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

2010年4月22日，钻井平台深水地平线在墨西哥湾北部沉入近1200米深的水中。自这一日期以来，从现场释放了各种估计的石油和添加的化学分散剂，并在表面和深度进行了扩散。这些油和分散剂的运输受到了大陆架上的风力驱动的洋流以及近海的环流及其衍生产品的影响。到目前为止，地平线漏油的确切移动数量和路径仍然是推测的。自2003年以来，在国家海洋和大气管理局(NOAA)的资助下，该调查组利用高分辨率采样在墨西哥湾北部进行了5次夏季巡航，以确定物理环境与浮游动物和鱼类在空间上的明确关系。因此，这个研究小组拥有关于墨西哥湾北部漏油前的温度、盐度、氧气、浮游植物、浮游动物和鱼类的最全面的天气数据集之一。目前的快速奖励将使该小组能够重复他们对墨西哥湾北部的水文、氧气、浮游生物和鱼类的高分辨率制图。这项研究将涵盖之前调查的密西西比河三角洲以西缺氧区和密西西比河以东地区，预计会有更多来自漏油的石油运输。巡航将在夏末进行，因为调查人员在这个季节有5年的基线数据来比较结果。对物种多样性和丰富度、生物量大小范围、鱼类饲料、鱼类生长速度潜力及其利用生态系统模型所产生的结果的衡量，对于评估石油泄漏对墨西哥湾北部生物资源的可能影响将是极其有用的。该小组还将派遣ORV Ocean上的科学家进行高分辨率垂直浮游动物测量，并在更深的站点进行MOCNESS浮游动物拖曳，并进行更广泛的测绘，以扩大我们对受影响地区的空间覆盖。他们将与其他研究人员协调我们的浮游动物和鱼类测量，以评估英国石油公司漏油事件的生物地球化学和生物影响。美国国家海洋和大气局以前的研究数据将存放在NSF生物NSF生物和化学海洋数据管理设施中。更广泛的影响。鉴于墨西哥湾商业渔业(约占美国总上岸量的20%，约合9.91亿美元)和休闲渔业(约占美国咸水捕捞支出的30%，支持美国休闲咸水工作的近25%)的经济重要性，评估英国石油公司漏油事件对远洋生态系统的影响是当务之急。霍恩角实验室和俄勒冈州立大学是国家科学基金会海洋科学教育卓越中心(NSF-COSEE)和本科生体验(REU)计划的一部分。在可能的情况下，在国家科学基金会的快速反应拨款中，我们将让REU的本科生和教师参与我们提议的研究计划。

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.