Browsing by Title

  • Article
    1,050 years of hurricane strikes on Long Island in the Bahamas
    (American Geophysical Union, 2016-02-16) Wallace, Elizabeth J. ; Donnelly, Jeffrey P. ; van Hengstum, Peter J. ; Winkler, Tyler S. ; McKeon, Kelly ; MacDonald, Dana ; D'Entremont, Nicole ; Sullivan, Richard M. ; Woodruff, Jonathan D. ; Hawkes, Andrea D. ; Maio, Christopher V.
    Sedimentary records of past hurricane activity indicate centennial-scale periods over the past millennium with elevated hurricane activity. The search for the underlying mechanism behind these active hurricane periods is confounded by regional variations in their timing. Here, we present a new high resolution paleohurricane record from The Bahamas with a synthesis of published North Atlantic records over the past millennium. We reconstruct hurricane strikes over the past 1,050 years in sediment cores from a blue hole on Long Island in The Bahamas. Coarse-grained deposits in these cores date to the close passage of seven hurricanes over the historical interval. We find that the intensity and angle of approach of these historical storms plays an important role in inducing storm surge near the site. Our new record indicates four active hurricane periods on Long Island that conflict with published records on neighboring islands (Andros and Abaco Island). We demonstrate these three islands do not sample the same storms despite their proximity, and we compile these reconstructions together to create the first regional compilation of annually resolved paleohurricane records in The Bahamas. Integrating our Bahamian compilation with compiled records from the U.S. coastline indicates basin-wide increased storminess during the Medieval Warm Period. Afterward, the hurricane patterns in our Bahamian compilation match those reconstructed along the U.S. East Coast but not in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico. This disconnect may result from shifts in local environmental conditions in the North Atlantic or shifts in hurricane populations from straight-moving to recurving storms over the past millennium.
  • Dataset
    1-D vertical mixing/biogeochemical Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS) output of October 2010 - March 2011 of the Amundsen Sea Polynya, modeled at twelve bloom stations.
    (Biological and Chemical Oceanography Data Management Office (BCO-DMO). Contact: bco-dmo-data@whoi.edu, 2020-07-24) Yager, Patricia L. ; Sherrell, Robert M.
    1-D vertical mixing/biogeochemical Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS) output of October 2010 - March 2011 of the Amundsen Sea Polynya, modeled at twelve bloom stations. Data are 3-hourly averages, and saved in NetCDF files. In the NetCDF files, data are distributed over a 6x6 grid with 30 depths (ranging from the surface down to 210 m, with higher resolution near the surface). ocean_avg.nc files are the standard model output, while files named ocean_avg_sensitivity_lowWW.nc are from runs using a lower winter water initial dissolved iron concentration. For a complete list of measurements, refer to the full dataset description in the supplemental file 'Dataset_description.pdf'. The most current version of this dataset is available at: https://www.bco-dmo.org/dataset/765252
  • Dataset
    1-decibar binned CTD data from 103 stations collected during R/V Roger Revelle cruise RR2004 along the 150W meridian from 30S to 60S
    (Biological and Chemical Oceanography Data Management Office (BCO-DMO). Contact: bco-dmo-data@whoi.edu, 2023-09-25) Balch, William M. ; McGillicuddy, Dennis J. ; Oliver, Hilde
    This dataset includes the processed CTD data from 103 stations collected during R/V Roger Revelle cruise RR2004, which sailed from Honolulu, Hawaii on December 26, 2020 to the Southern Ocean and returned to Honolulu on February 23, 2021. Data have been binned by pressure into 1-decibar bins. For a complete list of measurements, refer to the full dataset description in the supplemental file 'Dataset_description.pdf'. The most current version of this dataset is available at: https://www.bco-dmo.org/dataset/908342
  • Still Image
    100 Years Exploring Life cover image
    (Marine Biological Laboratory, 2017-07-20)
  • Text
  • Article
    A 1000-yr-old tsunami in the Indian Ocean points to greater risk for East Africa
    (Geological Society of America, 2020-05-12) Maselli, Vittorio ; Oppo, Davide ; Moore, Andrew L. ; Gusman, Aditya Riadi ; Mtelela, Cassy ; Iacopini, David ; Taviani, Marco ; Mjema, Elinaza ; Mulaya, Ernest ; Che, Melody ; Tomioka, Ai Lena ; Mshiu, Elisante ; Ortiz, Joseph D.
