Browsing by Author "Gardner, Wilford"

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Multi-Decadal Global Surveys of Benthic Nepheloid Layers
Oceanography; TAMU; https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14641/590; National Science Foundation
An accurate knowledge of the abundance and distribution of suspended particles in the ocean is essential to the study of marine biogeochemical cycles, especially trace elements and isotopes that interact with these particles. Particles in the benthic nepheloid layer (BNL), a layer of ocean water just above the seafloor, can accumulate radionuclides that are used in studying past global changes, as paleo-proxies, and in investigating modern and glacial ocean circulation. This project aims to assess the relationship between global maps of benthic nepheloid layers and surface and deep sea kinetic energy to document how these processes influence deep-sea processes of sediment resuspension and redistribution. Results from the research will be shared broadly with the oceanographic community. A graduate student who qualifies for the National Science Foundation Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Program would be supported and trained as part of this project. Over the past 35 years, the investigators have collected more than 8000 transmissometer - an optical instrument calibrated to estimate particle mass - profiles from conductivity-temperature-density casts on approximately 70 cruises. These archived and ongoing collections of transmissometer data along with nephelometer data from the Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory, are the only collections of particle distributions in the ocean encompassing significant temporal and global scales. The main goals of the project are to 1) convert beam attenuation data to mass concentrations, 2) integrate the Net Standing Stock (NetSS) for each of the thousands of profiles, 3) map the NetSS globally from the 1980s-to-2016 transmissometer data, 4) compare these maps against global distributions of nephelometer data from the 1960s-1980s for which a preliminary global map has been constructed, and 5) compare nepheloid layers along 9 Repeat Hydrography lines where multiple cruises have occurred. The global maps (and supporting data) of the benthic nepheloid layers will be widely disseminated to the oceanographic community, enhancing the scientific understanding of BNL formation, decadal persistence, and their relationship to kinetic energy regimes for studying, deciphering and modeling biogeochemical cycles through the water column and near the seafloor.
Oceanography Scholars
Oceanography; TAMU; https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14641/590; National Science Foundation
The Department of Oceanography in the College of Geosciences at Texas A&M University (TAMU) is recruiting academically talented graduate students with demonstrated financial need to become Oceanography Scholars. Scholarships will be awarded to a total of 22 new students admitted in three cohorts; the first two will be composed of five M.S. and four Ph.D. students each, while the third will contain five M.S. students. Oceanography Scholars receive additional support from faculty research mentors and formal training in teaching pedagogies through courses and workshops offered by the university's Center for Teaching Excellence, Graduate Teaching Academy and the Department of Oceanography. This program is designed to educate scientists with interdisciplinary expertise in oceanographic processes to solve environmental, social and economically important challenges facing the nation by conducting research in their field. Doctoral graduates will enter the workforce directly from the program while M.S. graduates may either enter the workforce or matriculate into Ph.D. programs where they will build new knowledge to address scientific challenges that are relevant to both human and environmental sustainability. Through targeted recruiting efforts, academically talented students with financial need will matriculate at TAMU, conduct research, and graduate prepared to address areas of high national need.