The NOAA Central Library has hosted over 150 lunchtime "Brown Bag" seminars since 1994. This page lists all Brown Bags given. Powerpoint presentations will be added when available. Some presentations are in pdf format. You will need the free If you are interested in presenting a Brown Bag seminar, please contact Library.Reference@noaa.gov.

1994-1997 Brown Bags

• 07/14/94 - "Implementing the National Spatial Data Infrastructure," Millington Lockwood, NOS
• 09/13/94 - "Encore Presentation: Implementing the National Spatial Data Infrastructure," Millington Lockwood, NOS
• 10/11/94 - "Natural and Anthropogenic Events Impacting Florida Bay: 1910-1994 Time Line," Adriana Cantillo, ORCA
• 01/24/95 - "Internet, Gophers, and the World Wide Web," Patrick Stingley, NWS
• 02/28/95 - "Efforts to Access GIS Through Libraries," Marilyn Lutz, University of Maine
• 09/20/95 - "Unique and Historical Material at the NOAA Central Library - Part 1," Skip Theberge, NOS
• 09/26/95 - "Unique and Historical Material at the NOAA Central Library - Part 2," Skip Theberge, NOS
• 04/18/96 - "NOAA's Photo Library,"Carla Wallace, NOAA Central Library
• 06/06/96 - "NODC's 35th Anniversary," Don Collins et al., NODC
• 10/21-22/96 - "A Twister film presentation," comments by Joe Golden, OAR
• 01/09/97 - "The Wreck of the Historical World War II Japanese Submarine I-52," Dave Jourdan and Jeff Burns, Meridian Sciences, Columbia, MD
• 02/12/97 - "National Marine Sanctuaries Program 25th Anniversary; Outreach and Special Project," Stephanie Thornton, Sanctuaries and Reserves Division, Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management
• 04/17/97 - A "To Fly" film presentation in honor of Kurt Stehling
• 07/8/97 - "Global Oceanographic Data Research (GODAR) Project," Sydney Levitus, NODC
• 08/19/97 - "Red Tides and the Federal ECOHAB Program," Kevin Sellner, Coastal Ocean Program
• 10/02/97 - "Mapping the Ocean Floor from Space," Walter Smith, NODC Laboratory for Satellite Altimetry
• 10/30/97 - "2000 and Beyond - A New Millennium of Disasters," Bill Hooke, OAR, U.S. National Weather Program
• 12/04/97 - "Acid Rain: Science and Policy Issues," Michael Uhart, OAR
• 12/18/97 - "Update on El Niño: Getting Better or Getting Worse?" with John Kermond, Office of Global Programs

1998-1999 Brown Bags

• 01/22/98 - "NOAA's Role in the TWA Flight 800 Investigation," Sam Debow, Office of Coast Survey
• 02/05/98 - "Encore Presentation: NOAA's Role in the TWA Flight 800 Investigation," Sam Debow, Office of Coast Survey
• 03/19/98 - "Salmon and the Endangered Species Act," Joseph Blum, National Marine Fisheries Service
• 04/09/98 - "Women in Meteorology - A Global Perspective," Dian Gaffen, OAR
• 04/21-23/98 - Open House for National Library Week (10 a.m. - 3 p.m.) Highlights: Tour Special Collections, Tips for desktop searches, Plot historical maps, Discover the weather on your day of birth
• 06/16/98 - "NOAA's Role in the Development of the Civil Uses of the Global Positioning System (GPS) - Past, Present, and Future" by Dave Minkel, National Geodetic Survey
• 07/30/98 - "The Dynamic Ocean - Tracking Ocean Surface Temperature Features Through Time, as Tracked by Satellite Sensing Systems," Richard Legeckis, NESDIS Office of Research and Applications
• 08/27/98 - "Large Marine Ecosystems: Theory and Application," Ned Cyr, National Marine Fisheries Service
• 10/01/98 - "Is the United States Arctic Contaminated?" by Jawed Hameedi, National Ocean Service
• 01/15/99 - "Remote Sensing of Coral Reefs," Heather Holden, University of Waterloo
• 02/23/99 - "Protecting Endangered Right Whales from Ship Strikes," Gregory Silber, Office of Protected Resources, NMFS
• 03/25/99 - "The Environmental History of Biscayne Bay," Adriana Cantillo, National Ocean Service
• 04/13/99 - "A Plan for Global Coral Reef Monitoring," Clive Wilkinson, Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network and Gregor Hodgson, Reef Check
• 04/29/99 - "Climate Network Contributions to the Global Ocean Observing System Michael Johnson, Office of Global Programs
• 05/20/99 - The Ecological History of the Potomac River Fisheries," James Cummins, Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin,~ Past President of the Potomac Chapter of American Fisheries Society
• 06/08/99 - "Fellowship Programs of Japan's Science and Technology Agency," Katsuhisa Sagisaka, Deputy Director, Office for International Exchange Programs (STA) and Izumi Iketani, Chief Researcher, Division of International Affairs, Japan Science and Technology Corporation (JST)
• 07/29/99 - "NEXRAD Project," Robert Saffle, National Weather Service
• 08/05/99 - "May's Fury - Video Footage of the May 3, 1999 Oklahoma City Tornadoes," with comments by Joe Golden, OAR [This particular Brown Bag had at least five presentations over a 2-month period.]
• 10/19/99 - "Prince William Sound - Ten Years After the Exxon Valdez Disaster," Jeep Rice and Ron Heintz, NMFS Auke Bay Laboratory
• 11/04/99 - "Clouds, Rain, and Wonder," Hank Robinson, NWS
• 11/18/99 - "Mapping Oyster Habitat in Chesapeake Bay," Gary Smith, Maryland Department of Natural Resources.
• 12/16/99 - "Update on El Niño- Getting Better or Worse?" John Kermond, Office of Global Programs.

2000 Brown Bags

• 02/02/00 - "The History and Science of Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide; NOAA's Involvement," Dr. Lester Machta, former head of the Air Resources Laboratory
• 02/24/00 - "Maximum Sustainable Yield Reborn," Dr. Pamela Mace, NMFS Woods Hole Laboratory
• 03/09/00 - "Exploring Innerspace," Barbara Moore, Director of National Undersea Research Program
• 03/23/00 - "My Stamp on History," Rear Admiral Evelyn Fields, Director of the Office of Marine and Aircraft Operations
• 04/10/00 - "Alaska Predator Ecosystem Experiment and Findings," Bruce Wright of the NMFS Auke Bay Laboratory
• 04/11/00 - "Ecological Impacts of the EXXON VALDEZ Oil Spill," NMFS Auke Bay Laboratory
• 04/20/00 - "TIROS 40th Year Anniversary," Gregory Withee, Assistant Administrator for NESDIS
• 05/25/00 - "NOAA's Program on Noise and the Effects on Marine Animals," Dr. Roger Gentry, NMFS Office of Protected Resources

• 06/29/00 - "NOAA - Past, Present, and Future," Dr. D. James Baker, Administrator of NOAA

• 07/12/00 - "Weather Satellites: History and Future for Operational Use and Climate Research," Dr. S. Fred Singer, first Director of the U. S. Weather Satellite Service

• 08/31/00 - "OAR - Past, Present, and Future," Dr. David Evans, Assistant Administrator for the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research

• 09/26/00 - "Where the Detritus Hits the Alluvial Fan - The National Estuarine Research Reserves," Dr. David Niebuhr of the Chesapeake Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve.

• 10/26/00 - "Selling and Transforming Time," Dr. Ian Bartky (formerly of the National Bureau of Standards)

• 11/14/00 - "Adventures Under the Ozone Hole," Dr. Susan Solomon, OAR Aeronomy Laboratory

• 11/30/00 - "Review of East Coast Winter Storms," Dr. Louis Uccellini, National Centers for Environmental Prediction

• 12/07/00 - "Warming of the World Ocean," by Syd Levitus, Ocean Climate Laboratory, NODC

• 12/19/00 - "Nino, Nina, and NAO - The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly," John Kermond, Office of Global Programs

2001 Brown Bags

• 01/09/01 - "NWS - How We Serve the Nation," General Jack Kelly, Assistant Administrator for Weather Services and Director of the National Weather Service

• 03/13/01 - "The Future of NOAA - A Vision for the Twenty-First Century," Scott Gudes, Acting Administrator of NOAA

• 03/28/01 - "Horseshoe Crab Conservation Efforts," Dr. Carl Shuster, Jr., et al., Virginia Institute of Marine Science

• 04/10/01 - "The GLOBE Program: Environmental Science and Education for K-12 Students Worldwide at Over 10,1000 Schools in 96 Countries, Sponsored by NOAA, NASA, and EPA," Tom Pyke, Chief CIO, Director HPCC, and Head of the GLOBE Program

• 04/13/01 - "Declining Sea Otters and Ecosystem Changes in Alaska," Dr. James Estes, United States Geological Survey and University of California at Santa Cruz

• 04/19/01 - "Ocean Exploration in NOAA," Commander Craig McLean, Director of the Office of Ocean Exploration Michael Kelly, Deputy Director of the Office of Ocean Exploration

• 05/03/01 - "Environmental Satellite Remote Sensing of Snow Cover," Bruce Ramsay, NESDIS ORA

• 05/17/01 - "Our Positioning History," Charlie Challstrom, NOS NGS

• 05/30/01 - "Federal ECOHAB Program," Kevin Sellner, NOS, CSCOR

• 06/12/01 - "NOAA's Ocean Exploration Heritage," Skip Theberge, NESDIS, Library

• 06/28/01 - "Interactions among Systematics, Fisheries Agencies, and Marine Biodiversity," Dr. Michael Vecchione, Director NMFS National Systematics Laboratory

• 08/02/01 - "The Importance of Seaweed Aquaculture," Dr. Charles Yarish of the University of Connecticut at Stamford.

• 09/18/01 - "Socioeconomic Costs and Benefits of Marine Protected Areas," Betsy Nicholson of the NOS Coastal Ocean Program.

• 09/28/01 - "Estuary Live an Internet Presentation," the NOS National Estuarine Research Reserves

• 11/01/01 - "GIS Applications to Support Fishery Management," David Ball of the Marine and Freshwater Resources Institute of the Australian State of Victoria

• 11/28/01 - "Ocean Science Programs of the National Science Foundation," Dr. Alexander Shor of the National Science Foundation

• 12/14/01 - "Overview of the Ocean Exploration 2001 Expedition Season," Captain Craig McLean, Director of the Office of Ocean Exploration

• 12/18/01 - "AOGP, Education, and the World Wide Web," Dr. John Kermond of the Office of Global Programs

2002 Brown Bags

• 01/24/02 - "The Race to Save the Monitor," Dr. John Broadwater, Manager of the Monitor National Marine Sanctuary.

• 02/07/02 - "Weather and the Olympic Winter Games," Dr. John Kelley of the NOS Office of Coast Survey, Coast Survey Development Laboratory.

• 03/28/02 - "Climate Services in the U.S.: Some Historical Perspectives," Dr. Bob Reeves of the National Weather Service

• 04/11/02 - "Problems in Paradise--Water Quality and Coral Reef Health on the Caribbean Island of Tobago," Dr. Robert Reeves of the Buccoo Reef Trust.

• 04/16/02 - "Tampa Bay Bathy/Topo Project," by Robby Wilson of the Office of Coast Survey.

• 05/02/02 - "The Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS)," Dr. Fred Grassle of Rutgers University.

• 05/16/02 - "Arctic Ice," Dr. Konstantin Vinnikov of the University of Maryland

• 05/23/02 - "Art, Adventure, and Discovery Down Under," a discussion of scientific exploration and discovery in the Antarctic, Dr. Michael Van Woert of the National Ice Center

• 05/29/02 - "Going ... Going... Gone? Earth's Melting Tropical Glaciers", Bob Leffler, NWS Climate Services Division

• 06/05/02 - "Climate Controls on Sedimentation and Stratigraphy," Dr. Terry Edgar of the USGS

• 06/19/02 - "The Black Sea Oceanographic Observing System," Dr. Alexander Suvorov of the Marine Hydrophysical Institute of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences

• 06/20/02 - "The North American Monsoon," Dr. Wayne Wiggins, Principal Climate Scientist of the Center for Climate Prediction and of NCEP

• 08/29/02 - "Sound Velocity Fluctuations and their Effect on Multibeam Echosounder Surveys," Mr. Jorgen Eeg of the Royal Danish Administration of Navigation and Hydrography

• 09/12/02 - "Can We Make Essential Fish Habitat Both Ecologically Meaningful and a Useful Management Tool," Dr. Peter Auster of the University of Connecticut

• 09/19/02 - "ARGO -- the Global Array of Profiling Floats," Dr. Stan Wilson, Senior Scientist of NESDIS

• 09/25/02 - "Innovations in Aquaculture," Dr. Jim McVey of NOAA Research Sea Grant

• 10/10/02 - "The First Shot of the WWII Pacific Theater: The Role of the Japanese Imperial Navy's Midget Submarine," Al Kalvaitis of the NOAA Research National Undersea Research Program

• 10/17/02 - "IQ (Information Quality) Guidelines, a discussion of the "Data Quality Act," Carla Steinborn of the Office of the Chief Information Officer and Dr. Bonnie Ponwith of the National Marine Fisheries Service.

• 11/1/02 - "The Rapid Environmental Assessment Programme at the NATO SACLANT Undersea Research Centre," Dr. Bob Tyce, Oceanography Department Head, at the NATO SACLANT Undersea Research Centre at La Spezia, Italy

• 11/8/02 - "Ecological Forecasting: Definitions, Examples, and Prospects," Dr. Don Scavia, Chief Scientist of the National Ocean Service

• 11/13/02 - "Meteo-Management of the Steve Fossett Around-the-World Balloon Flight," Dr. David Dehenauw of the Royal Meteorological Institute of Belgium

• 11/21/02 - "Biogeoinformatics of Corals, Sea Anemones, and Their Allies," Dr. Daphne Fautin, Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Curator of the Natural History Museum and Biodiversity Research Center at the University of Kansas

• 12/04/02 - "Capabilities of the NOAA Fish LIDAR," Dr. James Churnside of the NOAA Environmental Technology Laboratory

• 12/05/02 - "Ocean Exploration 2002," Captain Craig Mclean, Director of the NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration

• 12/17/02 - "EPIC/TAS/NOAA/NSF -- Acronym Soup that Equals High Adventure," Dr. John Kermond of the Office of Global Programs

2003 Brown Bags

• 09/25/03 - "The Greatest Untold Story in America: The Rich Life and Tragic Death of Louisiana's Cajun Coast," Mike Tidwell
• 01/09/03 - "Tides and Their Effect on Some Events in History," Dr. Bruce Parker, Director of the Coast Survey Development Laboratory

• 01/29/03 - "Environmental Distance Learning," David Conrod of Conrod Communications Associates, a NOAA Fisheries Habitat Restoration Partner

• 02/06/03 - "Strike a Chord with Admiral Lautenbacher," Vice Admiral Conrad Lautenbacher, Administrator of NOAA

• 03/06/03 - Women's History Month seminar - " "Women in Cold War Oceanography: a Personal Perspective," Dr. Kathy Crane of the NOAA Arctic Research Office, as presented in her recent book, Sea Legs.