    The December 2004 Sumatra-Andaman tsunami prompted an unprecedented research effort to find ancient precursors and quantify the recurrence time of such a deadly natural disaster. This effort, however, has focused primarily along the northern and eastern Indian Ocean coastlines, in proximal areas hardest hit by the tsunami. No studies have been made to quantify the recurrence of tsunamis along the coastlines of the western Indian Ocean, leading to an underestimation of the tsunami risk in East Africa. Here, we document a 1000-yr-old sand layer hosting archaeological remains of an ancient coastal Swahili settlement in Tanzania. The sedimentary facies, grain-size distribution, and faunal assemblages indicate a tsunami wave as the most likely cause for the deposition of this sand layer. The tsunami in Tanzania is coeval with analogous deposits discovered at eastern Indian Ocean coastal sites. Numerical simulations of tsunami wave propagation indicate a megathrust earthquake generated by a large rupture of the Sumatra-Andaman subduction zone as the likely tsunami source. Our findings provide evidence that teletsunamis represent a serious threat to coastal societies along the western Indian Ocean, with implications for future tsunami hazard and risk assessments in East Africa.
  • Article
    A 1000-yr-old tsunami in the Indian Ocean points to greater risk for East Africa: reply
    (Geological Society of America, 2020-12-22) Maselli, Vittorio ; Oppo, Davide ; Moore, Andrew L. ; Gusman, Aditya Riadi ; Mtelela, Cassy ; Iacopini, David ; Taviani, Marco ; Mjema, Elinaza ; Mulaya, Ernest ; Che, Melody ; Tomioka, Ai Lena ; Mshiu, Elisante ; Ortiz, Joseph D.
    We appreciate Somerville’s (2020) interest in our work, and the opportunity to further expand the discussion about the occurrence of a trans-oceanic tsunami in the Indian Ocean generated by a megathrust earthquake ~1000 years ago. Somerville suggests a connection between the inferred tsunami deposit presented by us (Maselli et al., 2020) and a tsunami event reported to have occurred in Nagapattinam (India) in the year 900 CE and described in Kalaki Krishnamurty’s book (Rastogi and Jaiswal, 2006).
  • Article
  • Article
    11,664 kilometers across the sea: bridging the student support gap to the Paficia Islands
    (IAMSLIC, 2014) Avery, Beth ; Chandler, Yvonne ; Barnwell, Jane ; Batman, Cindy
  • Article
    12 May 2008 M = 7.9 Wenchuan, China, earthquake calculated to increase failure stress and seismicity rate on three major fault systems
    (American Geophysical Union, 2008-09-09) Toda, Shinji ; Lin, Jian ; Meghraoui, Mustapha ; Stein, Ross S.
    The Wenchuan earthquake on the Longmen Shan fault zone devastated cities of Sichuan, claiming at least 69,000 lives. We calculate that the earthquake also brought the Xianshuihe, Kunlun and Min Jiang faults 150–400 km from the mainshock rupture in the eastern Tibetan Plateau 0.2–0.5 bars closer to Coulomb failure. Because some portions of these stressed faults have not ruptured in more than a century, the earthquake could trigger or hasten additional M > 7 earthquakes, potentially subjecting regions from Kangding to Daofu and Maqin to Rangtag to strong shaking. We use the calculated stress changes and the observed background seismicity to forecast the rate and distribution of damaging shocks. The earthquake probability in the region is estimated to be 57–71% for M ≥ 6 shocks during the next decade, and 8–12% for M ≥ 7 shocks. These are up to twice the probabilities for the decade before the Wenchuan earthquake struck.
  • Article
    12-h clock regulation of genetic information flow by XBP1s
    (Public Library of Science, 2020-01-14) Pan, Yinghong ; Ballance, Heather ; Meng, Huan ; Gonzalez, Naomi ; Kim, Sam-Moon ; Abdurehman, Leymaan ; York, Brian ; Chen, Xi ; Schnytzer, Yisrael ; Levy, Oren ; Dacso, Clifford C. ; McClung, Colleen A. ; O’Malley, Bert W. ; Liu, Silvia ; Zhu, Bokai
    Our group recently characterized a cell-autonomous mammalian 12-h clock independent from the circadian clock, but its function and mechanism of regulation remain poorly understood. Here, we show that in mouse liver, transcriptional regulation significantly contributes to the establishment of 12-h rhythms of mRNA expression in a manner dependent on Spliced Form of X-box Binding Protein 1 (XBP1s). Mechanistically, the motif stringency of XBP1s promoter binding sites dictates XBP1s’s ability to drive 12-h rhythms of nascent mRNA transcription at dawn and dusk, which are enriched for basal transcription regulation, mRNA processing and export, ribosome biogenesis, translation initiation, and protein processing/sorting in the Endoplasmic Reticulum (ER)-Golgi in a temporal order consistent with the progressive molecular processing sequence described by the central dogma information flow (CEDIF). We further identified GA-binding proteins (GABPs) as putative novel transcriptional regulators driving 12-h rhythms of gene expression with more diverse phases. These 12-h rhythms of gene expression are cell autonomous and evolutionarily conserved in marine animals possessing a circatidal clock. Our results demonstrate an evolutionarily conserved, intricate network of transcriptional control of the mammalian 12-h clock that mediates diverse biological pathways. We speculate that the 12-h clock is coopted to accommodate elevated gene expression and processing in mammals at the two rush hours, with the particular genes processed at each rush hour regulated by the circadian and/or tissue-specific pathways.
