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National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (CCMA)

Weekly Report – August 8, 2007

Large Gulf of Mexico “Dead Zone” Validates Forecast Model Based on Nitrate Loading

A CCMA-sponsored survey cruise conducted on the R/V PELICAN July 21-29, 2007 found that this year’s Gulf of Mexico Dead Zone was the third largest on record since annual measurements began in 1985. The observed area, 7,900 square miles, was 7% lower than the 8,500 square miles predicted by a CCMA-funded forecast model. The model is based on nitrate loads from the Mississippi and Atchafalaya rivers in May and incorporates the previous year’s load. The closeness of the model predictions in this and previous years indicates an association between springtime nitrate loading and hypoxic zone area. CCMA is a key player in an ongoing scientific reassessment and revision of the Hypoxia Task Force’s Action Plan for Reducing, Mitigating, and Controlling Hypoxia in the Northern Gulf of Mexico that will articulate a management strategy to reduce the size of the Dead Zone in the northern Gulf of Mexico. For more information, contact Alan Lewitus at alan.lewitus@noaa.gov or (301) 713-3338 x178, or Dave Whitall at Dave.Whitall@noaa.gov or (301) 713-3028 x138.

CCMA Report on Nutrient Pollution Forecasts Worsening Health for Nation’s Estuaries

A team of scientists from CCMA, NOAA’s Chesapeake Bay Program Office, and the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science released the most comprehensive assessment of estuarine eutrophication to date, “Effects of Nutrient Enrichment in the Nation’s Estuaries: A Decade of Change, National Estuarine Eutrophication Assessment Update,” which clearly indicates linkages between upstream activities and coastal ecosystem health. The report shows that the majority of U.S. estuaries assessed have moderate to high levels of nutrient related impairments, are highly influenced by human-related activities (i.e. agricultural activities, sewage effluent, urban runoff, atmospheric deposition), and most are expected to worsen in the future. The report also offers recommendations to reduce future problems. The report was released at a press conference on July 31, 2007 at the National Press Club and was listed as the top story on http://www.noaa.gov/. The full report can be accessed at http://ccma.nos.noaa.gov/publications/eutroupdate/. For more information, contact Suzanne Bricker at (301) 713-3020, x139 or Suzanne.Bricker@noaa.gov.

CCMA Intern Places First in Oral Presentation at Educational Partnership Program’s Student Scholarship Presentation Week

Karl Grant, a summer intern of NOAA’s Educational Partnership Program (EPP), presented his work on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs)
and trace elements, and won first prize for his oral presentation entitled “Measurement of PAH's, butylins, and polychlorinated biphenyls in mussels
collected in the mid-1940s." Karl attends Florida A&M University in Tallahassee, FL majoring in environmental science. Over the last 3 months
Karl has completed a summer internship with CCMA’s COAST Branch. Karl assisted
with a quality assurance review of NOAA generated sediment toxicity data from Gulf Coast estuaries. Karl also worked on a paper that allows
NOAA to extend its time perspective of long-term contaminant monitoring from the current 1986-2007 timeframe back to 1944, with data derived
from canned mussel samples from Maine. For more information, contact Gunnar Lauenstein at (301) 713-3028 ext. 152 or
Gunnar.Lauenstein@noaa.gov, or Karl Grant at Karl.Grant@noaa.gov.

CCMA Intern Places Third for Poster Presentation at NOAA’s Educational Partnership Program Presentation Week

Kelvin Raiford, a summer intern of NOAA’s Educational Partnership Program (EPP), presented his poster on cetacean sightings at EPP’s Student
Scholarship Presentation Week and won third prize for his poster entitled, “A Biogeographic Assessment Off North/Central California: A GIS Analysis
of Cetacean Sightings.” Kelvin is a geography major at North Carolina Central University in Durham and just completed his first of two summer
internships with CCMA’s Biogeography Branch. Over the last two months, Kelvin
completed the ArcGIS tutorial and worked with scientists from the Biogeography Branch to develop maps of cetacean sightings and species richness;
the sightings maps will be included in the Phase 2 Report of the Biogeographic Assessment off North/Central California, developed for NOAA's
National Marine Sanctuary Program. He plans to return to school full-time and return to the Biogeography Program in the summer of 2008. For more
information, contact Tracy Gill at (301) 713-3028 or Tracy.Gill@noaa.gov, ext.150 or Kelvin Raiford at Kelvin.Raiford@noaa.gov.