• 03/19/03 - "JASON XIV: From Shore to Sea," a visual journey through this year's JASON Project featuring the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary and Channel Islands National Park," Claire Johnson of the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary

• 03/20/03 - "The Grounding of the QUEEN ELIZABETH II and How It Changed Hydrography," Captain Nick Perugini, Chief of the Nautical Chart Division of the Office of Coast Survey

• 04/03/03 - "Arctic Exploration Today," Dr. Kathy Crane of the NOAA Arctic Program Office

• 04/23/03 - "Jaguars, Pumas, Prey Base, and Cattle Ranching in the Llanos Altos of Venezuela: Implications for Conservation," Dr. Michael Polisar of the United States Department of State

• 05/08/03 - "Disaster - American Style," Dr. Bill Hooke, Director of Atmospheric Policy Program and Senior Policy Fellow of the American Meteorological Society
• 05/12/03 - "Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority Representative Areas Program (RAP)," George Baldwin of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority of Australia
• 05/13/03 - "Monitoring Climate Change with an Arctic Seabird: The Response of Black Guillemots to a Warming Climate in Northern Alaska," Dr. George Divoky.of the University of Alaska, Fairbanks
• 05/22/03 - "What's Culture Got To Do With It? Blue Crab Research and Management in the Chesapeake Bay," Dr. Michael Paolisso of the University of Maryland Anthropology Department
• 06/03/03 - "A Land on Fire," James Fahn of the Ford Foundation
• 06/05/03 - "Women in Meteorology - An Update," Mary Glackin, NOAA Assistant Administrator for Policy, Planning, and Integration
• 06/26/03 - "Seaweed Aquaculture," Dr. C. H. Sohn of South Korea and of the University of Connecticut
• 07/22/03 - "The Role of Nearshore Ecosystems as Fish and Shellfish Nurseries," Dr. Michael W. Beck of UC Santa Cruz and Michael P. Weinstein of the New Jersey Marine Sciences Consortium
• 09/25/03 - "The Rich Life and Tragic Death of Louisiana's Cajun Coast," author Mike Tidwell
• 10/02/03 - "Blue Frontier/Saving America's Living Seas," author David Helvarg
• 10/07/03 - "Scuba-diving in the Barents Sea - The Invasion of the King Crab,s" Dr. Aleksey Zuyev of the Murmansk Marine Biological Institute and visiting scientist at NODC
• 10/14/03 - "The New Frontier for Aquaculture in New England: Offshore Farming of Finfish and Shellfish with Museel Tasting Session," Dr. Richard Langan, University of New Hampshire
• 11/06/03 - "Climate - A NOAA-Centric Tour," Dr. Dave Goodrich of the NOAA Climate Office
• 11/13/03 - "Exploring Alaskan Seamounts with the Submersible Alvin" by Dr. Brad Stevens of the NOAA Fisheries Kodiak Laboratory
• 11/20/03 - "The Hunt for the Alligator - the Union Navy's First Submarine," Catherine Marzine of the Office of National Marine Sanctuaries and Lt.(j.g.) Jeremy Weirich of the Office of Ocean Exploration
• 12/03/03 - "The United Nations Atlas of the Oceans," Dr. Frances Michaelis of NOAA Southwest Fisheries Science Center, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and the Australia Department of Sustained Fisheries
• 12/04/03 - "Adventure at Sea - Experiences on the NOAA Ship KA'IMIMOANA," Dr. John Kermond of the Office of Global Programs. Pre-seminar holiday music was provided by Aurelie Shapiro and Nikki Case of NOS.

2004 Brown Bags

• 01/06/04 - "The GhostNet Project: A High-seas Search for Derelict Fishing Nets," Dr. Jim Churnside of the OAR Environmental Technology Laboratory
• 01/23/04 - "Earth Observation Summit and the Work of the Group on Earth Observations," NESDIS Assistant Administrator Greg Withee
• 01/13/04 - "Climate and Society - Linking the Past to the Future," Dr. Ants Leetma, Director of the OAR Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory
• 03/03/04 - "The NWS Telecommunications Gateway," Fred Branski of the National Weather Service (NWS)
• 03/05/04 -"Climate and the Environment," Dr. Philip Reid, Director of the Sir Alistair Hardy Foundation for Ocean Science in Plymouth, United Kingdom (View the Powerpoint Slides)
• 03/10/04 - "Sea Grant meeting NOAA's needs: A Case Study of Fisheries Technology Transfer," Gary Graham, from NOAA's Texas Sea Grant program
• 03/25/04 - "CMORPH: A New High-resolution Global Precipitation Analysis System," Dr. John Janowiak of NCEP
• 04/13/04 - "Weird deep-sea squids and the nature of Natural History," Michael Vecchione of the NMFS Systematics Laboratory
• 04/14/04 - "Rescue at Sea: The American Experience," a video presented by Christopher D. Parris, a Telecommunciations Specialist in the National Weather Service
• 05/06/04 - "Global Sea Level Rise: The past decade versus the past 100 years", Dr. Laury Miller of the NESDIS Satellite Altimetry Laboratory
• 05/13/04 - "NOAA participation and cooperation in the development of the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History Hall of the Oceans," Captain Craig McLean, Director, Office of Ocean Exploration
• 05/14/04 - "Highlights of the April 2004 Submarine Ring of Fire Expedition to the Mariana Arc Submarine Volcanoes - Sulfurous Pits, CO2 Vents and Chemosynthetic Life in the Upper Ocean," Dr. Robert Embley of NOAA's Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (PMEL) and Chief Scientist of the Pacific Ring of Fire Expedition
• 05/10/04 - "The Alaska Earthquake Tsunami," a video highlighting the Alaska Good Friday Earthquake of March 27, 1964, with Kurt Byers, from NOAA's Alaska Sea Grant programli>

• 06/03/04 - "World War II Contributions of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey," Dr. John Cloud, historian associated with the NOAA Central Library, in honor of the 60th Anniversary of D-Day, discussed This presentation was accompanied by a Library display of World War II documents published by the Coast and Geodetic Survey and the Weather Bureau.
• 06/07/04 - Marine parameter data dictionaries, an important element of accessibility between holdings of multidisciplinary oceanographic data," Roy Lowery of the British Oceanographic Data Center
• 06/16/04 - "Rip Current Education, Awareness, and Forecasting: A NOAA partnership," Dr. Wendy Carey, Coastal Processes Specialist with NOAA's Delaware Sea Grant Program
• 06/18/04 - "The Bifurcation of the North Pacific Equatorial Current and its Significance in Climate," Dr. Tangdong Qu of the International Pacific Research Center, University of Hawaii
• 06/30/04 - "Late Summer Chlorophyll Blooms in the Oligotrophic North Pacific Subtropical Gyre," Dr. Cara Wilson of the Pacific Fisheries Environmental Laboratory
• 07/09/04 - "Studying the Coelacanth - A Microbiologist's Adventures with Old Four-Legs," Dr. Rosemary Dorrington of Rhodes University, Union of South Africa
• 08/03/04 -"A Celtic Shark in the Making," a seminar on marine science research and advances in Ireland and the European Union in general, with Dr. Peter Heffernan of the Marine Institute at Galway, Ireland
• 09/17/04 - "The activities of the Korean Oceanographic Data Center," Dr. Seung Heo of the Korean Oceanographic Data Center and the West Sea Fisheries Institute

• 09/30/04 - "U.S. Climate Change Science and Technology Programs," Dr. James Mahoney, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere, NOAA Deputy Administrator, and the Director of the Climate Change Science Program

• 10/14/04 - "Lessons from the Titantic," Lt. J.G. Weirich, a NOAA Corps officer working for NOAA’s Office of Ocean Exploration (OE) as the maritime archaeological program officer. He was a member of NOAA's June 2004 "Return to the Titanic" expedition. (View the Powerpoint Slides)
• 10/19/04 - "Invasive Species in the Great Lakes," Dr. Phil Moy of the University of Wisconsin Sea Grant
• 10/21/04 - "Bluefin Tuna Farming in the Mediterranean," Dr. John Dean of the University of South Carolina
• 10/29/04 - A new seminar series, the NOAA Education Seminar Series, a partnership between the NOAA Education Council and the NOAA Central Library, was kicked-off with "Research and Education: Volcanoes, Exploration and Life" by Veronique Robigou, Director of the REVEL Project at the University of Washington.
• Tuesday, November 2 - "An Ocean Apart", a sometimes irreverent look at how cultural differences between the United Kingdom and the United States affect our weather perceptions, with John Teather, former editor of the BBC Weather Centre, and Sir Bill Giles, formerly Senior Weatherman of the BBC
• 11/04/04 -"NOAA and the Preserve America Initiative," Cheryl Oliver of the National Marine Sanctuary Program
• 11/08/04 - "Meteorology, Oceanography and Polynesian Voyaging", accounts of long-distance Pacific voyaging in traditional craft using Polynesian navigation methods, with Bernard Kilonsky of the University of Hawaii
• Wednesday, November 10 - "NOAA Homeland Security Activities," Commander Phil Kenul, Director of the NOAA Homeland Security Office
• Wednesday, November 17 - "Greatest Hits of Lake Michigan Seamount Studies," Dr. Russell Cuhel of the University of Wisconsin at Madison
• Thursday, November 18 - "The Global Ocean Observing System," Michael Johnson of NOAA's Office of Global Programs (OGP) discussed
• 12/01/04 -"Revolution in Earth and Space Science Education," hosted by The NOAA Education Seminar Series, a partnership between the NOAA Education Council and the NOAA Central Library, with Dennis M. Bartels, President of TERC, and former director of the Center for Teaching and Learning (TERC) at the San Francisco Exploratorium, and Daniel Barstow, Director of TERC's Center for Earth and Space Science Education

• 12/10/04 - "Above and Beyond," the Library Annual Holiday Brown Bag seminar and extravaganza, with Dr. John Kermond of NOAA's Office of Global Programs (OGP). Refreshments for all as well as door prizes for lucky Library patrons.

2005 Brown Bags

• 01/07/05 - "North Pacific Climate Regimes and Ecosystem Productivity," Dr. Jeff Napp of NOAA Fisheries, Alaska Fisheries Science Center, and Dr. Phyllis Stabeno of NOAA Research, Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory
• 01/12/05 - "Lighthouses Across America," Elinor Dewire, lighthouse expert, author, and educator
• 01/27/05 - "Air Resources Laboratory Programs," Dr. Bruce Hicks, Director of the Air Resources Laboratory
• 02/02/05 - "Natural Disasters in International Affairs: Formulating Reconstruction Planning in NOAA," Dr. Nikola Garber of NOAA Research
• Discover the Treasures of NOAA's Ark during the First Annual NOAA Heritage Week, February 7-11, 2005, a week of exhibits and learning dedicated to celebrating NOAA's rich heritage in the NOAA Science Center in Silver Spring, 11 am-2 pm Monday - Thursday and 10am -4pm on Friday.
• 02/09/05 - "NWS Forecast Office Operations over Time" John Jones, Deputy Assistant Administrator, NOAA Weather Service, in celebration of the First Annual NOAA Heritage Week (View the Powerpoint Slides)
• 02/11/05 - RADM Sam DeBow, Director NOAA Corps, NOAA Marine and Aviation Operations, presented the evolution of survey technology over time and how modern survey technology helped them locate and map the wreck site of TWA flight 800.
• 03/03/05 - Dr. Peter A. Rona, Professor of Marine Geology and Geophysics at the Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences, Rutgers University, presented "Volcanoes of the Deep Sea: The Science Behind the IMAX Films." The film, and another IMAX film, "Aliens of the Deep," illuminate discoveries of hydrothermal vents and vent ecosystems in the deep ocean. You can check out Volcanoes of the Deep Sea from the NOAA Central Library.
• 03/10/05 - Chet Arnold and Dave Dickson of the University of Connecticut presented "Helping Coastal Communities Balance Growth and Natural Resource Protection: NEMO, the NEMO Network and NOAA." The National NEMO Network is a network of education programs teaching local land use decision makers about the relationship between land use and natural resource protection. Chet Arnold is the Associate Director of the University of Connecticut Center for Land Use Education and Research, and a Water Quality Educator with UConn Department of Extension and Connecticut Sea Grant. Dave Dickson is the National NEMO Network Coordinator, and a Natural Resource Management Educator with UConn Department of Extension.
• 03/17/05 - Dr. Jim Sanchirico of Resources for the Future presented ""No-take Zones as Optimal Fishery Management."
• 04/07/05 - Dr. Jamie L. King of NOAA's Cheasapeake Bay Program Office presented "A New Oyster for Chesapeake Bay? Status of the Asian Oyster EIS and NOAA's Research Initiative." The talk focused on the Asian oyster C. ariakensis and the issues surrounding the possible introduction of this species into Chesapeake Bay. (View the Powerpoint Slides)
• 04/14/05 - Dr. Thomas Chen of the University of Connecticut Department of Molecular and Cell Biology presented "Manipulation of Innate Immunity Genes for Enhancement of Resistance to Bacterial and Viral Pathogens in Finfish and Shellfish Aquaculture."
• 04/21/05 - Roger L. Gentry, Ph.D., NOAA Office of Protected Resources, presented "How NOAA Helped Reveal the Lives of Diving Animals Through Instruments," an historical review of the evolution of instrumentation and marne mammals.
• 05/12/05 - Dr. Wayne Coats of the Smithsonian Institution presented "Microbial Controls of Chesapeake Bay Phytoplankton."
• 05/19/05 - Dr. Grier, Associate Professor in the Center for International Science and Technology Policy at George Washington University, presented "When Computers Were Human."
• 06/02/05 - Dr. Spencer Weart of the American Institute of Physics Center for History of Physics presented "The Discovery of Global Warming." See also Dr. Weart's comprehensive history, The Discovery of Global Warming.
• 06/09/05 - Vincent Mudrake, Director of the USFWS Warm Springs Regional Fisheries Center, Warm Springs, Georgia, presented "Recovering the Endangered Shortnose Sturgeon through Innovative Techniques and Interagency Partnerships."
• 06/16/05 - John Frece of the National Center for Smart Growth Research and Education presented "Growth and Development on the Coast: What Does it Mean for You?" This was the first of a series of Seminars on Smart Growth.

• 06/23/05 - "Movie Time", the Library presented "Volcanoes of the Deep Sea", originally an IMAX movie, and a historic look back at a major NOAA science program, "GATE:Global Atmospheric Research Program."

• 06/26/05 - Dr Cicin-Sain, Director of the Gerard J. Mangone Center for Marine Policy at the University of Delaware, discussed the Center's Offshore Aquaculture Policy Framework project. More information on the work of the Center is available on the Internet at http://www.ocean.udel.edu/cmp.

• 06/28/05 - John Bailey, Director of the Urban Institute's Smart Growth Institute, presented "Lessons from Reality Check and Success Stories from Around the Metropolitan DC Region”.

• 08/10/05 - Dr. Rennie Holt, Director of the Antarctic Ecosystem Research Division at NOAA Fisheries’ Southwest Fisheries Science Center, discussed "Antarctica: The Last Great Place on Earth, NOAA Fisheries' Role in Preserving its Marine Living Resources: The U.S. Antarctic Marine Living Resources Program."

• 09/15/05 - Mel Tull and Gary Stith, both from the Montgomery County Silver Spring Redevelopment Office, discused the revitalization of Silver Spring. This was the third Smart Growth Seminar.
• 09/20/05 - Susan Carlson, director of Environmentors, introduced NOAA staff to EnvironMentors and the opportunity to serve as a mentor. Mentors work with a D.C. high school student and teacher on developing environmental science projects over the academic year.
• 09/21/05 - Stephanie Showalter, Director of the National Sea Grant Law Center, presented "An Overview of the Law Center's Services and Role in the Sea Grant Community as it Serves NOAA and the Nation." She will present the results of recent Law Center research efforts and encourage dialogue between Law Center staff and NOAA attorneys.
• 10/1/05 - Kristen M. Fletcher, Roger Williams University School of Law, and Paul C. Ticco, Coastal States Organization, presented "Kelo v. New London: Implications for Coastal Management."
• 10/18/05 - Members of the NOAA Mediators Cadre, NOAA Alternative Dispute Resolution Program, presented "Have your work relationships run aground?" Ever wondered how to resolve your differences at work easily? Hear how your NOAA Alternative Dispute Resolution Program works and watch a mediation.