  • Article
    The 129-iodine content of subtropical Pacific waters : impact of Fukushima and other anthropogenic 129-iodine sources
    (Copernicus Publications on behalf of the European Geosciences Union, 2014-09-11) Guilderson, Thomas P. ; Tumey, S. J. ; Brown, T. A. ; Buesseler, Ken O.
    Results obtained from a dedicated radiochemistry cruise approximately 100 days after the 11 March 2011 Tohoku earthquake and subsequent disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant show that Fukushima derived radionuclides in the nearby ocean environment had penetrated, on average, to ≤250 m depth (1026.5 kg m3 potential density surface). The excess inventory of Fukushima-derived 129I in the region (∼150 000 km2) sampled during the cruise is estimated to have been between 0.89 and 1.173 billion Bq (∼136 to ∼179 grams) of 129I. Based on a tight tracer–tracer relation with 134Cs (or 137Cs) and estimates that most of the excess cesium is due to direct discharge, we infer that much of the excess 129I is from direct (non-atmospheric deposition) discharge. After taking into account oceanic transport, we estimate the direct discharge, i.e., that directly released into the ocean, off Fukushima to have been ∼1 kg 129I. Although this small pulse is dwarfed by the ~90 kg of weapons-testing-derived 129I that was released into the environment in the late 1950s and early 1960s, it should be possible to use Fukushima-derived 129I and other radionuclides (e.g., 134, 137Cs) to study transport and entrainment processes along and across the Kuroshio Current.
  • Preprint
    14C and 13C characteristics of higher plant biomarkers in Washington margin surface sediments
    ( 2012-11-22) Feng, Xiaojuan ; Benitez-Nelson, Bryan C. ; Montlucon, Daniel B. ; Prahl, Fredrick G. ; McNichol, Ann P. ; Xu, Li ; Repeta, Daniel J. ; Eglinton, Timothy I.
    Plant wax lipids and lignin phenols are the two most common classes of molecular markers that are used to trace vascular plant-derived OM in the marine environment. However, their 13C and 14C compositions have not been directly compared, which can be used to constrain the flux and attenuation of terrestrial carbon in marine environment. In this study, we describe a revised method of isolating individual lignin phenols from complex sedimentary matrices for 14C analysis using high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) and compare this approach to a method utilizing preparative capillary gas chromatography (PCGC). We then examine in detail the 13C and 14C compositions of plant wax lipids and lignin phenols in sediments from the inner and mid shelf of the Washington margin that are influenced by discharge of the Columbia River. Plant wax lipids (including n-alkanes, n-alkanoic (fatty) acids, n-alkanols, and n-aldehydes) displayed significant variability in both δ13C (-28.3 to -37.5 ‰) and ∆14C values (-204 to +2 ‰), suggesting varied inputs and/or continental storage and transport histories. In contrast, lignin phenols exhibited similar δ13C values (between -30 to -34 ‰) and a relatively narrow range of ∆14C values (-45 to -150 ‰; HPLC-based mesurement) that were similar to, or younger than, bulk OM (-195 to -137 ‰). Moreover, lignin phenol 14C age correlated with the degradation characteristics of this terrestrial biopolymer in that vanillyl phenols were on average ~500 years older than syringyl and cinnamyl phenols that degrade faster in soils and sediments. The isotopic characteristics, abundance, and distribution of lignin phenols in sediments suggest that they serve as promising tracers of recently biosynthesized terrestrial OM during supply to, and dispersal within the marine environment. Lignin phenol 14C measurements may also provide useful constraints on the vascular plant end member in isotopic mixing models for carbon source apportionment, and for interpretation of sedimentary records of past vegetation dynamics. Key words: 14C and 13C composition, radiocarbon age, plant wax lipids, lignin phenols, Washington margin, marine carbon cycling, terrestrial organic matter
  • Dataset
    14C dates from core PC1 collected from T Lake, Palau in September 2013
    (Biological and Chemical Oceanography Data Management Office (BCO-DMO). Contact: bco-dmo-data@whoi.edu, 2019-06-24) Sachs, Julian P. ; Dawson, Michael N.
