Yoder
James A.
Yoder
James A.
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Working PaperA modern coastal ocean observing system using data from advanced satellite and in situ sensors – an example(NSF/Ocean Research Coordination Network, 2015-06-01) Yoder, James A. ; Davis, Curtiss O. ; Dierssen, Heidi M. ; Muller-Karger, Frank E. ; Mahadevan, Amala ; Pearlman, Jay ; Sosik, Heidi M.This report is intended to illustrate and provide recommendations for how ocean observing systems of the next decade could focus on coastal environments using combined satellite and in situ measurements. Until recently, space-based observations have had surface footprints typically spanning hundreds of meters to kilometers. These provide excellent synoptic views for a wide variety of ocean characteristics. In situ observations are instead generally point or linear measurements. The interrelation between space-based and in-situ observations can be challenging. Both are necessary and as sensors and platforms evolve during the next decade, the trend to facilitate interfacing space and in-situ observations must continue and be expanded. In this report, we use coastal observation and analyses to illustrate an observing system concept that combines in situ and satellite observing technologies with numerical models to quantify subseasonal time scale transport of freshwater and its constituents from terrestrial water storage bodies across and along continental shelves, as well as the impacts on some key biological/biogeochemical properties of coastal waters.
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ArticleUnanticipated benefit of an outreach program(The Oceanography Society, 2018-09-15) Yoder, JamesThe National Science Foundation supported six projects that comprised the Climate Change Education Partnership, including the National Net-work for Ocean and Climate Change Interpretation (NNOCCI) for which the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) is the science partner. The New England Aquarium leads NNOCCI, and the network also includes informal science educators, social and cognitive scientists, and evaluators. The partners work together to improve public awareness of climate change and its impact on the ocean (Spitzer, 2014; Fraser et al., 2015; Anderson, 2016).
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PreprintImpact of phytoplankton community size on a linked global ocean optical and ecosystem model( 2011-01) Mouw, Colleen B. ; Yoder, James A. ; Doney, Scott C.We isolated the effect phytoplankton cell size has on varying remote sensing reflectance spectra (Rrs(λ)) in the presence of optically active constituents by using optical and radiative transfer models linked in an offline diagnostic calculation to a global biogeochemical/ecosystem/circulation model with explicit phytoplankton size classes. Two case studies were carried out, each with several scenarios to isolate the effects of chlorophyll concentration, phytoplankton cell size, and size-varying phytoplankton absorption on Rrs(λ). The goal of the study was to determine the relative contribution of phytoplankton cell size and chlorophyll to overall Rrs(λ) and to understand where a standard band ratio algorithm (OC4) may under/overestimate chlorophyll due to Rrs(λ) being significantly affected by phytoplankton size. Phytoplankton cell size was found to contribute secondarily to Rrs(λ) variability and to amplify or dampen the seasonal cycle in Rrs(λ), driven by chlorophyll. Size and chlorophyll were found to change in phase at low to mid-latitudes, but were anti-correlated or poorly correlated at high latitudes. Phytoplankton size effects increased model calculated Rrs(443) in the subtropical ocean during local spring through early fall months in both hemispheres and decreased Rrs(443) in the Northern Hemisphere high latitude regions during local summer to fall months. This study attempts to tease apart when/where variability about the OC4 relationship may be associated with cell size variability. The OC4 algorithm may underestimate [Chl] when the fraction of microplankton is elevated, which occurs in the model simulations during local spring/summer months at high latitudes in both hemispheres.
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ArticleA moving target : matching graduate education with available careers for ocean scientists(The Oceanography Society, 2016-03) Briscoe, Melbourne G. ; Glickson, Deborah A. ; Roberts, Susan ; Spinrad, Richard W. ; Yoder, James A.The objective of this paper is to look at past assessments and available data to examine the match (or mismatch) between university curricula and programs available to graduate students in the ocean sciences and the career possibilities available to those students. We conclude there is a need for fundamental change in how we educate graduate students in the ocean sciences. The change should accommodate the interests of students as well as the needs of a changing society; the change should not be constrained by the traditions or resource challenges of the graduate institutions themselves. The limited data we have been able to obtain from schools and employers are consistent with this view: desirable careers for ocean scientists are moving rapidly toward interdisciplinary, collaborative, societally relevant activities, away from traditional academic-research/professorial jobs, but the training available to the students is not keeping pace. We offer some suggestions to mitigate the mismatch. Most importantly, although anecdotes and “gut feelings” abound, the quantitative data backing our conclusions and suggestions are very sparse and barely compelling; we urge better data collection to support curricular revision, perhaps with the involvement of professional societies.