• 10/20/05 - David Kuykendall of Montgomery County's Department of Permitting Services presented "Water quality issues in downtown Silver Spring redevelopment project." This was the 3rd seminar in the joint NOAA/EPA Smart Growth Seminar Series.
• 10/19/05 - Dr. Franklin Schwing, NMFS Southwest Fisheries Science Center, presented "Climate Variability in the California Current Ecosystem: Implications for Marine Populations."

• 11/19/05 - The fourth seminar in our series of Seminars on Smart Growth featured Tom Gallas from TortiGallas, presenting "Working to build better places: Bringing the public and private sectors together."

• 12/01/05 - Tundi Agardy, member of the federal advisory committee on Marine Protected Areas, presented "MPA Networks: Are They Important? More Importantly, Are They Feasible?" Dr. Agardy presented her views on what constitutes a regional network of Marine Protected Areas, and why such large scale networks are a crucial step in moving towards more effective, ecosystem-based management. She will also speak to the growing interest in ocean zoning, and how MPA networks form a logical basis for zoning plans. Finally, she addressed feasibility and whether the world is ready for such ambitious marine protection. (View the Powerpoint Slides)

• 12/08/05 - Peter Leigh, of NOAA's Office of Habitat Conservation, presented "The ecological crisis, the human condition, and community-based restoration as an instrument for its cure." The full-text of Peter's paper on this topic is available online: http://www.int-res.com/articles/esep/2005/E60.pdf.

• 12/12/05 - Dr. Tony Ribbink, Director, African Coelacanth Ecosystem Programme, South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity, presented "The African Coelacanth Ecosystem Programme: Biodiversity and Biomass."

• 12/15/05 - The 4th in our series of NOAA/EPA Smart Growth and Coastal Communities Speaker Series will featured Lynn Richards from EPA's Development, Community & Environment Division. Ms. Richards discussed the environmental benefits of smart growth development practices. The talk will cover many of the air and water quality issues that result from conventional development practices and how smart growth approaches can help lead to better environmental outcomes.

• 12/21/05- Dr. John Kermond presented the traditional Library Holiday Seminar. This was the eighth installment of giveaways, quizzes, and great information concerning climate, global programs, and Teacher at Sea.

2006 Brown Bags

• 01/26/06 - Lt. Jeff Shoup, NOAA Corps, presented "SARSAT 101," a discussion of NOAA's Search and Rescue Satellite communication system.
• 02/07/06 12:00 – 1:30 pm in the NOAA Science Center SSMC#4 - Dave Alberg, Hans Van Tilburg, and Dede Marx presented "Maritime Heritage in NOAA’s National Marine Sanctuaries". (presented as part of NOAA Heritage Week.)

• 02/08/06 12:00 – 1:30 pm in the NOAA Science Center SSMC#4 - Taylor Morrison, author and artist of "The Coast Mappers" presented: "Bringing NOAA's History to Life Through the Art of the Picture Book." (presented as part of NOAA Heritage Week.)

• 03/06/06 - Steve Reilly, Director, Protected Resources Division, and Lisa Ballance, leader of the Ecosystems Studies Group, both of the NOAA Southwest Fisheries Science Center, discussed "Protected Species Ecosystem Approaches to Management."

• 03/1306 - The Czech Hydrometeorological Institute And Flood Warning Services In The Czech Republic" by Jan Danhelka, Milan Salek, Tomas Vlasak of the Czech Hydrometeorological Institute (Prague – Brno - Ceske Budejovice).
• 03/14/06 - Ed Melvin, Marine Fisheries Specialist from the Washington Sea Grant Program, presented "Reducing Seabird Bycatch in the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska Longline Fisheries."
• 03/16/06 - Dr. John Cloud, historian at the NOAA Central Library presented "Oceanography between the wars: The Coast and Geodetic Survey and the contested discovery of the deep sound channel in the ocean." This was be presented as part of the prestigious Historical Seminar on Contemporary Science and Technology series at the National Air and Space Museum.
• 03/28/06 - Barbara A. Block, of the Tuna Research and Conservation Center of Stanford University, presented "Electronic Tags Reveal the Migrations, Behaviors and Population Structure of Northern Bluefin Tuna in the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean" by Dr. Barbara Block of the Tuna Research and Conservation Center of Stanford University.

• 03/30/06 - Timothy Keeney, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere, presented "Ocean and atmospheric observations and NOAA's relevance". The powerpoint slides for this presentation are available at http://www.pco.noaa.gov/presentation.htm. This was a joint NODC/NOAA Central Library seminar to be presented at the NOAA Central Library.

• 04/04/06 - Dr. Timothy Essington of the University of Washington and Dr. David Conover of Stony Brook University, New York, presented "The Unforeseen Ecosystem and Evolutionary Impacts of Fishing: Applying Lessons Learned to Magnuson Reauthorization." Note: This seminar will be from 10:00 - 11:00 am.
  Abstract: New findings in fisheries science are revealing unexpected consequences of fishing. These include simultaneous depletion of many species within the same ecosystem (risking ecosystem collapse) and rapid evolution of heavily fished species towards smaller, less fit individuals. By targeting the biggest fishes and removing them from the breeding population, ‘human selection’ is affecting the productivity of commercial fisheries. Fifty years ago the mean length of cod in the Gulf of Maine was 32 inches – today the mean length is only 12 inches. The impending reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Act is a critical opportunity to incorporate what science now teaches us into a new ecosystem approach to fisheries management. Dr. Essington and Dr. Conover, scientists at the forefront of evolutionary biology and fisheries ecology, will present their recent research and discuss its implications for fisheries management.

• 04/10/06 - Captain Albert Theberge (Skip) of the NOAA Central Library, presented "NOAA: 200 Years of Science and Service." (View the Powerpoint slides in pdf format)

• 04/13/06 - Dr. Richard W. Spinrad, Assistant Administrator of NOAA Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR), presented "Contribution of NOAA to the U.S. and International Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS)".
• 05/04/2006 - Dr. David Pawson, a Senior Research Scientist at the Smithsonian Institution Museum of Natural History presented a NOAA Heritage Seminar "Austin Hobart Clark, Naturalist on the “Albatross” in 1906 and Smithsonian Curator 1908-1950: here’s a guy who put NOAA and the Smithsonian on the map in more ways than one!"
• 05/09/2006 - Roy Mendelssohn, Supervisory Operations Research Analyst at NOAA Fisheries, SWFSC, Environmental Research Division, Pacific Grove (http://www.pfeg.noaa.gov), presented "A Reanalysis of North Pacific Sea Surface Temperatures Using State-Space Techniques: The PDO Redefined." The first part of the talk will be a non-technical overview of the state-space related methodologies that are used to analyze oceanographic and atmospheric series, and a discussion of some of the issues in accurately identifying shifts or non-stationarities in time series. In the second part of the talk, the speaker will present a reanalysis of the North Pacific sea surface temperatures (SST) used in estimating the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) using a combination of state-space decomposition and subspace identification techniques.
• 05/11/2006 - Dr. Carlos Cotlier, Director, Remote Sensing Center, National University of Rosario, Argentina (www.fceia.unr.edu.ar/csr), presented a seminar "Comparative Research Between NOAA and Feng Yun Satellite Images for Determining the Capabilities of Land covers Studies with aid of SAC-C (Argentina) and Landsat 5 TM USA Images-Study Area: Salado River Source."
• 05/22/2006 - In honor of National Maritime Day, 5 high school students from the Ballard Maritime Academy at Ballard High School in Washington state discussed NOAA's role in supporting the academy, how students have benefited from the program, and an overview of the academy's curriculum and history. NOAA awards a grant each year to the academy to fund curriculum development and a trip to Washington, D.C. for 5 Ballard students and 2 teachers.
• 06/06/06 - Christine Keiner, Associate Professor of Science, Technology and Society, Rochester Institute of Technology, presented ""Debating the Deliberate Introduction of Non-Native Oysters to the Chesapeake Bay: A Historical Analysis"."
• 06/28/06 - A presentation was made by Theodoris Corbett, program manager of the Presidential Management Fellows (PMF) Program. This will be the first of three presentations on this important program.

• 07/06/06 - Dr. Dale Haidvogel, Professor of Marine and Coastal Sciences, Rutgers University, presented "Global Drivers, Local Impacts: New Models and Methods in Support of Ecosystem-based Management".
  Abstract: The last decade has seen an unprecedented improvement in our ability to observe, to model and to understand the global ocean circulation and its accompanying chemical, biological and geological systems. Here we review recent progress in understanding the effects of global climate variability on regional ecosystems dynamics, with a particular focus on the legacy of the US GLOBEC program. In particular, we note the evolution and successful deployment of end-to-end systems for high-resolution coupled studies of regional climate impacts. Illustrations are drawn from the US East and West Coasts, and the Bering Sea. New approaches to, and opportunities for, ecosystems-based management are highlighted.

• 07/13/06 - Scott Rayder, NOAA Chief of Staff, presented a seminar on NOAA's Vision and Future. (View the Powerpoint slides) This was a joint NODC/NOAA Central Library seminar.
• 07/27/06 - Naomi Oreskes, Ph.D., History Department & Program in Science Studies, University of California, San Diego, presented "Consensus in Science: How Do We Know We're Not Wrong?" Dr. Oreskes gave this talk at the 2004 AAAS Sarton Memorial Lecture.

• 07/27/06 - 08/23/06 - Karen Kohanowich, Deputy Director of NOAA's National Undersea Research Program, spoke about her week-long adventures with NASA astronauts on board the Aquarius, the NOAA underwater sea lab based off the coast of Florida in the Florida Keys Marine Sanctuary. Karen and the NASA astronauts conducted center of gravity tests to determine optimal weights for spacesuits for fights to the Moon and Mars. The tests were conducted as part of a NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NeeMO) expedition. (View the Powerpoint slides)

• 09/20/06 - Lee Larkin and Vicki Clark of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) have developed a new NOAA collection of education products on the Bridge, an online Sea Grant Ocean Sciences Education Center. "Helping to BRIDGE the Gap between NOAA Science and K-12 Education", presented a discussion of their work in setting up this online database of NOAA education products.

• 10/12/06 - John Hessler of the Library of Congress discussed the Martin Waldseemuller Map. Acquired by the Library of Congress in 2003, "Waldseemuller's map supported Amerigo Vespucci's revolutionary concept of the New World as a separate continent, which, until then, was unknown to the Europeans. It was the first map, printed or manuscript, to depict the lands of a separate Western Hemisphere and with the Pacific as a separate ocean. The map reflected a huge leap forward in knowledge, recognizing the newly found American land mass and forever changing mankind's understanding and perception of the world itself."
• 10/25/2006 - "Whatever happened to Terrestrial Magnetism?" was presented by Greg Good, historian of geophysics and geomagnetism at West Virginia University; Associate Editor, Geology and Geophysics journal

  Abstract:
  In 1900, researchers interested in Earth's magnetism generally proclaimed all facets of magnetic phenomena to be within their purview. Most researchers, including those at the Coast Survey and its successor agencies, called themselves 'magneticians' first and physicists or geologists second. From the time of the second superintendent of the Coast Survey, AD Bache, until the mid-20th century, Earth's magnetism was a major focus of Survey activity. After WW II, specialization both in the agency and outside it increased. Distinct magnetic research areas appeared: geodynamo theory and the study of the core-mantle boundary; palaeomagnetism and its growing connection to geology; and the magnetism of near space, among others. The earlier unity dissolved and Terrestrial Magnetism fragmented. The US government redistributed the activities of the old Coast Survey among ESSA, NOAA, the US Geological Survey, NASA, and other new players. Fragmentation — both institutional and conceptual — produced a loss of community and of memory. The 200th anniversary of the founding of the Coast Survey is an appropriate time to reflect on these large scale and complex changes.

• 10/26/2006 "West Coast Marine Managed Areas: Trends in Place-Based Ocean Management" with Dr. Charles Wahle, Director, Science Institute, National Marine Protected Areas Center and Dr. Brian Jordan, Maritime Archaeologist, National Marine Protected Areas Center

  Abstract:
  Marine managed areas (MMAs) are special places in ocean, coastal and estuarine ecosystems where vital natural and cultural resources are given greater protection than in surrounding waters. Currently, there are more than 1,500 MMAs documented in U.S. marine waters and the Great Lakes, managed by hundreds of distinct federal, state and tribal authorities. This seminar will present information on MMAs in California, Oregon and Washington, where the National Marine Protected Areas Center is initiating a West Coast Pilot project with federal, state, and tribal partners to facilitate the use of area-based management as a tool for conserving important marine resources and support the development of a regionally-based national system of marine protected areas. Data will be presented on the number, area, type, and level of protection within MMAs nationally and on the West Coast. In addition, a subset of located historic and non-historic submerged shipwrecks and aircraft has been analyzed to identify the number of known cultural resources within and outside West Coast MMAs, and the degree to which cultural resources are protected by current MMAs authorities.

• 11/02/06 - Doubleheader! Seminars at 12 noon AND 2 pm!

  12 noon: Sea Grant seminar: "Sea Grant Cooperative Efforts After Hurricanes Katrina and Rita"

  Presenters include:
  Mike Liffman, NOAA/Sea Grant - Louisiana Sea Grant Extension Leader
  Rusty Gaude, NOAA/Sea Grant - Louisiana Sea Grant Extension Fisheries agent
  Eric Olsson, NOAA/Sea Grant - Washington Sea Grant Marine Oil Spill Prevention specialist
  Wayne and Nancy Weikel - private citizens and FEMA volunteers

  Abstract:
  In the days and months that followed the devastation of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in the Gulf of Mexico region, NOAA Sea Grant was among the many NOAA partners that responded. As a national program, Sea Grant has the unique ability and university infrastructure to bring resources to bear from across the nation, and the post-hurricane response was no exception. This seminar will highlight Sea Grant's cooperative efforts in the Gulf and will touch on some of the numerous partnerships that made them possible, including work with FEMA and other agencies. One specific example that will be highlighted is the national effort that was led by Alaska Sea Grant, Washington Sea Grant, Louisiana Sea Grant, and private citizens to transport a ship travel lift from Alaska to the Gulf region.

• 2 pm: "Studying Bahamian ecological and human seascapes to model networks of marine protected areas in coral reef ecosystems" discussion by Dr. Dan Brumbaugh, Senior Conservation Scientist at the American Museum of Natural History's Center for Biodiversity and Conservation (New York, NY). Sponsored by NOAA's Office of Education.

  Abstract:
  Little research to date has addressed how networks of ecologically-connected marine protected areas (MPAs) should be designed to function across realistic seascapes that include both natural and human dimensions. The Bahamas Biocomplexity Project (BBP; see http://bbp.amnh.org), a large collaborative project, was initiated to address this important need for integrated, interdisciplinary research in the context of recent management initiatives in The Bahamas. Drawing on approaches from oceanography, population genetics, ecology, anthropology, and economics, the BBP is integrating theory and data in statistical, analytical, and computational models about Bahamian coastal dynamics. Major areas of interest include the critical seascape dimensions for conservation planning and the crucial interactions and feedbacks among physical, biological, and social systems that can influence how marine protected areas (MPAs) and MPA  networks function. In The Bahamas, several lines of evidence, including variation in species-habitat relationships, population genetics, and sociopolitical considerations, suggest that primary conservation planning for coral reef ecosystems should occur at the scale of major islands. Data and models also suggest that MPA planning for biodiversity and fisheries objectives will benefit from greater consideration of the dynamic feedbacks that may result from the implementation of MPAs in ecological and human seascapes. This presentation provides an overview of certain BBP research objectives, approaches, and results about seascape structure and function and their significance for MPA planning across the Bahamian archipelago and, by extension, archipelagic coral reef ecosystems elsewhere.  The presentation will also highlight a few research and educational tools that have been produced by the AMNH and are available via the internet.