    14C dates from core PC1 collected from T Lake, Palau in September 2013 using a Colinvaux‐Vohnout Livingstone‐type rod‐operated piston corer. For a complete list of measurements, refer to the full dataset description in the supplemental file 'Dataset_description.pdf'. The most current version of this dataset is available at: https://www.bco-dmo.org/dataset/771658
  • Dataset
    15NO3 data, acetylene reduction assays, and NH4+ diffusion average summaries from samples collected in Little Lagoon, Alabama from 2012 to 2013.
    (Biological and Chemical Oceanography Data Management Office (BCO-DMO). Contact: bco-dmo-data@whoi.edu, 2019-03-15) Mortazavi, Behzad ; Burnett, William C.
    15NO3 data, acetylene reduction assays, and NH4+ diffusion average summaries from samples collected in Little Lagoon, Alabama from 2012 to 2013. For a complete list of measurements, refer to the full dataset description in the supplemental file 'Dataset_description.pdf'. The most current version of this dataset is available at: https://www.bco-dmo.org/dataset/723935
  • Dataset
    15NO3 uptake measured during experimental cycles in 24-hour in situ incubations on R/V Melville cruise MV1008 in the Costa Rica Dome in 2010 (CRD FLUZiE project)
    (Biological and Chemical Oceanography Data Management Office (BCO-DMO). Contact: bco-dmo-data@whoi.edu, 2019-12-11) Landry, Michael R.
    15NO3 uptake rates measured during experimental cycles on the MV1008 cruise in the Costa Rica Dome (CRD) region of the Eastern Tropical Pacific Ocean. For a complete list of measurements, refer to the full dataset description in the supplemental file 'Dataset_description.pdf'. The most current version of this dataset is available at: https://www.bco-dmo.org/dataset/516108
  • Dataset
    16S gene sequencing of microbial communities in South China Sea sediments from January to March 2014
    (Biological and Chemical Oceanography Data Management Office (BCO-DMO). Contact: bco-dmo-data@whoi.edu, 2021-05-20) Colwell, Frederick ; Thurber, Andrew
    16S gene sequencing of microbial communities in South China Sea sediments from January to March 2014. For a complete list of measurements, refer to the full dataset description in the supplemental file 'Dataset_description.pdf'. The most current version of this dataset is available at: https://www.bco-dmo.org/dataset/748024
  • Dataset
    16S rRNA and genomes of particle associated taxa
    (Biological and Chemical Oceanography Data Management Office (BCO-DMO). Contact: bco-dmo-data@whoi.edu, 2021-04-26) Cordero, Otto X.
    This dataset includes National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) accession numbers and related information for 16S rRNA and genomes of particle associated taxa. Sequences can be found in NCBI under BioProject PRJNA478695. For a complete list of measurements, refer to the full dataset description in the supplemental file 'Dataset_description.pdf'. The most current version of this dataset is available at: https://www.bco-dmo.org/dataset/849357
  • Dataset
    16S rRNA gene (from DNA) from samples collected on cruise Chikyu-331 in the Okinawa Trough, Japan from September to October 2010
    (Biological and Chemical Oceanography Data Management Office (BCO-DMO). Contact: bco-dmo-data@whoi.edu, 2019-11-22) House, Christopher ; Brandt, Leah
    The purpose of this dataset was to investigate taxonomic changes via the 16S rRNA gene from extractable DNA across 45 meters of recovered core. The temperature gradient in this section of the dynamic Iheya North Hydrothermal system was estimated to be ~3C/m. The interval transitions sharply from low-temperature marine mud to hydrothermally altered clay. For a complete list of measurements, refer to the full dataset description in the supplemental file 'Dataset_description.pdf'. The most current version of this dataset is available at: https://www.bco-dmo.org/dataset/780926
  • Dataset
    16S rRNA gene (from RNA) from samples collected on cruise Chikyu-331 in the Okinawa Trough, Japan from September to October 2010
    (Biological and Chemical Oceanography Data Management Office (BCO-DMO). Contact: bco-dmo-data@whoi.edu, 2019-11-22) House, Christopher ; Brandt, Leah
    RNA extractions were attempted from sediments at Sites C0014 and C0017 to selectively investigate the active microbial populations at these sites. This study was conducted to supplement the gene-based and metagenomic studies. However, the results from sequenced reverse transcribe 16S rRNA demonstrate the sensitivity of extraction and amplification to external nucleic acids and attest to the challenges in working with low biomass environmental samples. Inconsistencies between primersets and replicates make conclusions about the results of this RNA study extremely tenuous. For a complete list of measurements, refer to the full dataset description in the supplemental file 'Dataset_description.pdf'. The most current version of this dataset is available at: https://www.bco-dmo.org/dataset/781114