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Technical ReportCoastal Ocean Processes : a science prospectus(Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 1992-04) Brink, Kenneth H. ; Bane, John M. ; Church, Thomas M. ; Fairall, Christopher W. ; Geernaert, G. L. ; Hammond, D. E. ; Henrichs, S. M. ; Martens, C. S. ; Nittrouer, Charles A. ; Rogers, D. P. ; Roman, Michael R. ; Roughgarden, J. D. ; Smith, R. L. ; Wright, L. Donelson ; Yoder, James A.CoOP (Coastal Ocean Processes) is an organization meant to study major interdisciplinary scientific problems in the coastal ocean. Its goal is "to obtain a new level of quantitative understanding of the processes that dominate the transformations, transport and fates of biologically, chemically and geologically important matter on the continental margin". Central to obtaining this understanding will be advances in observing and modeling the cross-shelf component of transport. More specific objectives are to understand 1) cross-margin exchanges, 2) air sea exchanges, 3) benthic-pelagic exchanges, 4) terrestrial inputs and 5) biological and chemical transformations within the water column. CoOP research will be carried out primarly through a series of process-oriented field studies, each involving about two years of measurements. Each of these field studies is to be initiated and defined through a community workshop. In addition to the process studies, CoOP will also involve modeling, long time series, exploratory studies, remote sensing, technological innovation, data archiving and communications. A CoOP pilot study has been approved for funding by the National Science Foundation, and funding will begin in 1992. The CoOP science effort is thus already underway.
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ArticleStudy of marine ecosystems and biogeochemistry now and in the future : examples of the unique contributions from space(Oceanography Society, 2010-12) Yoder, James A. ; Doney, Scott C. ; Siegel, David A. ; Wilson, CaraOcean color remote sensing has profoundly influenced how oceanographers think about marine ecosystems and their variability in space and time. Satellite ocean color radiometry (OCR) provides a unique perspective for studying the processes regulating marine ecosystems and biogeochemistry at scales difficult to study with ships and moorings. Satellite OCR is especially useful when supported by other in situ and space observations. In this review, we highlight three areas related to marine ecosystems and biogeochemical processes to which satellite observations have made important and unique contributions: understanding the responses of ocean ecosystems to physical processes operating at meso- to global scales, coupled physical-ecosystem-biogeochemical modeling, and marine living resource management.
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ArticleRegional to global assessments of phytoplankton dynamics from the SeaWiFS mission(Elsevier, 2013-04-20) Siegel, David A. ; Behrenfeld, Michael J. ; Maritorena, S. ; McClain, Charles R. ; Antoine, David ; Bailey, S. W. ; Bontempi, P. S. ; Boss, Emmanuel S. ; Dierssen, Heidi M. ; Doney, Scott C. ; Eplee, R. E. ; Evans, R. H. ; Feldman, G. C. ; Fields, Erik ; Franz, Bryan A. ; Kuring, N. A. ; Mengelt, C. ; Nelson, Norman B. ; Patt, F. S. ; Robinson, W. D. ; Sarmiento, Jorge L. ; Swan, C. M. ; Werdell, P. J. ; Westberry, Toby K. ; Wilding, J. G. ; Yoder, James A.Photosynthetic production of organic matter by microscopic oceanic phytoplankton fuels ocean ecosystems and contributes roughly half of the Earth's net primary production. For 13 years, the Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS) mission provided the first consistent, synoptic observations of global ocean ecosystems. Changes in the surface chlorophyll concentration, the primary biological property retrieved from SeaWiFS, have traditionally been used as a metric for phytoplankton abundance and its distribution largely reflects patterns in vertical nutrient transport. On regional to global scales, chlorophyll concentrations covary with sea surface temperature (SST) because SST changes reflect light and nutrient conditions. However, the ocean may be too complex to be well characterized using a single index such as the chlorophyll concentration. A semi-analytical bio-optical algorithm is used to help interpret regional to global SeaWiFS chlorophyll observations from using three independent, well-validated ocean color data products; the chlorophyll a concentration, absorption by CDM and particulate backscattering. First, we show that observed long-term, global-scale trends in standard chlorophyll retrievals are likely compromised by coincident changes in CDM. Second, we partition the chlorophyll signal into a component due to phytoplankton biomass changes and a component caused by physiological adjustments in intracellular chlorophyll concentrations to changes in mixed layer light levels. We show that biomass changes dominate chlorophyll signals for the high latitude seas and where persistent vertical upwelling is known to occur, while physiological processes dominate chlorophyll variability over much of the tropical and subtropical oceans. The SeaWiFS data set demonstrates complexity in the interpretation of changes in regional to global phytoplankton distributions and illustrates limitations for the assessment of phytoplankton dynamics using chlorophyll retrievals alone.
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Working PaperImproving communication of climate change science to public audiences : early career ocean scientists and science interpreters engage with social scientists( 2018-03-27) Yoder, JamesThis manuscript describes a qualitative study based on the results of interviews with early career scientists (graduate students and postdocs) who participated as “science fellows” along with science interpreters for training led by social scientists as to how to discuss ocean and climate change issues with general audiences. Based on the interviews, the science fellows were generally enthusiastic and effective participants in the program, and the training gave them more confidence for discussing the effects of climate change on the ocean. In addition, and of equal importance, the science fellows generally believed that the training helped them organize their written and oral presentations of their own science for their professional colleagues and is a lasting benefit to their career development.