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November 9- November 16, 2001 vol. 38 no. 45 Calendar Friday, November 9 MARINE BIOLOGY SEMINAR - Wim Vermaas, Arizona State University, will present "Photosynthesis and Respiration in a Cyanobacterium: A Functional Genomics Perspective" in 4500 Hubbs Hall at 12 noon. (Kthamatr@ucsd.edu) Monday, November 12 ADMINISTRATIVE HOLIDAY - Yahooooooo! Tuesday, November 13 MOC MEETING - The Marine Operations Committee meeting will be held at 1330 in 114 Scripps Building. (Jason Strimpel, x42840) CRD SEMINAR - Greg M. McFarquhar, Dept. of Atmospheric Sciences, University of IL, Urbana, will present "New Representations Of Single-scattering Solar Radiative and Microphysical Properties for Large-Scale Models" in 101 Nierenberg Hall at 3:30 p.m. Refreshments will be served at 3:15 p.m. The seminar is sponsored by the Climate Research Division. (Carolyn Baxter, x46584) Wednesday, November 14 PERSPECTIVES ON OCEAN SCIENCE (7:30-9:00 a.m.) - The next presentation in the Birch Aquarium's monthly Perspectives on Ocean Science lecture series will feature David Hilton who will describe his work with active volcanoes in Costa Rica. He and his colleagues sampled volcanic gases and lava to characterize the Central American subduction zone. Learn how their research is uncovering the mysteries of tectonic plate spreading and how subduction zones recycle material between the Earth's crust and mantle. Please RSVP to x47336. UCSD/Scripps staff, faculty, students: $5; Guests: $8 (parking and breakfast are included). Lecture begins at 8 a.m. in the Birch Aquarium Galleria. ECOLOGY LUNCHEON SEMINAR - Brian Hentschel, SDSU, will present "Effects of Short-Term Resource Variability on the Timing of and Size at Larval Metamorphosis" in 4500 Hubbs Hall at 12:15 p.m. (Tonya_h6@yahoo.com) Thursday, November 15 MSPPC MEETING - The November meeting of the Marine Sciences Physical Planning Committee (MSPPC) will be 10:00-11:30 a.m. in 114 Scripps Building. MSPPC will be discussing the following information items: 1) a proposed classroom trailer at Birch Aquarium, 2) a comprehensive plan for commemorative benches, and 3) hazardous waste storage facility construction at the Nimitz Marine Facility. If you have any questions, please contact either John Desch (jdesch@ucsd.edu, x44464) or Jonathan Berger (jberger@ucsd.edu, x42889). CALSPACE SEMINAR - There will be a seminar. For information call Irene Xavier, (858) 822-1597. AOS SEMINAR - Grant Deane, SIO, will present "Bubbles and Sound in the Surf Zone" and Dale Stokes, SIO, will present "Studying Benthic Communities in McMurdo Sound" in 330 NTV Building at 4 p.m. (Amber Rieder, amber@mpl.ucsd.edu) Friday, November 16 MARINE BIOLOGY SEMINAR - Barbara Prezelin - CANCELED SPECIAL PHYSICS DEPARTMENT COLLOQUIUM - John Bahcall, Institute for Advanced Study, will present "Solar Neutrinos: Where Are We? Where Are We Going?" at UCSD in 4322 Mayer Hall at 2 p.m. (Patti Hey, x21468) Notices MULLIN HONORED WITH WOOSTER AWARD - PICES, The North Pacific
Marine Science Organization, announced that late Scripps Professor Mike
Mullin is the first recipient of the Wooster Award for excellence in research,
teaching, and administration in marine science in the North Pacific. The
award was accepted by Mike's wife, Connie, and son, Steve, at the opening
session of the PICES Tenth Anniversary meeting in Victoria, British Columbia,
Canada in October. A commemorative plaque was presented to Connie and
Steve and a permanent plaque identifying Wooster Award winners will reside
at the PICES Secretariat. Warren Wooster, a former Scripps student and
professor, and a self-described "friend and colleague" of Mike
Mullin, is professor emeritus at the University of Washington. WELCOME, CHRISTINA! California Sea Grant is pleased to announce that Christina Johnson has joined the Sea Grant Communications staff as science writer. Christina earned a master's degree in physical oceanography from SIO in 1996. She earned her undergraduate degree in mathematics from Washington University in St. Louis and was selected as a National Need Fellow in Mathematics. She is a member of Sigma Xi Honorary Science Society. During the last four years, she has worked as a science journalist for local and national news media, with an emphasis on oceanographic topics. In 1998 she won three writing awards: First Place for science writing from the Society of Professional Journalists, San Diego Chapter; Second Place team award for environmental reporting from the California Newspapers Publishers Association; and a Third Place team award from the Society of Professional Journalists, Inland Empire Chapter. RAM HONORED WITH ROSSBY MEDAL - V. Ramanathan, professor of Climate and Atmospheric Sciences, has been selected to receive the 2002 Carl-Gustaf Rossby Research Medal from the American Meteorological Society. The Rossby Medal is the highest honor that the AMS bestows upon an atmospheric scientist. It is presented annually for outstanding contributions to the understanding of the structure or behavior of the atmosphere. Ramanathan was honored "for fundamental insights into the radiative roles of clouds, aerosols, and key gases in the earth's climate system." The medal is named in honor of Carl-Gustaf Rossby, widely known in the meteorological community for his contributions to the basic understanding of the dynamics and thermodynamics of the atmosphere. Congratulations! (Scripps Communications, x43624) SCRIPPS IN THE NEWS 2001 - Come on down to 114 in the Scripps Administration Building on Thursday, December 6 to check out displays of Scripps news coverage during 2001. Newspaper, magazine, TV, and radio clips will be on hand, along with a tasty selection of treats. (Scripps Communications, x43624) Ship News FLIP - After five weeks on station, FLIP's participation in the HOME Farfield Experiment is