OCEAN PROCESSES and DYNAMICS

Strategic Goal 2: Identify and understand ocean processes dominating the inner South Atlantic Bight as they affect coastal processes, fisheries dynamics, and mineral resources management, and are influenced by global climate change.

In the 1980’s, the Coastal Ocean Boundaries Interactions and Assessment (COBIA) network was established as a joint S.C. Sea Grant Consortium/University of Georgia Sea Grant College Program effort initiated by the Consortium to encourage cooperative, multidisciplinary studies and research within the coastal ocean of the South Atlantic Bight (SAB)—defined as that region of the Atlantic Ocean which lies between Cape Hatteras, NC and Cape Canaveral, FL. COBIA focused its planning activities on the examination of the exchange of materials across boundaries in the coastal ocean of the southeastern United States, including sediment-water interfaces, land-water margins, and frontal zones. The results of this planning suggested that an improved understanding of the relationships among physical, chemical, geological, and biological systems is required, and that a regional approach to provide a common framework for coordinating coastal research in the SAB was necessary. Processes that underlie the interactive nature of estuarine watersheds with coastal continental shelf environments remain poorly understood. These findings have been reconfirmed during the SouthEast Coastal Ocean Research Conference (SECOR) held in 2002 and the SouthEast Coastal Ocean Science Conference and Workshop (SECOS) held in 2004.

More recently, the Southeast Coastal Ocean Observing System (SEACOOS; www.seacoos.org) has been initiated to coordinate the coastal ocean observing systems in the southeast United States (e.g., Coastal Ocean Research and Monitoring Program in North Carolina, Carolinas Coastal Ocean Observing System in South Carolina, SABSOON in Georgia) and serve as the basis for the generation and delivery of observational data products to prospective users. The SouthEast Coastal Ocean Observations Regional Association (SECOORA; www.secoora.org) is identifying key needs and issues for observational data and information products by canvassing a variety of stakeholders. These ocean and coastal observational and monitoring programs provide an excellent platform for scientific research in the coastal ocean.

From a practical point of view, the recent (2004) hypoxia event in Long Bay has made it clear that the South Carolina is lacking information on fundamental processes that influence the state’s near-coastal ocean region, particularly with regard to loadings into the system from upland sources as well as upwelling events caused by physical and atmospheric influences.

The Consortium's objectives under this strategic goal are to:

1. Characterize the coastal boundary layer in the SAB with respect to dynamic processes which lead to its stability and role in materials transport and cycling.

2. Determine the influence of the deep North Atlantic Ocean, particularly the Gulf Stream, on hydrography in the SAB, the coastal ocean, and estuarine waters.

3. Define and assess the pathways and mechanisms for cross-shelf and along-shore transport of chemicals, particulates, pollutants, and organisms.

4. Examine and model biogeochemical pathways, including atmospheric inputs, for carbon and other pertinent elements.

5. Develop models of the interactions among hydrography, primary and secondary productivity, and sediment transport in estuaries and the coastal zone, and the dynamics of living and non-living resources.

6. Examine the role of the ocean with respect to long-term global climate change, with particular emphasis on understanding the impacts of climate change on the coastal zone of the southeastern United States in general and South Carolina, in particular.

7. Translate and extend resultant information for users, resource managers, and policy-makers.

FY06-08 Priorities

For FY06-08, three areas of study have emerged as priorities for Sea Grant support:

• Documentation of the processes that affect changes in nearshore circulation patterns and thus water quality parameters (e.g., DO, TSS, salinity, turbidity, etc.) along the coast of South Carolina, and development of models that explain and predict future “low DO” events in near coastal ocean environments. For instance, questions that have emerged as a result of the Summer 2004 “low DO” event along the Grand Strand include: Is this region regularly vulnerable to low DO? Are hypoxia events common and reoccurring in the future? Are nutrients running off the land a substantial part of the problem?

• Innovative studies of boundary dynamics and biogeochemical processes (including atmospheric inputs) that influence the source, transport, fate, exposure, and effects of materials (water, sediment, contaminants, nutrients and biomass), generated via land use activities and change, on coastal ocean ecosystem condition and living marine resource health.

• Research is needed for the development of models of productivity, effects of estuarine pumping onto the shelf system, and sensitivity of the system to climatic and anthropogenic perturbations, which can be used, for instance, in the development of ecosystem-based approaches to fisheries management. Information regarding the complex interactions of physical, chemical, and geological processes on populations, production, and recruitment dynamics of targeted biological systems (in particular, the snapper/grouper complex and red drum fishery) is lacking.