• 11/16/06 - "Riding the World’s Biggest Wave: Stories of the Survival and Recovery of People and the Marine Environment from the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami" presented by Dwayne Meadows, Ph.D. Fishery Management Specialist, National Marine Fisheries Service, Office of Protected Resources

  Abstract:
  At the time of the 2004 tsunami Dwayne was a coral reef ecologist at the National Marine Fisheries Services’ Pacific Islands Fishery Science Center in Hawaii. After a three day SCUBA diving vacation trip, he stayed the night in Khao Lak, Thailand; the worst hit part of Thailand where 80% of the 10,000 deaths occurred. At the time of the tsunami he was in a bungalow 50 feet from the ocean. Our group of 1000 survivors was cut off from assistance for over one day. This presentation is the story of the survival and recovery of many heroic and inspirational people during those horrible those days. It is also the story of how the NOAA and professional medical and ecosystem restoration training he had was able to be used to aid the survivors and the country. After the tsunami Dwayne returned twice to Thailand to advise and assist in the process of marine debris removal from around sensitive coral reefs throughout Thailand, something he had experience with working for NOAA in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. Dwayne will also discuss work he assisted in to restore hard and soft corals in some marine parks.

• 11/29/06 - "What Americans Really Think About Climate Change: Attitude Formation and Change in Response to a Raging Scientific Controversy," presented by Jon A. Krosnick, Professor in Humanities and Social Sciences, Stanford University. Many of Dr. Krosnick's publications can be viewed on his faculty website. Other articles:
  "American opinion on global warming: The impact of the Fall 1997 debate" appeared in the journal Public Understanding of Science, 2000, vol. 9, no. 3. Abstract is available for free.
  "The Origins and Consequences of democratic citizens' Policy Agendas: A Study of Popular Concern about Global Warming" appeared in the journal Climatic Change, July 2006, vol. 77, no. 1-2. Abstract is available for free.

Abstract:
During the past decade, many scientific experts have been frustrated by the American public's apparent indifference to climate change and the threats it may pose. Just a few weeks ago, a headline on newspapers across the country proclaimed: "Scientists and the American Public Disagree Sharply Over Global Warming." Is it really true? Do Americans really not yet accept the opinions of scientific experts on climate change? In this presentation, Professor Jon Krosnick will present findings from a series of national surveys that he has designed and conducted since 1996, tracking what Americans do and do not believe on this issue and what they do and do not want to have done about it. The survey results are surprising in many ways.

• Friday, December 8, 2006 - Library Holiday Extravaganza includes refreshments and the annual presentation by Jon Kermond of NOAA's Climate Office.
• Wednesday, December 13, at 11:30 a.m. - Brigadier General D.L. Johnson, U.S. Air Force (Ret.), Assistant Administrator for Weather Services and Director, NOAA National Weather Service, will present "Services Evolution: Evolving the National Weather Service Concept of Operations" in the NOAA Auditorium. View the Powerpoint Slides (pdf;2MB)

  Abstract: Our Nation's needs for weather, water, and climate information are evolving. The post-9/11, post-Hurricane Katrina environment requires robust climate and environmental/health services and public awareness efforts to prepare for and respond to manmade and natural disasters.

  The NOAA National Weather Service (NWS) of the future must provide greater value by being a flexible and efficient service organization that gives local forecast offices the freedom to focus on high-impact events, collaborates with other NOAA components and external partners, increases IMET-type support for events beyond fire weather, and maximizes the value of new science and technology.

The NWS is in the process of prototyping three Services Evolution Initiatives that will position the agency for the future and may lead to fundamental changes in the way the agency operates. Join General Johnson in this brown bag session to learn about the exciting period of discovery the agency is currently undertaking.

• Thursday, December 14 - Kimberly Davis and Mike Osmond of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF)will present "WWF's Smart Gear International Competition" in NOAA Central Library at 12 noon.

  Abstract: WWF 's International Smart Gear Competition, created in 2004, brings together the fishing industry, research institutes, universities, and government, to inspire and reward practical, innovative fishing gear designs that reduce bycatch -the accidental catch and related deaths of sea turtles, birds, marine mammals, cetaceans and nontarget fish species in fishing gear such as longlines and nets. This most pressing threat to marine life needs a wide-ranging, multidisciplinary response, and WWF believes the Smart Gear competition will help catalyze that response by encouraging creative thinkers everywhere to share their ideas. Applicants are asked to submit their ideas for modified fishing gears and procedures that increase selectivity for target fish species and reduce bycatch for other species. The competition is open to eligible entrants from any background and a diverse group responded in the first year, including gear technologists, fishermen, engineers, chemists, and inventors. More than 50 entries were received from 16 countries during the first year of the competition. These entries were judged by an international panel made up of gear technologists, fisheries experts, representatives of the seafood industry, fishermen, scientists, researchers and conservationists. The competition awards a $25,000 first prize and two $5,000 runner-up prizes for the best ideas.

2007 Brown Bags

• Thursday, January 11, 2007 - Repeat Presentation! For those who missed this compelling eyewitness account of surviving the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami, Dr. Dwayne Meadows, NOAA NMFS Office of Protected Resources , will present "Riding the Worlds Biggest Wave: Stories of the Survival and Recovery of People and the Marine Environment from the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami."
• Thursday, January 25, 2007 - Doctoral Student Joseph Bassi presented "How NOAA Got to Boulder", a discussion of the beginnings of the NOAA Boulder Laboratories.
• Thursday, February 1, 2007 - Author and former NOAA employee Sandy Burke discussed her new book, "Let the River Run Silver Again", an account of the saving of the shad fishery on the Potomac River and a guidebook for citizen participation in helping the recovery of endangered fisheries. This seminar was co-sponsored by the NOAA Office of Education.
• Monday, February 12, from 2:30 to 3:30 pm - Admiral Hector Soldi, Director of IMARPE in Lima, Peru (Peruvian Institute for Study of the Sea), presented a "The role of IMARPE in the management of the Peruvian Fisheries."

  Abstract: The ocean off the west coast of South America is notable because it produces more fish per unit area than any other region in the world oceans. However, this area is intimately linked to the ocean-atmosphere coupling over the tropical Pacific, and therefore subject to large year-to-year and decade-to-decade fluctuations in regional ocean climate. Operational fisheries management is the main role of IMARPE. This task is now evolving away from a monospecific to an "Ecosystem-Based" paradigm. This new approach appears to be particularly appropriate for the Humboldt or Peru Current System, where the uncertainty associated with high ocean variability and regime shifts represent major challenges for Ecology and Fisheries research. After many years of managing the main anchovy fisheries stocks in Peru, IMARPE has developed several tools using experience and existing models to manage this complex ocean ecosystem and its main fisheries. However, several conditions like the large fishing fleet and the impact of warm periods associated with El Nino in the anchovy stock are still important challenges in the management of the Peruvian Fisheries.

• Wednesday, February 21, 2007 - Presentation by Nolan Doesken and Henry Reges, of the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network (CoCoRaHS). CoCoRaHS is a recipient of NOAA's Environmental Literacy Grants Program. This brown bag was sponsored by the NOAA Office of Education.

  Abstract: What do meteorologists, hydrologists, farmers, emergency managers, newspaper reporters, golfers and baseball players have in common? They all keep track of precipitation! Precipitation is one of the most important of all climate elements for daily life. Yet, precipitation varies tremendously from place to place and from month to month and year to year. These variations have widespread impacts. This seminar will describe a project where people of all ages, using very simple and low cost instruments, are helping scientists study storms and precipitation patterns. Volunteers provide valuable data for NOAA applications while learning directly about climate processes, impacts and research. Methods for measuring rain, hail and snow will be demonstrated, and CoCoRaHS results will be shown including precipitation patterns from recent storms.

• Thursday, March 1, 2007 - Doria Grimes, NOAA Central Library, presented "George Washington Carver – Voluntary Weather Observer."

  Abstract: From Nov. 1899 through Jan. 1932, daily weather observations were submitted from Tuskegee, Alabama, on government Form 1009 as part of the Cooperative Observer Program. Most of these daily observations were handwritten and signed by George Washington Carver. How was he able to execute daily weather observations in conjunction with his teaching, travel, and research activities with peanuts, pecans, soybeans, fertilizers, cotton, etc? Did he labor as meticulously with this data as he did with his agricultural products? Not really! A review of correspondence to and from Carver and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Weather Bureau reveal interesting facets of his personality and accomplishments during this period. The Tuskegee weather observations have been imaged and are now available online at http://docs.lib.noaa.gov/rescue/gw_carver_tuskegee/data_rescue_tuskegee_observations.html.

• Thursday, March 8, 2007 - Dr. Richard Langan, Director, University of New Hampshire Open Ocean Aquaculture Program, presented "Advancements in Open Ocean Aquaculture."

  Abstract: This presentation will review the current status, opportunities and challenges for further development of open ocean aquaculture in the U.S. Aquaculture development in the U.S. and worldwide is facing constraints on expansion in protected, near shore marine environments where sea conditions are favorable for surface-referenced culture. In some areas, the carrying capacity of embayments has been exceeded, while in others, concerns about environmental impacts, multiple use conflicts, and resistance by shorefront property owners has limited opportunities for growth. Moving culture operations to open ocean environments where more space is available and environmental impacts can be minimized has been proposed as a possible solution. While offshore waters offer ample opportunity for expansion, the high-energy environment of the open ocean presents significant technical and operational challenges, requiring new approaches to sea cage and shellfish farming. An additional factor for the U.S. is the recent federal government directive to implement ecosystem-based management. Therefore, in addition to overcoming the technical challenges, offshore aquaculture must be developed in a manner consistent with the goals of integrated coastal and ocean management.

• Wednesday, May 2, 2007 - Helen Wood, NOAA's GEOSS Integration Manager, presented "What is GEOSS and Why Do We Care?" Powerpoint presentation (pdf; 2.2MB) to accompany talk.

  Abstract: GEOSS stands for the Global Earth Observation System of Systems. The intergovernmental Group on Earth Observations (GEO) is leading a worldwide effort to build a GEOSS. This is an activity that NOAA and the United States initiated in 2003. Its purpose is to provide comprehensive, coordinated Earth observations from thousands of instruments worldwide, transforming the data they collect into vital information for society.

Since then over 65 governments and more than 40 international organizations have joined the activity from around the World. Back home, the US has formed a national, interagency planning and coordination committee, the "USGEO", that reports to the President's National Science and Technology Council. NOAA Administrator Conrad Lautenbacher is the US co chair of GEO. In June 2005 he named Helen Wood as the NOAA GEOSS Integration Manager. Earlier she served as Director of the Secretariat for the intergovernmental Group on Earth Observations, from its formation in 2003 until September 2005. Recently she was appointed co-chair of the USGEO.

• Thursday, May 3 - Dr. Scott Gende, ecologist of the Glacier Bay Field Station of Glacier Bay National Park discussed "The Whales and Cruise Ships of Glacier Bay".

  Abstract: With abundant marine wildlife and numerous tidewater glaciers, Glacier Bay National Park is a coveted destination for cruise ships in Alaska. On average, about 95% of the approximately 350,000 visitors per year that visit Glacier Bay arrive aboard cruise ships. Regulation of ship entries into the park is guided by the recently completed Vessel Quota and Operating Requirements Final EIS. The FEIS maintained the maximum of 2 ship entries per day, but allowed for an increase of up to 32% in the number of seasonal entries. The decision to allow for an increase in ship entries will be based, in part, on studies that examine the potential impacts that the increase may have on resources in the park. Dr. Gende will briefly describe mandates of the park and management of vessel traffic. He will also describe the suite of studies currently under way addressing potential impacts from cruise ships, including an effort intended to quantify the encounter rate (how often and how close) between cruise ships and humpback whales using data collected from shipboard observers. The encounter rate data will be folded into probabilistic-based models to estimate the probabilities of a ship strike under different conditions (locations within the park, whale densities, ship speed, weather, behavior of whales at time of encounter, etc.). Many of these studies are currently under way and thus the focus will be on describing their progress, methods, and types of effects examined.

• Wednesday, May 16 - Dr. John Cloud, NOAA Central Library Historian, will present "The Creme of American Cartography 'Greatest Hits' from the Coast and Geodetic Survey's Library and Archives Collection", a NOAA Heritage Seminar. Powerpoint Presentation.

  Abstract: Behind the charts published by NOAA there has always existed an understructure of precise geodetic networks and original manuscript maps and other data, which converge in the charts. NOAA's system traces back directly to practices developed by Ferdinand Hassler, A.D. Bache and their staffs in the 1830s and 1840s for the Survey of the Coast. For more than a century, all these elements were gathered in the Coast and Geodetic Survey's Library and Archives Collection. The Library remains, but the Archives were dispersed--until now! Highlights from the former Archives now in the National Archives have been scanned through NOAA's Climate Data Modernization Program (CDMP) and will be presented, including many rare original graphics unseen for decades. Amongst other matters, they reveal that today's "One NOAA" was fully functional in the 19th century.

• Thursday, May 17 - Ballard Maritime Academy students return! Don't miss this engaging presentation by 5 high school students from the Ballard Maritime Academy, Seattle, Washington. Students will discuss NOAA's role in supporting the academy, how students have benefited from the program, and an overview of the academy's curriculum and history. NOAA awards a grant each year to the academy to fund curriculum development and a trip to Washington, D.C. for 5 Ballard students and 2 teachers. This seminar was sponsored by NOAA Teacher at Sea Program.

• Wednesday, May 23, 2007 - "An Update on the Smithsonian Ocean Initiative/Ocean Hall" - presented by Fred Gorell of the NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration, Davida Remer and Mike Shelby of the NOS Special Projects Office.
• Thursday, May 24, 2007 - NOAA's National Marine Protected Areas Center - "MPAs and MPA Networks: Progress in the U.S. and Internationally." Annie Hillary, NOS Office of International Affairs and Joe Uravitch, Director, NOS, Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management, National MPA Center. Powerpoint Presentation
• Tuesday June 5, 2007 - Mike Kelly of NOAA Fisheries presented "FishWatch and its Development." FishWatch is NOAA's new seafood consumer awareness program. Powerpoint presentation (pdf; 134 KB)
• Wednesday, June 13, 2007 - Dennis Donahue, Operations Director, NOAA's Great Lakes Environmental Research Lab presented "Being Green While Studying the Blue." Powerpoint Presentation

  Abstract: Dennis Donahue, Operations Director, NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Laboratory, discussed how NOAA was able to convert three Great Lakes research vessels from petroleum-based products to bio-fuels and lubricants. Donahue's efforts resulted in a 2006 award from the U.S. Department of Energy and a 2007 White House Closing-the-Circle award. The conversion of the ships reduced costs and has a positive impact on the environment as well as provides a better work situation for the ships' crews and researchers. The Great Lakes laboratory's Ship Operations Group has focused their efforts on innovative ways to engineer, operate, and maintain these vessels to not only support scientific missions but to advance NOAA's larger mission as a steward of the marine environment. The work follows a 1998 Executive Order calling for the "greening" of Government agencies through waste reduction, recycling, and environmentally friendly and sustainable products, including bio-products.

• June 21, 2007 - Training offered on Endnote bibliographic software tool, presented by ISI Thomson Research Training Consultant. 2 classes will be offered in the morning and repeated in the afternoon.
  
