Eckerd College student scientists didn’t let Hurricane Helen hinder their annual Gulf research

Eckerd College marine science students were recently able to present the results of their research on the Gulf of Mexico at the school’s third annual Scientist at Sea symposium.

Many students analyzed past data to discover trends over the years, but they also went to sea for a few days in May, collecting new samples of the water column and seafloor aboard the research vessel Weatherbird II.

However, this year threw a setback to the plan: Storm surge from Hurricane Helen disrupted their research analysis in September by forcing the riverside college to close for about a month.

“They were really happy to be back on campus and we were able to do some additional testing,” said Bekka Larson, a geological sonographer at Eckerd.

“I think the students hope to continue working on their (projects) after the symposium, and maybe do some things they weren’t able to do because of the hurricanes.”

Students lost access to their classrooms and some equipment, but that didn’t stop them from finishing what they could and presenting their findings at the Tampa Bay Watch symposium on December 4.

Radioactive tuna

Seniors Liam Naylor-Komyatte and Ryan Coffey won the Presidential Scientist at Sea Outstanding Poster Award for studying the radioactivity of Gulf tuna.

The damage caused by Hélène limited the sample size of fish they could study, Naylor-Komyatte said, but they still came away with important findings.

“It seems that we have discovered that smaller juveniles live around the oil rigs to protect themselves from predators until they get bigger and can move away from those oil rigs,” he said. declared. “And while they live near these oil rigs, they are exposed to higher levels of radioactive contaminants.”

This could have big implications for commercial fisheries and tuna consumers, he said.

Naylor-Komyatte’s teammate Coffey said they both worked very well together.

“We continue to support each other. And I’m really excited about where our next projects will lead because I know we’ll continue to push ourselves to do better,” Coffey said.

Climate impacts on plankton

Hannah Burd, sophomore, and Mackenzie Cole, junior, received the APTIM Outstanding Poster Award for their study on the impact of Atlantic Ocean temperature on two species of plankton found on the ocean floor of it 280 to 11,600 years ago.

“Our oceans have warmed slightly over time. That being said, what we are really looking at is the fluctuation between the two (plankton), and we are trying to go further in our research… to go back to the Last Glacial Maximum, so we will see a more peak important going forward,” Cole said.

The Last Glacial Maximum was a period of global cooling and maximum ice extent that occurred more than 20,000 years ago.

The research partners also planned to examine the effects of warming on plankton in the Pacific Ocean, but Hélène did not give them enough time to do so.

“We kind of took a backseat because none of us were on campus…to continue our research because we had to do microscopic research and look at the sediment samples, and that was really put on the back burner for a while,” Burd said.

Red tide on the seabed

Senior Elizabeth Kent was not officially recognized for her work, but she had the interesting task of exploring the impact of red tide blooms on tiny organisms found on the sea floor.

She discovered that toxic red tide outbreaks can harm the health of deep-sea microorganisms.

“Water column data and surface data are often studied when talking about red tide, but ecosystems on the ocean floor are not studied as much, and there are currently some theories that the tide red could be initiated from the ocean floor,” Kent said.

Kent is from Texas, which also suffers from red tide blooms, so she said this work was particularly important to her.

She wants to further explore why this phenomenon occurs and how to solve it.

“Coming to Florida in 2021 as a freshman, it had a really big impact…everywhere you see the fish kill on the beach. And as a marine scientist, we talk about it all the time,” she said.

“It’s very impactful because it not only affects ecosystems, but also our food source, our beaches and our recreation. It’s prevalent in our lives as Floridians, so it’s important that we know why it’s happening and how we can begin to solve it.

Strength of the Florida Current

Christopher Vogt, a junior, received the Lynn Paxton Outstanding Poster Award for studying the strength of the Florida Current across the Florida Straits, a body of water that connects the Gulf of Mexico to the Atlantic Ocean.

He found that the typical method of measuring the flow of the Florida Current was not to measure the value directly, but rather to use density.

The Florida Current itself only extends from zero to about 700 meters, but Vogt was surprised to find a countercurrent that accounts for a section 300 to 1,000 meters below.

So he used the information against the flow to get a more accurate measurement of water flow.

“There are many other systems in the world where this could be used, given that they can have two sites on either side, correlate… not all streams have that,” Vogt said. “So the Florida Current is unique in that sense, but there are many others where this method can be used.

Characterize water masses

One of the drivers of our ocean circulation is called thermohaline circulation, which is a 1,000-year cycle, so it’s very difficult to follow from start to finish.

One way to track it is to use water masses or water density. Deeper, colder water sinks toward the bottom, so it will be denser and saltier, while at the top it will be warmer and a little less salty.

“I was trying to look at temperature and salinity as a way to identify these bodies of water and see how they changed over time,” said Clara Oxford, a junior who won the Steven Robert West Memorial Marine Science Award for his analysis.

“Thermohaline circulation and the way water masses move is just incredibly important because we’re seeing that with climate change and the way the oceans are warming, it’s maybe moving faster, which can cause sea level rise,” she said.

“So tracking these water bodies just isn’t really done here, and it’s really important to see how they’re changing and see the impacts that they can have.”