

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My research has three new explorations, titled seismic oceanography (which gives detailed images of ocean currents, eddies and waves), larval transport, and differential mixing (which could affect our ocean climate models).  I will tell you about new ways to trace larvae. Chris Taggart and I are developing a simple, inexpensive, but very effective system for determining where ocean currents can carry small objects like fish and coral eggs.  Knowing where and how fast currents can carry larvae is, like knowing where dandelion seeds can blow, an important factor in their life history.  For example, the sensitivity of a coral reef to disease, bleaching, or physical damage from storms depends critically on whether the reef can be replenished with larvae from adjacent reefs.  How close must a healthy reef be to successfully replenish a diseased one?  Similar questions occur for fish and lobster populations. The system is elegant in its simplicity: we release into the water many small plastic particles containing magnetite.  These particles drift like larvae, and because of the magnetite, they will be collected by underwater magnets previously moored where larvae might drift.  The number of particles caught in each collector provides the important information: how likely is it that coral larvae can drift from point X to points A, B, C,  and so forth?   The system has many other potential applications, including aquaculture (how does mussel spat get to mussel farms?) and civil engineering (where and how fast does storm water flow in a city's storm system?).