  9:00 - 10:30 am - Introduction to Endnote and How to Create an Endnote Library
  10:45 - 12:15 noon - Using Endnote in Microsoft Word; Searching an Endnote Library; Create a Subject Bibliography
  1:00 - 2:30 pm - Introduction to Endnote and How to Create an Endnote Library
  2:45 - 4:15 pm - Using Endnote in Microsoft Word; Searching an Endnote Library; Create a Subject Bibliography
  Please R.S.V.P. to Mary.Lou.Cumberpatch@noaa.gov, 713-2600 ext 129.

  NOAA has an agency-wide site license for these applications. Visit the NOAA IT Electronic Store (NITES) web site's "NOAA Site License with ISI ResearchSoft for Bibliographic Management Tools" page: http://www.nites.noaa.gov/bpa/display.asp?bpaID=6. These tools are great for program or office-wide sharing of citations, documents, and images. Network and web versions are available.

• June 27, 2007 - Guifang (Julia) Xue, Law of the Sea Institute, Ocean University of China, presented "Cooperative Management for the Shared Fisheries Resources of the China Seas." Sponsored by NOAA Fisheries Office of Science and Technology.
  Powerpoint Presentation
  Abstract: The Yellow Sea and East China Sea (China Seas) are semi-enclosed seas where the fish stocks are mainly shared among China, Japan, and South Korea (the China Seas states). The shared nature of fish stocks makes their conservation and management difficult, and efforts by any single state are incomplete and ineffective. The LOSC grants coastal states sovereign rights and jurisdiction over the resources of their EEZs, but the China Seas states have not reached agreement on their EEZs boundaries due to overlapping claims. Fisheries disputes have been common and the cooperative management of the shared resources needs to be promoted. The seminar will firstly review: 1) the existing bilateral fisheries agreements between China and Japan, and China and South Korea; 2) the necessity for cooperative management of the shared resources and the LOSC frameworks applicable to such cooperation; and 3) the challenges from a Chinese perspective. The second part of the seminar will provide a case study of fisheries co-operation between China and Vietnam for the Gulf of Tonkin. It will review the management measures pertaining to the Agreed Zones under the Agreement, and will highlight the achievements of the Agreement and pinpoints the crucial role of implementation to the success of the fisheries co-operation.
• Friday, July 13, 2007 - "NOAA's Virtual World: Experiencing the Edge of Space to the Bottom of the Ocean" presented by Eric Hackathorne of NOAA's Earth Systems Research Laboratory.

  Abstract:
  Soar through a hurricane on the wing of a research aircraft, rise gently through the atmosphere atop a weather balloon or search for hidden underwater cave on a side trip from a NOAA submersible. These and other virtual adventures are attracting large numbers of "avatars," or virtual selves, to one of the first government-sponsored, Earth-science "island" in the rapidly growing online world Second Life. The NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory developed the site for visitors to collectively share experiences in a virtual world they may not have in the physical world, and learn about the cutting-edge science that NOAA conducts regularly. Eric Hackathorn is the chief architect for NOAA's virtual world and will present an overview of the project. He and his much handsomer counterpart Hackshaven Harford (a virtual representation of himself) will discuss their vision of how NOAA could potentially use this technology in its future infrastructure.

  Video - Tour NOAA's Virtual Island: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=is8YX32GAyQ
  More information: NOAA's ESRL Virtual World website

• July 19, 2007 - Dr. Ed Miles, Professor of Marine Affairs and Public Affairs at the University of Washington, Seattle, presented "Climate Impacts on the World Ocean: The Challenge of Multiple Stresses."
• 08/09/07 - 12:00 - 2:00 ET- An Inconvenient Truth (NOAA Auditorium, SSMC5)
  

• 08/23/07 - Laura Taylor Singer of the Gulf of Maine Research Institute presented "New England’s Marine Resource Education Program - Bridging the Gap among Fishermen, Scientists and Managers."

  Abstract:
  It has been widely acknowledged that the complex system of fisheries science and management is difficult for many fishermen and others to navigate. Fishermen attending fishery management council meetings, serving as advisors to the management processes, or partnering in collaborative research, require baseline information to be effective in their roles. In addition to information challenges, there are cultural differences among those interested in fisheries management. Often, the issues that arise in a management setting are based on a lack of understanding and trust. In New England, the Marine Resource Education Program (MREP) was created by fishery activists in the region to address these issues. The curriculum, tailored specifically for fishermen and relevant stakeholder groups, covers two topic areas: a three-day Fishery Science Module, followed by a three-day Fishery Management Module. MREP has become a recognized training program for fishermen, managers, scientists and environmentalists in the region and has recently gained national interest.

• Friday, September 7 - Dr. Steven Swartz, NOAA Fisheries'Office of Science and Technology Marine Ecosystems Division, presented "Sentinals of the Sea: Gray Whales' Response to Climate Change" - Powerpoint slides
• Monday, September 10 - Celeste Leroux, a graduate student at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences and the Alaska Sea Grant College Program, presentd an "Introduction to the Alaska King Crab Research, Rehabilitation & Biology Program." - Powerpoint slides
• Friday, September 14, 2007 the NOAA Central Library will present a NOAA Heritage Seminar "The Age of the BLAKE" by Thomas Jackson of the NOS Office of Coast Survey. NOTE! The seminar will be held in the Fourth Floor Conference Room of SSMC #3 between 10 A.M. and 11 A.M.

  Abstract:
  The Coast and Geodetic Survey Steamer BLAKE was among the most innovative and prolific of Nineteenth Century oceanographic research vessels. Besides holding records for number of deep sea soundings taken by any oceanographic ship of the era, it also pioneered: 1) the use of steel rope (as opposed to hemp rope) for over-the-side operations; 2) deep-sea anchoring; 3) piano-wire deep sea sounding technologies; and 3) data presentation techniques such as 3-D seafloor diagrams. The BLAKE conducted research along the Atlantic coast of the United States, in the Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean Sea and is commemorated by the name Blake Plateau off the southeast United States and such names as the Sigsbee Escarpment, named for its most famous captain, in the Gulf of Mexico. A scale model of the Blake will be on display that was constructed by Mr. Jackson.

• Wednesday, September 19 - Zdenka Willis, director of NOAA's Integrated Ocean Observation System (IOOS) Program presented an overview of the program.
  Powerpoint slides
• Thursday, September 20 - Dr. John M. Miller of NOAA's Air Resources Laboratory presented the "Science and the Cold War."
• Thursday, October 11 - Kevin H. Amos, Aquatic Animal Health Coordinator, NOAA Aquaculture Program, presented "Disease Interactions between Farmed and Wild Fish – Fact and Fiction."
  Abstract: Although farmed seafood is a safe and healthy choice for U.S. consumers, concerns have been raised about potentially negative environmental impacts associated with aquaculture operations. Concerns usually focus on marine finfish cultured in nets in costal areas, or cages in the open ocean. This presentation will separate fact from fiction when it comes to disease interactions between farmed and wild fish.
  Powerpoint slides
• Thursday, October 18 - Tim Owen, NOAA's National Climatic Data Center, presented an overview of the U.S. Drought Portal (drought.gov), the new U.S. interagency portal providing critical and updated information on drought to stakeholders.
  Abstract: Drought.gov is an integral element of the National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS). Championed by the Western Governors' Association (WGA), NIDIS was established by federal legislation in 2006. NIDIS is a dynamic and accessible drought risk information system that provides users with the ability to determine the potential impacts of drought, and the decision suppport tools needed to better prepare for and mitigate the effects of drought. The U.S. Drought portal will utilize common data and metadata standards to assure optimal interoperability as well as leveraging the Federal Enterprise Architecture (FEA).
  Powerpoint slides
• Friday, 19 October - Dave Hardy, of NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service Systematics Laboratory at the Smithsonian, presented "Why study biodiversity? An example from the Island of Tobago, West Indies." This was a joint NODC-NOAA Central Library seminar.
  Abstract: Since 1962 Dave has been conducting a study of bodiversity on the Island of Tobago, West Indies. This effort has resulted in the discovery of 52 new taxa (1 family, 2 genera, and 52 new species). During the same time period (1962 to present), ten species (5 birds, 3 reptiles, 1 mammal, and 1 crustacean) have apparently become extint on the Island. The impact of extinction on the environment will probably not be fully understood until we have identified as many un-discovered species as possible. There is thus an urgent need for in-depth studies of biodiversity not only in Tobago, but throughout the World.
  Powerpoint Slides
• Thursday, November 1 - Dr. Thomas S. Lowry, Senior Member of the Technical Staff, Sandia National Laboratories, presented "Converting Information into Insight: A Multi-Platform Decision Support Tool for Systems Level Management".
  Abstract: The Computer Assisted Dispute Resolution system (CADRe) is a web-based tool that offers a single, unified framework and system architecture capable of serving as the cornerstone for communicating results of science-based analyses. Initially built and tested through an interactive stakeholder process to aid in public-mediated water resource planning in the central Texas region, CADRe is designed to support shared vision planning processes. CADRe is a core modeling and negotiation system that combines spatially explicit numerical models, system dynamics models, and a tabu meta-heuristic search algorithm to maximize outcomes from participatory dialogues by turning detailed information into systems level insight; facilitating group decisions concerning complex, integrated systems.
  Powerpoint slides

Tuesday, November 27 - Pam Rubinoff, Coastal Management Extension Specialist, University of Rhode Island Sea Grant program, and Lynn Richards, Senior Policy Analyst EPA Smart Growth program, will discuss "Waterfront Smart Growth Elements".
Abstract:
In 1996, the Smart Growth Network developed 10 Smart Growth Principles based on the characteristics of communities considered to be thriving, diverse and successful. The 10 principles, however, do not directly address the unique challenges and opportunities faced by coastal and waterfront communities. To help fill this gap, an EPA-NOAA Sea Grant collaborative team drafted additional waterfront and coastal smart growth elements. The waterfront and coastal smart growth elements distill waterfront-related aspects of the smart growth principles, providing context-sensitive development approaches to help communities address their unique waterfront characteristics. Like the smart growth principles, these elements are intended as guidelines for communities to consider incorporating into new development projects, or as retrofits to existing development. Coastal and waterfront communities across the U.S. have found they achieve better economic, environmental, community and public health outcomes by incorporating aspects of these 10 elements. The elements provide guidance for communities, helping them highlight their natural assets in order to create great locations for residents and visitors alike.
Link: University of Rhode Island Sea Grant
Powerpoint slides (ppt, 33 MB)

Thursday, December 13 at 11:30 - Annual Holiday Brown Bag Seminar featuring NOAA Administrator Vice Admiral Lautenbacher and the "One NOAA Holiday Band and Chorus." Please join library staff in enjoying treats, coffee, and the holiday spirit. NOTE: To be held in SSMC#3, Conference Room #4527.
Abstract:
On December 13, NOAA’s Administrator, Vice Admiral Lautenbacher will present “Positioning NOAA for Tomorrow's Opportunities” as part of the NOAA Central Library’s brown bag luncheon series. Come join VADM Lautenbacher as he shares his thoughts on how NOAA has evolved during his tenure and how NOAA can be prepared for the transition from his administration to the next. He will highlight many of NOAA’s recent accomplishments and discuss some of the challenges and opportunities that lay ahead for NOAA.

2008 Brown Bags

• Thursday, January 10 - Dr. John M. Miller of NOAA's Air Resources Laboratory spoke about the 50th Anniversary of NOAA's Mauna Loa Observatory. The Observatory is located on the north flank of Mauna Loa Volcano, on the Big Island of Hawaii. The observatory is best known for its measurements of rising anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations in the atmosphere. This trend is sometimes referred to as the "Keeling Curve" or "Mauna Loa Curve."

Thursday, February 7
Dr. Dwayne Meadows of NOAA Fisheries made a presentation on shipwrecks of the Northwest Hawaiian Islands as part of NOAA Heritage Week. This seminar will take place in the NOAA Central Library.

Friday, February 15
CoCoRaHS, the Communty Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network! presented by Henry Reges and Nolan Doesken of Colorado State.

Abstract: What do meteorologists, hydrologists, farmers, emergency managers, newspaper reporters, golfers and baseball players have in common? They all keep track of precipitation! Precipitation is one of the most important of all climate elements for daily life. Yet, precipitation varies tremendously from place to place and from month to month and year to year. These variations have widespread impacts. This seminar will describe a project where people of all ages, using very simple and low cost instruments, are helping scientists study storms and precipitation patterns. Volunteers provide valuable data for NOAA applications while learning directly about climate processes, impacts and research. Methods for measuring rain, hail and snow will be demonstrated, and CoCoRaHS results will be shown including precipitation patterns from recent storms.

Henry Reges is the National Coordinator for CoCoRaHS at Colorado State University. He was formerly with the American Meteorological Society in Boston, MA. Nolan Doesken is the State Climatologist for Colorado and has worked for the Colorado Climate Center at Colorado State University since 1977. He initiated the CoCoRaHS project after an extremely localized storm in 1997 dropped over 14 inches (350 mm) of rain near his home but was not well detected by existing observing systems. Nolan Doesken has worked closely with National Weather Service headquarters on several snow measurement projects.

Wednesday, March 5
Dr. Gunnar Knapp, University of Alaska-Anchorage presented "Implications of Aquaculture for Wild Fisheries: The Case of Alaska Wild Salmon."

Abstract:

Worldwide aquaculture production is growing rapidly. The experience of Alaska wild salmon suggests that aquaculture may have significant and wide-ranging potential implications for wild fisheries. Salmon farming exposed wild salmon’s natural monopoly to competition, expanding supply and driving down prices. Wild salmon has faced both inherent as well as self-inflicted challenges in competing with farmed salmon. The economic pressures caused by competition from farmed salmon have been painful and difficult for the wild salmon industry, fishermen and communities. However, these pressures have contributed to changes which have helped make the salmon industry more economically viable. Farmed salmon has greatly expanded the market and created new market opportunities for wild salmon. Farmed salmon has benefited consumers by lowering prices, expanding supply, developing new products, and improving quality of both farmed and wild salmon. Salmon farming has had no apparent direct effects on Alaska wild salmon resources, but could have indirect effects on wild salmon resources which might be positive or negative. The experience of Alaska wild salmon suggests that anyone interested in wild fisheries should pay close attention to what is happening in aquaculture. No wild fishery market—especially for higher valued species—should be taken for granted.

Tuesday, March 11
Dr. Daniel R. Brooks, Professor, Department of Zoology, University of Toronto and Fellow, Royal Society of Canada, will present "Emerging Infectious Diseases: Evolutionary Accidents Waiting to Happen." Sponsored by NOAA Restoration Center.

Powerpoint slides

Abstract:

Today’s bio-diversity crisis is not just one of lost habitats and extinct species. It is also a crisis of emerging infectious diseases (EID’s), such as HIV in humans, Ebola in humans and gorillas, West Nile virus and Avian Influenza in humans and birds, chytrid fungi in amphibians, and distemper in sea lions. There is every reason to take these events seriously, because EID’s appear to have a long evolutionary history. Geographical restriction and specialized transmission mean that in most time periods, most pathogens occur in a small number of host species, often only one, but retain the ability to infect more. However, climate change alters everything. Species move out of their areas of origin and ecosystems change. Pathogens come into contact with susceptible hosts that they have never before encountered, and that never had the opportunity to evolve resistance. As a result, EID’s are not just possible; they are inevitable. Indeed, every episode of climate change has produced them. If EID’s were rare, management through crisis response might be cost-effective. But EID’s are not rare at all. Rather, they are a common outcome of geographic dispersal associated with large-scale environmental changes.