winding down. Our run ends in the midst of the Halloween spring tidal procession, with large amplitude low and high mode internal waves passing beneath us as they head from the Kauai Channel into the Tropical Pacific. The profiling CTD / micro-conductivity probes were brought aboard Saturday, just short of their ten thousandth profiles. The Deep-8 Doppler sonar ended its 30 day run this morning. Thanks to Tom Golfinos and the crew of FLIP for a flawless cruise and for good company, to the Navy, which provided logistical support for our operation, and to Bill Gaines, who successfully coordinated this support in spite of the chaos of recent world events. FLIP will return to Pearl Harbor on 09 November and commence the tow back to San Diego on 14 November. So, for this week's question in evolutionary biology: "After forty days and forty nights, how did Noah handle his email backlog?" Thanks for all. (Rob Pinkel, MPL) CalcCOFI Scientific Report, 6 Nov 2001 - We are presently working on our most northerly line due to impending naval missile range closures. With two thirds of this cruise completed, the wind and weather have turned on us. Conditions are nominal for net tows and transit to station have required course changes into the long period swell. All equipment and personnel continue to work well even under these adverse conditions. After examining the preliminary data to date, the 10m temperature data suggests an unusually cold current flowing southward from Pt Conception bordered by the California and Davidson Currents. CUDLS (CalCOFI Continuous Underway Data Logging System) displays this anomalously cold, high chlorophyll parcel in its onshore/offshore gradient plots. Line 77 chlorophyll concentrations have been near surface (0-50m) and still prominent on our current offshore station, 77.80. Nutrient analysis of the Santa Barbara Basin deep samples indicates a lack of flushing with further depleted nitrate concentration and extremely low oxygen. The Optical Particle Counter (OPC) continues to operate sporadically and only with the persistence of Amy Hays and Marina Marrari have 39 stations of data been successfully logged. Over the past week bird and marine mammal observations have been good. This was particularly true at the beginning of the week with spectacularly glassy seas allowing for excellent views of small groups of feeding and sitting Leaches Storm Petrels and clear pictures of Common Dolphins around the ship and coming to ride the bow wave. Also in these outer portions of the transects three adult Red-tailed Tropicbirds came in and circled the ship. The inshore transects were dominated by Western and California Gulls and Brown Pelicans that wereoften feeding in association with the numerous schools of Common Dolphin. Small numbers of alcids were seen around the islands, mostly Rhinocerous Auklets. The wind picked up some yesterday, Nov. 5th. Despite it giving us a bumpierride it was good for seeing a fair number of Sooty, Pinkfooted and Buller'sShearwaters, fall visitors to the California Current from Chile and New Zealand. Dave Wolgast, our resident angler, doesn't like to brag, but the fishing jinx was broken wide open by the multiple jigs strikes of several whopper albacore ranging in size to 62 pounds inside station 80.100. Notably, the fish were big enough to be the largest ever captured by our fisheries biologist, Ron Dotson, who has been "studying" them for 38 years. We have sailed on the New Horizon twice a year for a long time and they continue to impress us with their professionalism. Able ship handling and experienced winch operators make our work easier. NMFS personnel have commented that the Bongo tows were the best they've seen in a long, long time. Mark Smith, with the help of the ship's crew working overtime, was the sole cook on this trip and continued to present meals that are hard to resist. It has been our pleasure to sail with our friends and work mates. JRW 6Nov2001 CalCOFI 0110NH Scientific Report 29Oct2001 - We have just finished station 90.45. With calm seas and good transit times, we are 8 hours ahead of schedule. Technical problems have been minimal with only the Optical Plankton Counter (OPC) acquiring data intermittently. All other gear are working well as are all the technicians and volunteers. The calm conditions have resulted in unusually high salp densities, much to the delight of Ralf Goericke, who has conducted daily incubation experiments. Unfortunately the fish densities have not been as abundant. Ten & 100 meter temperatures on the first line indicate unusually cool conditions off San Diego continuing offshore when compared to the 50 year mean with anomalies of -3.6degC at 30m on sta 93.50 and -2.5degC at 100m on sta 93.100. Chlorophyll concentrations have been typical for this season. Refer to www.calcofi.org for preliminary data. Over the past 3 days the weather has been excellent for observations with calm seas and good visibility, however there are not too many birds about in this deep water. The dominant species is Leaches Storm-Petrel, but numbers of these are fairly low: no more than 20 recorded on transects each day. A few Black-footed Albatross have been noted following the ship and a there seemed to be some movement south of adult Pomarine Jaegers on the 26th. This morning, during the transit from sta 90.53 to 90.45, we encountered a pod of seven fin whales. We sailed with only one cook on board but you would never know it with all the great food served up each day. Our compliments to Mark Smith and the crew of New Horizon for helping him keep us well feed and ahead of schedule. Happy Halloween - we hope this cruise continues to be our treat. JRW 29Oct2001 CRUISE MAP INDEX/AREA/ CH SCI/INSTITUTION/ PORTS DAYS/AGENCY/ R/V Melville R/V New Horizon R/V Robert Gordon Sproul David Starr Jordan
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