We face a potential crisis, however, that stems from our fundamental ignorance about the biosphere, for it is impossible to be proactive about species of pathogens whose existence has not been documented. This makes many pathogens “evolutionary land mines” awaiting us as we relocate to novel habitats, move species around, and alter existing ecosystems. Nevertheless, most resources are still being allocated for responses to known EID’s rather than to assessing the risk of potential EID’s. Simply put, we must complete the global inventory of pathogenic species. Now. The question is whether we find them before they find us.

About the Speaker: Professor Daniel R. Brooks is a parasitologist of world renown and teaches in the Department of Zoology at the University of Toronto, Ontario, CANADA. He was conferred the honor of Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 2004 and has received numerous awards and honors for his research contributions from organizations and institutions of higher learning in Canada, the U.S., and other countries. He has conducted research in Canada, the U.S., Colombia, Venezuela, Mexico, Brazil,, Costa Rica, Uruguay, and Ecuador. In addition to his teaching and mentoring duties at U.T., he is coordinator of the Inventory of Eukaryotic Parasites of Vertebrates in the Area de Conservación Guanacaste, Costa Rica, a World Heritage Site. He studies parasites in many countries and is interested in the dynamics of emerging infectious diseases around the world. He is currently amassing a database of parasites which will contain all published phylogenetic trees for parasitic helminths (worms) of vertebrates (including DNA information), in an effort to recognize, predict, and prevent parasitic infestations in humans in the future. He views unknown parasites and pathogens as “evolutionary land mines” awaiting us as we relocate to novel habitats, move species around, and alter existing ecosystems.

Thursday, March 20 from 11:30 - 1:00
The key speaker was G. Carlton Ray, a research professor from the University of Virginia. Professor Ray has years of experience monitoring Arctic populations of marine mammals and their habitats. He will speak on how "Climate Change Places Ice-Dependent Beringian Mammals At Risk."
Powerpoint Slides (all images are copyrighted)

Friday, March 21 at 12 noon
Dr. Brandon Southall Director, NOAA Ocean Acoustics Program, presented "Behavioral Response Study (BRS) of Deep-Diving Cetaceans in Tongue of the Ocean, Bahamas."

Abstract: Initial results are reported from a study designed to provide science-based approaches for mitigating risk of sonar to beaked and other whales. The study on beaked and other whale behavioral responses to mid-frequency sonar and other sounds was conducted at the AUTEC range near Andros Island, Bahamas, where Blainvilles beaked whales (/Mesoplodon densirostris/) can regularly be detected using passive acoustic monitoring of their echolocation clicks. Tags recorded sound at the whale and behavior of the whale. Data were collected from 10 tags; 6 on Blainvilles beaked whales, 4 on pilot whales. 109 hours of data were collected from tags; 74h from beaked whales; 34h from pilot whales. Playbacks of mid-frequency sonar and killer whale sounds were performed on 1 tagged beaked whale and 2 tagged pilot whales.The tagged beaked whale responded to both sonar and killer whale sounds by premature cessation of clicking during foraging dives (RL = ~117 dB re 1 µPa for the killer whale sound, ~145 dB for the sonar), with unusually slow and long ascents. Following the two exposures, the beaked whale exhibited sustained and directed avoidance of the area for at least 10 hours.

Thursday, April 10 at 11:30 am
"Exploration of Hudson Submarine Canyon Region Offshore New York and New Jersey" presented by Peter A. Rona, Ph.D., Professor of Marine Geology and Geophysics, Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences, Rutgers University.

Thursday, April 10 at 12:45 pm
"Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary as a Case Study for Characterizing and Managing Regional Underwater Noise Budgets" presented by Dr. Leila Hatch, Regional Marine Bioacoustic Coordinator for Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary.

Wednesday, April 16 at 12 noon
"The IPCC Assessment Process: Future Projections of Climate Change" presented by Ronald J. Stouffer, Senior Research Meteorologist, Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory
About the speaker: Ronald J. Stouffer is a senior research meteorologist in the Climate Dynamics Group of the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL), Princeton, NJ, a federal research laboratory within the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, of the U.S. Department of Commerce. Stouffer is one of the leading climate modelers in the world, and uses complex numerical models to study and predict the behavior of the earth's climate system. Because of his scientific contributions to climate research over the past two decades, he has been a central contributor to each of the assessment reports for the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) and has been a chapter author for the three most recent reports.
Powerpoint slides (MS Powerpoint, 10,169 KB; download free Microsoft PowerPoint Viewer)

Thursday, April 17 at 12 noon
"Bottom-up control of the eastern Bering Sea ecosystem: implications for integrated ecosystem assessment during a period of climate change" presented by Dr. Jeffrey Napp from the Alaska Fisheries Science Center and Dr. Phyllis Stabeno from the Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory.
Powerpoint slides (MS Powerpoint, 68,840 KB; download free Microsoft PowerPoint Viewer)

Abstract: The eastern Bering Sea is responding to climate change which is having a profound impact on all levels of the food chain, including commercial and protected species and humans. Changes in the presence of sea ice (timing, extent, and thickness) impacts the heat content and stratification of the water column, nutrient supplies, the timing and magnitude of the spring bloom, zooplankton biomass and species composition, and fish distributions. NOAA’s North Pacific Climate Regimes and Ecosystem Productivity program (NPCREP) is working with academic and other partners to measure and quantify these changes and synthesize the results. Our research will provide key observations and the understanding necessary to infer how future changes in climate will impact the abundance and production of ecosystem goods and services.

Wednesday, April 23 at 12 noon
Dr. John Everett, formerly Chief of the Division of Research of NOAA Fisheries, will present " Going Against the Flow - Non-Conventional Wisdom in the Management of Fisheries." Dr. Everett will discuss his findings concerning the menhaden fisheries and the effects of scallop dredging.
Powerpoint Slides (MS Powerpoint, 68,840 KB; download free Microsoft PowerPoint Viewer)

Wednesday, April 30 at 12 noon
Darin Figurskey, NWS MIC, Raleigh, NC spoke on Sea Grant’s role and relationship with the "NOAA in the Carolinas" effort and the initiative’s continued success, while Suzanne Van Cooten, NOAA National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL) will discuss the development of the Coastal & Inland Flood Observation and Warning (CI-FLOW). Sponsored by the NOAA SeaGrant Program.
Powerpoint Slides - NOAA in the Carolinas
Powerpoint Slides - CI-FlOW

Abstract: The programs of the national Sea Grant network partner with other NOAA programs and offices throughout the country in many ways. In an effort to formalize and better facilitate such relationships, the "NOAA in the Carolinas" initiative was launched to promote regional partnership development, coordination, and communication among NOAA programs.

Two speakers discussed "NOAA in the Carolinas" and some of its successes on April 30th at the Ralph Rayburn Beltway Brown Bag seminar, which will take place at noon in the NOAA Library, second floor of SSMC 3. Darin Figurskey, NWS MIC, Raleigh, NC will speak on Sea Grant’s role and relationship with the "NOAA in the Carolinas" effort and the initiative’s continued success, while Suzanne Van Cooten, NOAA National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL) will discuss the development of the Coastal & Inland Flood Observation and Warning (CI-FLOW), which began after the massive flooding associated with Hurricane Floyd in North and South Carolina. The research staff at NSSL in Norman, Oklahoma along with a Sea Grant network outreach team began working on CI-FLOW in 2000 to create a "mountains to the sea" precipitation, flood and surge observing system to better monitor, model and ultimately forecast, in association with the NOAA NWS, inland flooding and storm surge often associated with tropical storm systems.

"NOAA in the Carolinas" was conceived in 2004 by the North Carolina Sea Grant program as a way to demonstrate NOAA’s presence in the state and highlight how NOAA offices cooperate and collaborate with each other across the region. All of these relationships pre-date "One NOAA" and clearly demonstrate how programs do and must continue to work together to achieve mutual goals. Four successive annual meetings have been conducted and the effort is now formally associated with NOAA’s regional program in the southeast-- SECART.

Thursday, May 1 at 12 noon
Sebastian Belle, Executive Director of the Maine Aquaculture Association, presented "Lessons Learned for Aquaculture in Maine." Sponsored by the NOAA Aquaculture program.

Abstract: Maine has the most extensive and diverse marine aquaculture sector of any state in the nation. Maine also has some of the strictest aquaculture environmental regulations and monitoring requirements in the world. Based on farm gate sales – worth over $80 million dollars annually – Maine has been the number one marine aquaculture state for 10 of the last 15 years. On a per acre basis, farm raised salmon, oysters, mussels, and baitfish are the most valuable agricultural crops raised in Maine. But, like any human activity, aquaculture involves risk and can have environmental impacts. The Maine Aquaculture Association and its member growers are widely recognized as pioneers in the development of innovative and sustainable farming methods designed to enhance their stewardship of Maine's marine environments. Through a 14-point set of environmental guiding principles, cooperative bay management and a comprehensive code of practice, Maine’s aquatic farmers are leading the way in a new, environmentally sustainable way to produce seafood. With good science, political will and technical expertise, achieving a balance between conservation and economic development has been possible in Maine.

Speaker Bio: Sebastian Belle is the Executive Director of the Maine Aquaculture Association, the oldest state aquaculture association in the country. He has been working in commercial fishing and aquaculture for over 30 years. He has worked in 14 different countries growing over 15 species using a number of different production methods.

Monday, May 12 at 12 noon
Ballard Maritime Academy students return! Don't miss this engaging presentation by 5 high school students from the Ballard Maritime Academy, Seattle, Washington. Students will discuss how they have benefited from the program, an overview of the academy's curriculum, and how NOAA plays a role in supporting the academy. There will be a game at the end...with prizes!

Wednesday, May 21
Dr. Eddie Bernard, Director of NOAA's OAR Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, will present ""The 3 things you need to know about tsunamis".

Tuesday, June 3
Tom Knutson, a research meteorologist at NOAA's Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory in Princeton, New Jersey, presesnted "Have Humans Affected Atlantic Hurricane Climate?"
Powerpoint Slides(MS Powerpoint, 6.33 MB; download free Microsoft PowerPoint Viewer)
Audio (mp3, 66 MB; download free Windows Media Player)

Wednesday, June 11
Author/Illustrator Taylor Morrison presented "Illustrating and Interpreting NOAA's Work for Kids"
Powerpoint slides (MS Powerpoint; download free Microsoft PowerPoint Viewer)
Abstract:
This presentation by award winning author Taylor Morrison explained the process behind researching and writing science books for children and painting the accompanying book illustrations. Topics include five books on NOAA and it's rich history of Geodetic Surveying, Nautical Charts, Tsunami Warnings, Fire Weather, Tides, and Fisheries. Taylor has given many presentations around the country at many elementary and middle schools to raise awareness about NOAA and its programs. Mr. Morrison has published 10 books since 1996. Awards include Natural History Magazine best books of 2007,The Boston Globe Horn Book Award for Children's non-fiction 2006, The Texas Blue Bonnet Award 2002, The Society of Illustrators Book Art Award 1997, Smithsonian Magazine best books of 1998, Los Angeles Times Best Books of 2000, Award from the Secretary of The State of Washington for The Coast Mappers, and many others.

Thursday, June 12
John S. Friedman will present a discussion of his new book "Out of the Blue: A history of lightning, science, superstition, and amazing stories of survival."

Friday, June 13 at 11:00 am
Mary Glackin, Deputy Under Secretary for Oceans and Atmosphere, presented "The Transition: Challenges and Opportunities" a "OneNOAA Science Discussion Seminar".
Presentation (pdf)
Abstract:
The topic of the transition between Administrations is front and center on many people’s minds. During the seminar I will provide an overview of the changes we expect to see over the next year and address the proactive measures that NOAA is taking to capitalize on the opportunities associated with these changes. Specific topics to be discussed include: personnel changes; priority issues for the public; NOAA’s external environment; and leadership priorities.

Wednesday, June 25th
Dr. Jack Harlan from NOS/ASTADM will discuss high frequency radar and mapping coastal currents.
Abstract:
This seminar will give participants an in-depth look at High Frequency Radar (HFR) - a technology for measuring ocean surface current velocities (speed and direction) and surface waves in near real time. This information can be used during search and rescue operations to track the probable path of victims and drifting ships. HFR data can also be used to support oil spill response, harmful algal bloom monitoring, and assessment of coastal water quality. The information can additionally provide value in ecosystem assessment and fisheries management, when evaluated retrospectively.

Unlike many other techniques, HFR is unaffected by weather conditions such as clouds, fog or precipitation. Because its signal hugs the ocean’s surface, and is conducted by it, HFR can observe the ocean at distances far beyond the line-of-sight (distances often exceed 200 km). Also, this surface-hugging mode makes the placement of HFRs more flexible, in that they can be located almost anywhere along the shoreline. By combining data from two HFRs, a two-dimensional map of surface currents can be produced, spanning thousands of square kilometers.

Currently, about 100 HFRs are operating on US coastlines. Nearly all are owned by research universities working in partnership with NOAA IOOS. NOAA’s current HFR efforts are led by the IOOS Program in partnerships with NOS/CO-OPS and NWS/NDBC. This technology was developed in the 1970’s and 1980’s in a NOAA Research laboratory in Boulder, Colorado and was referred to as Coastal Ocean Dynamics Applications Radar (CODAR). After that development, a commercial company was spun off that markets the HFRs under the name CODAR Ocean Sensors SeaSondes®. More than 90 percent of the HFRs in the US are of the CODAR type. The seminar will give an HFR overview including details on the national HFR data server and management system, regional capabilities and future plans.

Thursday, June 26
Dr. Jawed Hameedi, NOS/NCCOS/Center for Coastal Monitoring and Assessment, will present "We and Nitrogen: Explosives to Eutrophication".
Powerpoint slides
Abstract:
For centuries, availability of the naturally-occurring, reactive forms of nitrogen have significantly influenced human behavior and societies through festivals, agricultural ingenuity, global trade, resource-use conflicts and war. Key milestones during this odyssey have included impromptu discovery of crackling bamboos (B.C.); protracted but initially accidental invention of gunpowder (600 to 900 A.D.); a well-designed, progressive and benevolent system of crop rotation, engineered irrigation, and cash-marketing for crops (8th to 13th centuries); and the very elegant and momentous Haber-Bosch process of nitrogen fixation (1909-13). Global use of nitrogen in recent years has become unprecedented and is largely responsible for nutrient over-enrichment in coastal bays and estuaries. Nitrogen pollution is largely a consequence of increasing biological production in order to feed the human population along with emissions of millions of tons of nitrogen oxides from combustion of fossil fuel, high density animal farming, industrial processes, and natural sources. Despite provisions in federal legislation and agency directives during the past three decades, there are no numerical criteria to limit nitrogen input to coastal bays and estuaries. In part, this is due to nitrogen’s occurrence in various chemical forms and cycling in different parts of the environment. It is also due to its many effects, which include unsafe drinking water, soil acidity, smog, ozone depletion, eutrophication, and greenhouse warming. This presentation also points out certain limitations in understanding nitrogen deposition and budgets in the biosphere. They include knowledge of the structure and activity of the enzyme nitrogenase, scenarios of carbon sequestration in forests, significance of nitrogen fixation in the ocean, release of carbon dioxide from bogs and wetlands, ocean acidification, and whether nitrogen is the limiting nutrient in the sea.

Wednesday, July 2
Dr. Robert Simpson Will Be Honored as a NOAA Environmental Hero for 2008
Dr. Simpson will be presented the 2008 NOAA Environmental Hero Award for Longtime Achievement by Dr. Richard Spinrad, NOAA assistant administrator for oceanic and atmospheric research. Following the presentation, Dr. Simpson will give remarks "Remembering Mauna Loa".
Many are familiar with Dr. Simpson as the other half of the Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale. But few know that the idea to locate an atmospheric observatory high atop a Hawaiian volcano was his as well. Because of that vision which also gave us the iconic Keeling Curve showing the increase of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, Dr. Simpson will receive the 2008 NOAA Environmental Hero Award for Longtime Achievement.
More information: NOAA Press Release

Thursday, July 17th at 12 noon
Zdenka Willis, Director of NOAA Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) program, will present "IOOS: Our Eyes on the Oceans, Coasts, and Great Lakes."
Powerpoint slides (pdf format)
Abstract:
As "our eyes on the oceans, coasts, and Great Lakes", the Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) is a tool for tracking, predicting, managing, and adapting to changes in our marine environment. IOOS delivers the data and information needed to increase our understanding of our waters, so decision makers can take action to improve safety, enhance the economy, and protect the environment.

NOAA is proud to lead a national partnership of 17 federal agencies and 11 regions working together to link marine data in an easy-to-use standard format that will provide users with a composite picture of our nation's waters in an accurate and timely manner. This seminar will discuss some of the complexities of the national IOOS efforts, what NOAA and its partners are doing to integrate our ocean and coastal data, and IOOS benefits to data users, the general public, and the nation.

Thursday, July 24 at 12 noon

Marine Policy Issues: First in a Series of Panel Presentations given by Knauss Sea Grant Fellows

Anatomy of a Good Policy: Legislation & Community management of Marine Resources in West Hawaii
Powerpoint slides (pdf)
Presented by Paulo Maurin, NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program:

Abstract: This presentation examines Act 306, which went into effect in 1998 and established large Fish Replenishment Areas in West Hawaii. The Act was a response to increasing aquarium fish collecting activities and local community concern over exploitation of the Yellow Tang (Zebrasoma flavescens). The research reexamines tropical aquarium fish collecting patterns in the area and presents key policy and management elements that implemented the West Hawaii Fisheries Council, a successful and sustained structure for the co-management of local marine resources involving fish collectors, government, university and grassroots organizations.

The Proposed Oregon Coast National Marine Sanctuary: A Case Study in Marine Management
Powerpoint slides (pdf)
Presented by Christopher Holmes, Office of Policy, NOAA Fisheries:

In late 2005, Governor Ted Kulongoski proposed that the Oregon Ocean Stewardship Area should be designated a National Marine Sanctuary. He then consulted with the Oregon Ocean Policy Advisory Council (OPAC), and asked that body to determine the feasibility, extent and public support for his proposal. This presentation will examine the background, objectives and progression of the proposal as it developed since its inception. The policy process will be compared to models offered by Kingdon (1995) and Sabatier & Mazmanian (1983).

Examining Effectiveness in Regional Ocean Governance Regimes
Powerpoint slides (pdf)
Presented by Kateryna M. Wowk, NOAA National Marine Protected Areas Center:

Abstract: The research examines regional ocean governance regimes including the United Nations Environment Programme’s Regional Seas Programmes and efforts underway by the Global Environment Facility, International Union for the Conservation of Nature, Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, and the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in managing Large Marine Ecosystems and linked watersheds. The research applies international relations theory, and specifically regime theory, to expand the knowledge base regarding the formation, dynamics and effectiveness of such regimes in an effort to understand when, how and why they work, or conversely, fail.

Tuesday, August 5 at 12 noon
AUVfest 2008: Navy Mine-Hunting Robots help NOAA Explore Sunken History

Abstract: Come and see a High-Def Documentary Film on the Partnership between Office of Naval Research, NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research, and the Naval Undersea Warfare Center. Learn more about the "fest" at http://www.oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/08auvfest/welcome.html.

Thursday, August 7 at 12 noon
Chesapeake Bay Studies: Second in a Series of Panel Presentations given by Knauss Sea Grant Fellows

Microbial Carbon and Nitrogen Cycling in Euphotic Estuarine Sediments: A Case Study from Chesapeake Bay
Presented by Frank M. Parker, Office of the Assistant Administrator, Oceanic and Atmospheric Research
Powerpoint slides

Abstract:Understanding fundamental relationships with respect to carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) flows in estuarine sediments is critical if we are going to mitigate the effects of eutrophication caused by increased N loading to coastal systems. Given the shallow nature of estuaries, a large fraction of the benthos may lie within the photic zone (e.g., ~ 21 % of the Chesapeake Bay is < 2 m deep) and account for as much as half of total estuarine primary production. Here I present results from seasonal dual stable isotopic tracer (DI13C and 15NH4+) experiments that quantify benthic microbial production (e.g., bacteria and benthic microalgae) in terms of C and N, partition that production between water column and porewater nutrient sources in the light and dark, and trace the fate of that production into secondary consumers. Results show that euphotic sediment microbes are an important link in estuarine benthic-pelagic coupling, benthic microalgae play a critical role in the euphotic sediment microbial loop, and benthic bacteria are the dominant microbial pool for C and N immobilization into biomass.

Laurie McGilvray, Chief, Estuarine Reserves Division, NOS Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management, provided an overview of the National Estuarine Research Reserve System and the Graduate Research Fellows Program.

Thursday, August 28
Third in a Series of Panel Presentations given by Knauss Sea Grant Fellows

Sea Grant Fellow Marselle Alexander-Ozinskas, Legislative Assistant to Congresswoman Boradallo, will present "Denitrification Contributes to Nitrogen Loss in Fertilized Arctic Tundra Sites". Sea Grant Fellow Ed Gorecki, Office of the Assistant Administrator, NOAA Fisheries Service, will present "Back from the Beach: A Quantitative Analysis of Beachfront Values and Tax Base".

Abstracts:
DENITRIFICATION CONTRIBUTES TO NITROGEN LOSS IN FERTILIZED ARCTIC TUNDRA SITES
Marselle Alexander-Ozinskas, Legislative Assistant, Congresswoman Boradallo
Powerpoint slides
Powerpoint slides for Questions
About 30% of the global soil carbon pool is stored in northern latitudes (40-70°N), which have experienced larger temperature increases due to atmospheric warming than equatorial regions over the past few decades. Soil temperature increases affect carbon and nitrogen cycling and could alter net ecosystem carbon balance. To examine the future of arctic soil carbon pools following climate-driven changes, the potential for denitrification, nitrification, and mineralization were measured in several ecosystems surrounding the Toolik Lake Long-Term Ecological Research station near Toolik Lake, Alaska, after manipulation to simulate the effects of climate warming. Results indicate that denitrification may contribute to large, observed net nitrogen losses in these systems, suggesting a pathway of potential soil carbon loss following the effects of climate warming.

BACK FROM THE BEACH: A QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS OF BEACHFRONT VALUES & TAX BASE
Ed Gorecki, Office of the Assistant Administrator, NOAA Fisheries Service
The devastation caused by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita resulted in record losses of life and property, and elevated concerns for coastal protection to their highest levels. In addition to rising sea levels over the last several decades, increases in extreme weather events in the Gulf of Mexico have led to substantial beach erosion along the Gulf coast. In 2007 the Nueces County Commissioners Court adopted a 350-foot building set-back along the North Padre Island, TX, coastline. Prior to its implementation, landowners and developers claimed substantial financial losses as a result of this land development restriction. This lecture reviews the economic implications of coastal and environmental protection along the Gulf of Mexico, particularly along the Coast of Nueces County, to determine the significance of this effect on property values, and the potential loss of revenue to the community and local tax base.

Thursday, September 4
Legislative Day: Fourth in a Series of Panel Presentations given by Knauss Sea Grant Fellows

Using GPS collars to monitor the activity and habitat use of Canada lynx in Minnesota
Powerpoint slides (as pdf)
Presented by Julie Palakovich Carr, Office of Senator Maria Cantwell
Since direct observation of free-ranging animals is difficult, remote methods for monitoring animal behavior have been developed. Recent advances in GPS collars allow for both the location and activity of an animal to be recorded internally in the collar. Although several studies have validated the activity counter portion of GPS collars for large herbivores, this has not been done to date on a small carnivore. Methods to relate animal activity level and habitat use were developed by observing a captive Canada lynx wearing a GPS collar. These methods were then applied to data collected from seven free-ranging lynx in northeastern Minnesota. Differences in habitat selection when lynx were active or inactive were analyzed. Additionally, I will be highlighting my research on the effects of maternal characteristics on Atlantic cod recruitment and the effects of a restored oyster reef on water quality.

The Decay of Particulate Organic Matter in the Ocean and of Bills in the U.S. Senate
Powerpoint slides (as pdf)
Lynn Abramson, Office of Senator Barbara Boxer
What do the biological carbon pump and the legislative process have in common? Both concern some form of progression or transport: the biological carbon pump involves the movement of particulate organic matter through the water column, whereas the legislative process involves the movement of bills through Congress. A predictive understanding of either of these processes requires investigation of the source, alteration, and exchange of “material” during transit. In this seminar, Lynn Abramson will draw parallels between her dissertation work on the marine carbon cycle and fellowship work in Senator Barbara Boxer’s office, discussing her perspective on some of the strategies and obstacles involved in affecting science-based policy decisions.

Regional adaptation in feeding preference for chemically-rich seaweeds by the marine herbivore, Ampithoe longimana
Powerpoint slides (as pdf)
Amanda McCarty, Legislative Fellow, Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, Subcommittee on Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries and the Coast Guard
Field and laboratory manipulations and molecular analysis were used to better understand the ecology and evolution of marine seaweed-herbivore interactions. This work focused specifically on comparisons between populations of the amphipod Ampithoe longimana from cold-temperate New England, warm-temperate North Carolina, and subtropical Florida. Populations from throughout this distribution are exposed to locally distinct seaweed communities, exhibit regional variation in tolerance for a chemically-defended seaweed, and have limited gene flow between regions. Therefore, A. longimana serves as a unique example of a locally adapted marine organism.

Wednesday, September 10
Anand Gnanadesikan, an oceanographer at NOAA's Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, Princeton, N.J., will present "Carbon sequestration through ocean iron fertilization: A review of the major issues".
Powerpoint slides Note: the audio will be available on the NOAA Research site at http://www.research.noaa.gov/podcast/
Abstract:
Fertilizing the ocean with iron ("the Geritol solution") has been proposed as a method of removing atmospheric carbon dioxide levels. This talk will discuss how ocean biology stores carbon in the ocean, how iron fertilization might enhance this storage, consider some of the challenges to verifying changes in storage, and highlight some potential unintended consequences of fertilization.

Tuesday, September 16 at 11:00
Jacklyn Shafir, Program Manager, D.C. Environmentors Program, will present a review of the benefits to NOAA employees in serving as a mentor to area Senior High School Students, development of a science project and many other volunteer opportunities to help high school students consider careers in the environmental sciences. It is a great opportunity for NOAA employees to share their expertise.

Thursday, September 18 at 12 noon
Corals/Marine Protected Areas: Fifth in a Series of Panel Presentations given by Knauss Sea Grant Fellows

Fine scale genetic population structure in the threatened Acropora palmata and Acropora cervicornis in Southwest Puerto Rico
Joselyd Garcia, Marine Mammal Commission
Powerpoint slides (as pdf)
During the 1980s and 1990s, populations of Acropora palmata and Acropora cervicornis experienced region-wide declines of up to 95% or more in some areas due mostly to disease. Once considered the most important reef builders in the Caribbean, their rapid decline prompted their listing as threatened under the Endangered Species Act in 2006. To understand the genetic connectivity between reefs in southwestern Puerto Rico, sequences of the mitochondrial control region were recovered from geographically adjacent and distant populations of A. palmata and A. cervicornis. Results suggest that there is fine scale population structure and recovery of these reefs might rely on the survival and sexual reproduction of local populations rather than replenishment from distant reefs. In this presentation, I will also discuss my current project and the experiences gained through the U.S. Marine Mammal Commission.

Do closed fishing areas in New England qualify as marine protected areas?
Christine Patrick, Ocean Exploration and Research Program
Powerpoint slides (as pdf)
Marine protected areas (MPAs) are often presented as a new addition to the “traditional toolkit” of fisheries management measures used by the U.S. federal government. However, temporary or rotational closed areas have been used in New England since before the creation of the federal exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and the expanded federal power to manage fisheries. Despite this fact, the MPA canon does not acknowledge New England closed fishing areas as MPAs, or even as the theoretical ancestors of MPAs. Is this exclusion justified? What are the differences between New England closed fishing areas and MPAs?

October 2 at 12 noon
Dr. John L. "Jack" Hayes, NOAA Assistant Administrator for Weather Services and Director, National Weather Service presented "Leading the Way to Better Services."

Abstract: This is a one year retrospective by Jack Hayes, Director of NOAA National Weather Service. Jack will discuss accomplishments and outline some of the record-breaking weather, water, and climate events the agency has seen during the past year. He will also explore how the NWS is planning to meet the growing demands for weather, water and climate services. Jack has a wealth of domestic and international experience to draw on in this brown bag luncheon. He has held several SES positions within NOAA (NOS, OAR, and NWS), as well as domestic and international experience working for the Air Force and the United Nations' World Meteorological Organization.

On October 7 at 12 noon
Dr. Roger Hewitt, Assistant Center Director for Ships and Infrastructure, of the Southwest Fisheries Science Center spoke on ""The Fishery on Antarctic Krill: Defining an Ecosystem Approach to Management".
Powerpoint slides (pdf format)
Abstract: Estimates of the standing stock of Antarctic krill ( Euphausia superba ) have ranged from less than 100 million tons to over a billion tons. While considerable uncertainty is associated with these estimates, the fishery on Antarctic krill has the potential to be among the largest in the world. The harvest of Antarctic krill is currently managed by the Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), part of the Antarctic Treaty system. In this discussion the following will be reviewed: the political context and management approach of CCAMLR; the current understanding of natural controls on population growth of the resource; and future options for CCAMLR. It is concluded that the political foundation for the CCAMLR mandate of an "ecosystem approach to management" is sound; that substantial progress has been made toward interpreting and implementing the Convention; and that environmental factors may exert a substantial influence on krill recruitment and population growth. A general outline for the development of a management scheme based on ecosystem process monitoring is presented.

October 9 at 12 noon
Dr. Nancy Knowlton of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and holder of the first endowed ocean science chair at the Smithsonian Institution Sant Ocean Hall, presented "Coral Reefs: Canaries in the Environmental Coal Mine."
Abstract: Coral reefs are the most diverse of all marine ecosystems. Estimates range from 1-9 million species globally, although these estimates are based on very tenuous assumptions. Coral reefs are also among the most endangered of all marine ecosystems. In the Caribbean, for example, 80% of all coral cover has been lost in the last three decades. The causes of loss are varied, and they operate on local, regional and global scales, often synergistically. Coral bleaching is a stress reaction that results in the loss of symbiotic algae (zooxanthellae) from coral tissues; if prolonged, corals starve to death. One serious source of stress is global warming; when seawater temperatures exceed 1o C above local seasonal maxima, bleaching occurs. In 1980, massive bleaching was seen around the world; in the Indian Ocean 80% bleaching and 20% mortality occurred. Fortunately, some zooxanthellae are more heat tolerant than others, but climate models suggest that mass bleaching will become more and more common. Another major source of coral loss is disease, about which we still know very little in terms of pathogens. Some diseases have already had catastrophic effects. In the Caribbean, for example, two once dominant corals are now officially listed as endangered. Other stresses include destructive fishing, over-fishing (especially of herbivores), sedimentation (often caused by deforestation), predator explosions, storm damage, and now ocean acidification. Complete reproductive failure due to scarcity of mates is also a possibility. Studies of reefs across a gradient of human disturbance indicate that loss of resilience – the capacity to recover – is one of the first consequences of human impacts. Fortunately, actual extinctions are so far limited. Reefs can be thought of as canaries in the environmental coal mine, because they are so sensitive to a diverse array of human impacts, but all marine ecosystems are suffering. Business as usual is not an option if we are to address these problems.

October 23rd at 12 noon
Steve Piotrowicz, Oceanographer, NOAA Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR), presented "Argo - Observing the Ocean in Real-time."
Abstract: In a period of less than 8 years the Argo Array of profiling floats has revolutionized the ability to observe the ocean, annually providing on the order of 100,000 high-quality profiles of upper (2000 m) ocean temperature and salinity, without temporal or spatial biases, free and openly to operational centers and the research community worldwide.

October 30 at 12 noon

Emily McDonald, Sea Grant Fellow, Office of Ocean Exploration & Research presented:
APPLICATION OF OCEAN OBSERVING SYSTEMS IN AIDING PREDICTIVE WATER QUALITY MODELING IN LONG BAY, SOUTH CAROLINA
Powerpoint slides (in ppt format)
Abstract:
Ocean observing systems are capable of providing data relevant to water quality modeling efforts along South Carolina’s beaches. Beach advisories protect public health but must be balanced with the area’s economic needs as well. There is a need by coastal managers to accurately determine when beach advisories for water quality should or should not be posted. Applying near-real time data from coastal ocean observing systems off the South Carolina coast to a simple Classification and Regression Tree (CART) model analysis allows for earlier and more accurate indicators of when bacterial counts reach unhealthy levels.

Luis Leandro, Sea Grant Fellow, Office of Legislative Affairs presented:
TROPHIC TRANSFER OF THE MARINE ALGAL BIOTOXIN DOMOIC ACID TO THE NORTH ATLANTIC RIGHT WHALE, EUBALAENA GLACIALIS
Powerpoint slides (in pdf format)
Abstract:
In addition to ship strikes and fishing gear entanglements, recovery of the highly endangered North Atlantic right whale has been challenged by reproductive abnormalities and compromised health. Of the several factors hypothesized as contributing to the observed reproductive dysfunction in right whales, exposure to biotoxins produce by marine algae, such as domoic acid (DA), has received comparatively little consideration. This study assessed the occurrence of DA in right whales, their prey, and phytoplankton collected in the whales’ spring and summer feeding grounds. The results of this study confirm that right whales were exposed to DA for several months, likely through ingestion of their prey.

15th Annual Library Book Fair on November 5 from 10-3
Donations of used items and books are welcome for the NOAA Central Library Fifteenth Annual Book Fair and Flea Market. Please deliver donations to the NOAA Central Library, 2nd Floor, SSMC 3, or call 301-713-2607 X-122. Proceeds from the Flea Market will benefit the Friends of the NOAA Library, a tax-exempt charitable organization dedicated to support the library through acquisitions, preservation, and information dissemination.

November 6 at 12 noon
Sea Grant Fellows will present "How the Hill Works: Legislative Knauss Fellows Explain Congress"
Presentation (pdf)

November 19 at 12 noon
Laura Oremland of NMFS/Office of Science and Technology will present "Sea Scallop Surveys in the 21st Century: Could advanced optical technologies ultimately replace the dredge-based survey?"

Powerpoint slides (ppt format)

Powerpoint slides (pdf format)

Abstract:Atlantic Sea Scallops (Placopecten magellanicus), valued at $385 million (ex-vessel value) in 2007, support the top revenue generating commercial fishery in the United States. Found on the seafloor in Northwest Atlantic waters ranging from Newfoundland to North Carolina, they are typically harvested using a New Bedford style scallop dredge, that is dragged along the seafloor bottom by a fishing vessel. The Northeast Fisheries Science Center has been conducting sea scallop surveys aboard the R/V Albatross IV (and more recently the R/V Sharp) with a modified New Bedford style dredge annually since the late 1970s as a means to help estimate scallop population sizes and structure and provide management advice. In recent years however, optical survey methods using cameras to photograph and analyze scallop populations have emerged as a potential alternative to the dredge survey. One such optical survey method, Habcam, short for Habitat Mapping Camera System, was developed as a collaborative project between the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, the fishing industry, and the National Marine Fisheries Service. Habcam, unlike a dredge is non-invasive. It is towed above the seafloor by a commercial scallop boat and can collect as many as 300,000 high resolution images per day. In 2007, calibration experiments between the NMFS dredge survey and Habcam were conducted, in which sea scallop abundances and size class distributions were measured at the same stations by both dredge and Habcam surveys. This presentation will provide an overview of the different sea scallop survey methods and 2007 calibration experiment, as well as discuss preliminary results of the 2007 calibration experiments, with an examination of how optical and dredge survey methods compare, and the potential impacts measurement errors can have on optical survey methods.

Lora Clarke (Office of Science and Technology, NMFS) will present "High Connectivity in a Locally Adapted Marine Fish Species: A possible scenario?"

November 20 at 12 noon
Knauss Sea Grant Fellows Lecture Series: Connectivity in Marine Fish Species (Postponed: Short-term Climate Variability Impact on Pacific Ocean SSTs talk by Sandy Lucas)
Powerpoint slides (pdf format)
Abstract: High connectivity, or the exchange of individuals among subpopulations, is assumed in most marine species due to life histories that include widely dispersive stages. However, evidence of local adaptation in marine species, such as the Atlantic silverside (Menidia menidia), raises questions concerning the degree of connectivity. Geochemical signatures of adult fish were compared to groundtruthed signatures of juvenile fish to determine natal origin. From this information, migration distances and the degree of mixing were estimated. Results suggest high connectivity and demonstrate marine species with largely open populations are capable of local adaptation despite apparently high gene flow.

December 2 at 12 noon
Dr. Richard Methot of NOAA Fisheries, Office of Science and Technology, will present "Stock Synthesis: an integrated analysis model to enable sustainable fisheries."

Powerpoint slides

Abstract:
Integrated analysis is a powerful approach to statistical modeling of survey, catch, and biological data to estimate fish abundance and fishing mortality. The Stock Synthesis (SS) implementation of integrated analysis provides a high level of flexibility to adapt to a great diversity of assessment situations. The inner layer of SS is an age-structured population model which incorporates density-dependence in a spawner-recruitment relationship. The observation layer translates population estimates into expected values for the available data while taking into account various observation processes such as age determination imprecision and time-varying changes in catchability. The statistical layer then quantifies the goodness-of-fit between these expected values and the available data and searches for the set of parameters that maximizes this goodness-of-fit. The population model can also be extended past the last year of data to provide a forecast that is fully linked to the quantities estimated by the model. SS can be scaled down to mimic a simple biomass production model or scaled up to incorporate many complex factors such as multiple areas with movement, time-varying growth, and environmental effects on model parameters.

December 4 at 12 noon
Stephanie Showalter, Director of the National Sea Grant Law Center, will present "The National Sea Grant Law Center: Reducing Barriers and Conflicts through Legal Extension."

Abstract: The National Sea Grant Law Center was established in 2002 to provide legal research, education, and outreach services to the National Sea Grant College Program and its constituents. Through a quarterly newsletter, a monthly e-mail case alert, and a bi-annual scholarly journal, the Law Center helps Sea Grant extension agents, coastal managers, and the general public stay informed of developing legal issues and recent court opinions. The Law Center's groundbreaking Advisory Service provides non-biased legal research and analysis to the Sea Grant, its partner agencies, and their constituents. Through its Advisory Service, the Law Center has informed the debate over ballast water regulation in the Great Lakes and water quality trading in Chesapeake Bay. The Law Center has increased understanding of and reduced opposition to coastal projects around the country by providing easy-to-understand information on the existing permitting and liability regimes. Current projects include an education and outreach project on offshore alternative energy siting and permitting and a symposium on water quantity. This presentation will provide an overview of the Law Center, its services, and recent projects.

Bio: Stephanie Showalter received a B.A. in History from Penn State University and a joint J.D./Masters of Studies in Environmental Law degree from Vermont Law School. As Director for the Sea Grant Law Center, Stephanie advises Sea Grant constituents on ocean and coastal law issues, researches and publishes papers on natural resources, marine, and environmental law issues, and supervises law student research and writing projects. Her main areas of research include invasive species, aquaculture, and coastal development. Stephanie also teaches as an adjunct faculty member at the University of Mississippi School of Law offering courses such as ocean and coastal law, wetlands law and policy, and wildlife law.

December 9 at 11:00 am - 1:00 pm
The Library's Annual Holiday Brown Bag Extravaganza will feature:

11:00-11:30: "Hunting Hurricanes -- Now and Then",
featuring Dr. Rick Spinrad, Assistant Administrator NOAA Research, who will discuss his adventures while flying into Hurricane Ike aboard a NOAA P-3. He will be joined by Colonel James R. Cumberpatch (USAF Ret., USMA class 1944) who will share his experience of hunting down a hurricane in 1946 between Guam, the Phillipines and Okinawa after the Loran navigation in his B-29 bomber failed.

Followed by the NOAA Holiday Band and Treats and Coffee!

Hurricane Ike Powerpoint slides

B-29/Guam Hurricane Powerpoint slides

December 10 at 12 noon
Gabe Vecchi, Research Scientist Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, will present "The Trifecta: Use of observations, theories, and models to predict hurricane activity."

Powerpoint slides (in pdf format)

Abstract:The relationship between sea surface temperature (SST) and Atlantic hurricane activity has been explored in several recent scientific publications and it has been the subject of much debate. A causal relationship between /absolute/ SST and Atlantic hurricanes implies a continued and dramatic increase in hurricane activity, and implies that the recent increase is partly man-made. A causal relationship between /relative/ SST and hurricane activity implies a future similar to the past (with big variability and small trend), but the recent increase cannot be attributed to human actions. This talk will show the importance of applying our dynamical understanding of tropical cyclones, in addition to the observed record, to address this question.

Bio: Gabe has been a research oceanographer at NOAA's Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory in Princeton, N.J. since June of 2006. He was a visiting scientist at the lab from 2003 to 2006. His research interests include ocean-atmosphere coupling and climate change and variability. He earned his degrees from Rutgers University and the University of Washington and has won many awards for his work, including the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) and a 2007 NOAA/OAR Outstanding Paper award.

December 11 at 12 noon
Laura Oremland of NMFS/Office of Science and Technology will present "NEMO and NOAA in Washington, D.C: How NOAA's Project "NEMO" led Washington, D.C. public school students to their first National Ocean Sciences Bowl competition"

Abstract: On February 23, 2008, three teams of students from the District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) made history by becoming the first DCPS students to participate in a National Ocean Sciences Bowl (NOSB) competition. NOSB is a national academic competition for high school students in the ocean sciences. Each year thousands of students across the country take part in the competition but until recently, DCPS students had never participated. These DCPS students and their teachers were part of NOAA's pilot project "NEMO" designed to interest students in the ocean sciences and initiate DCPS participation in the NOSB program. NEMO is primarily an after school program that includes a weekly meeting between students and teachers (using activities provided by NOAA) and field trips opportunities coordinated by NOAA every other month. This presentation will provide an overview of NOAA's project NEMO, program evaluation methods and results, lessons learned on engaging inner city high schools in the ocean sciences and initiating their participation in a NOSB competition, and NEMO's future direction.

December 18 from 12 noon - 1 p.m.
Brandon Southall, Phd, Director, NOAA Ocean Acoustics Program, will present "Cetacean behavioral responses to simulated military sonar and other sound exposures"

Powerpoint slides (in pdf format)

Brief Description: A two-year study to study on how some marine mammals, including beaked whales, respond to various sounds, including simulated military sonar signals, was recently completed on an underwater listening range in the Bahamas. This project, called the Behavioral Response Study (BRS), was spearheaded by NOAA's Office of Science and Technology in collaboration with the U.S. Navy and scientists from several institutions and many countries. Diving and vocal behavior in four cetacean species was measured before, during, and after sound exposure to obtain measurements of how the animals react to human sounds in their environment.

Abstract: Beaked whales have mass stranded during a few military exercises involving the transmission of active, mid-frequency tactical sonar, but the cause is unknown. A recent series of experiments on a specialized acoustic range [including 80+ elements capable of recording up to ~48 kHz covering ~600 sq. miles] were conducted in the Tongue of the Ocean (TOTO), Bahamas to provide empirical measurements of the behavioural responses of beaked whales and other odontocete cetaceans. A total of nine playback sequences (including measurements during "control" and "exposure" intervals) were conducted on four species of odontocete cetacean [Blainville's beaked whale, /Mesoplodon densirostris/ (n=2); Melon-headed whale, /Peponocephala electra/ (n=1); short-finned pilot whale, /Globicephala macrorhynchus/ (n=4); false killer whale, /Pseudorca crassidens/ (n=2)]. In addition, observations were made of odontocete vocalizations at a coarser (group) level using the hydrophone array during playback sequences. The results demonstrated that one of the tagged Blainville's beaked whales responded to playbacks of simulated naval sonar once the (gradually increasing) received levels (RL) reached 136 dB re: 1µPa and killer whale RL reached 102 dB re: 1µPa by interrupting foraging dives, prematurely ceasing vocalizations, and sustained avoidance of the playback area after exposure to the killer whale sounds. The other beaked whale playback included a single exposure to a pseudo-random noise signal of comparable level in the mid-frequency band; measurements of the response were limited by the premature disattachment of the tag, but there were some apparently similar responses in cessation of vocalizations and foraging. The other species tested appear to be categorically less sensitive to MFA and control sounds than beaked whales, demonstrating some changes in vocal and movement behaviour but nothing like the clear avoidance responses to relatively low-level sound exposures in the beaked whales. That beaked whales appear to have a particular sensitivity to acoustic exposure is not surprising, given their disproportionate occurrence in the stranding events that have apparently resulted from sonar training exercises. However, considerable uncertainty remains regarding the specificity of responses as a function of signal-type and context. Our results demonstrate that useful scientific information can be obtained through controlled exposure experiments on beaked whales and a range of other species without causing serious negative effects on the target or non-target species. Subsequent consideration is now on how best to optimize methodologies to increase sample sizes, expand the species tested, and integrate these results with complimentary opportunistic studies.

2009 Brown Bags

January 26 at 12 noon
Michael J. McPhaden of NOAA's Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, Seattle, Washington, will present "Progress in Climate Science: NOAA's Tropical Moored Buoy Array Program"
Powerpoint slides

Abstract: NOAA's Tropical Moored Buoy Array Program is a coordinated, multi-national effort to implement a sustained moored buoy observing system in the global tropics for climate research and prediction. The array addresses NOAA Strategic Plan goal of "Understanding climate variability and change to enhance society's ability to plan and respond." This presentation will review the scientific background motivating development of the program, highlight progress in understanding and forecasting climate variability originating in the tropics, and describe plans for completing and sustaining the array.
Bio: Curriculum Vitae

January 27 at 12 noon
Carlos Cotlier of the University of Rosario, Argentina, will present "Comparative evaluation between Feng Yun 1D, NOAA AVHRR, MODIS and LandSat 5 TM images working as a satellite constellation for burned areas detection on Paraná Medio Flooding Valley in Argentina."
Powerpoint slides

January 29 at 12 noon
NOAA OAR Office of SeaGrant will host LSU researcher Dr. Jack Losso who will discuss "Oysters and Breast Cancer".

Abstract: A compound in the fats found in Louisiana oysters could be a key ingredient in treating and preventing cancer according to LSU AgCenter food science researcher Dr. Jack Losso. Dr. Losso has found that ceramide found in oysters can restrict blood vessel growth and development of cancer cells in test tubes. It can also inhibit blood vessel growth in rats. By preventing the formation of blood vessels, called angiogenesis, the compound keeps cancer cells from multiplying because they can't grow without nutrients from the blood. Ceramide works on human breast cancer cells both in test tubes and in laboratory rats. When breast cancer cells come in contact with ceramide, they begin dying within 48-hours. These findings and other significant human health findings related to oysters will be presented at this seminar.