National Ocean Service

About: National Ocean Service is a government organization based out in Silver Spring, Maryland, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Algal bloom & Population. The organization has 500 authors who have published 643 publications receiving 46096 citations.

Description of a new genus of pfiesteria-like dinoflagellate, luciella gen. nov. (dinophyceae), including two new species: luciella masanensis sp. nov. and luciella atlantis sp. nov.

Abstract: A new genus of Pfiesteria-like heterotrophic dinoflagellate, Luciella gen. nov., and two new species, Luciella masanensis sp. nov. and Luciella atlantis sp. nov., are described. These species commonly occur with other small (<20 μm) heterotrophic and mixotrophic dinoflagellates in estuaries from Florida to Maryland and the southern coast of Korea, suggesting a possible global distribution. An SEM analysis indicates that members of the genus Luciella have the enhanced Kofoidian plate formula of Po, cp, X, 4′, 2a, 6″, 6c, PC, 5+s, 5‴, 0p, and 2″″. The two four-sided anterior intercalary plates are diamond shaped. The genus Luciella differs from the other genera in the Pfiesteriaceae by a least one plate in the plate tabulation and in the configuration of the two anterior intercalary plates. An SSU rDNA phylogenetic analysis confirmed the genus as monophyletic and distinct from the other genera in the Pfiesteriaceae. The morphology of Luciella masanensis closely resembles Pfiesteria piscicida Steid. et J. M. Burkh. and other Pfiesteria-like dinoflagellates in size and shape, making it easily misidentified using LM. Luciella atlantis, in contrast, has a more distinctive morphology. It can be distinguished from L. masanensis and other Pfiesteria-like organisms by a larger cell size, a more conical-shaped epitheca and hypotheca, larger rhombic-shaped intercalary plates, and an asymmetrical hypotheca. The genus Luciella is assigned to the order Peridiniales and the family Pfiesteriaceae based on plate tabulation, plate pattern, general morphology, and phylogenetic analysis.

Resolution of the Scripps/NOAA marine gravity field from satellite altimetry

Abstract: The July 1995 declassification of the entire Geosat GM satellite altimeter data set enabled a joint Scripps/NOAA effort to compute a new (version 7.2) marine gravity field on a 2-minute grid. This gravity field covers the world' oceans between 72°N and 72°S, and is derived from a combination of ERS-1 and Geosat GM and ERM data. An earlier NOAA Geosat-only gravity field solution was confined to the southern latitudes because the 1992 declassification was limited to GM data south of 30°S. A simple coherence analysis between accurately-navigated ship gravity profiles and comparable gravity profiles obtained from the gravity grids reveals that the Scripps/NOAA gravity field is coherent with ship gravity down to ∼≥ 23–30 km. This slight increase in resolution over the previous NOAA Geosat-only gravity field (short-wavelength resolution of ∼26–30 km) implies that the increased spatial coverage provided by the ERS-I altimeter, when combined with Geosat, improves the solution. Coherence analyses between satellite gravity and ship topography, and ship gravity and ship topography, show that even shorter wavelength gravity anomalies (∼13 km) are present in sea-surface measurements made by ship. Even so, the Scripps/NOAA marine gravity field does an excellent job of resolving most of the short-wavelength gravity anomalies covering the world’ oceans.

Shifts in the distribution and abundance of coastal marine species along the eastern Pacific Ocean during marine heatwaves from 2013 to 2018

Abstract: Ongoing global ocean warming and a recent increase in the frequency and duration of marine heatwaves have demonstrably impacted marine ecosystems. Growing evidence points to both short- and long-term biological changes, across several levels of organization. While range shifts are among the predicted responses, few studies are focused solely on documenting such changes. Here we report ecological changes in response to marine heatwaves across multiple taxa in the eastern Pacific from central California to Baja California. Sea surface temperature data from two estuaries and one coastal site were analyzed to define the number, duration, and intensity of marine heatwaves occurring in central and southern California from 2013 to 2018. Long-term monitoring programs and short-term research projects in coastal and estuarine ecosystems serendipitously collected specimens or photographs of extralimital species from central California to the Baja California Peninsula. Spatial and temporal sampling protocols and the targeted species for six unrelated programs varied greatly, from annual to monthly at both fixed and variable locations. In addition, anomalous occurrences were reported to staff at local and regional marine and estuarine protected areas and noted in local news and social media outlets. Anomalous range detections were categorized as range expansions and extensions, reappearances, abundance increases, shifts into new habitats, and range contractions. Multiple marine heatwaves occurred from 2014 to 2018, peaking in 2015. Marine heatwaves were more intense and longer in the estuaries, with a maximum duration of 109 days in 2015. We observed 29 species that had responded to the warm water anomalies of 2014–2018 along the eastern Pacific Ocean between central California and the Baja California Peninsula: 7 expansions, 2 extensions, 10 reappearances, 7 increases, 2 shifts into new habitats, and 1 apparent contraction. These shifts included algae, invertebrates and fishes. Twenty species were observed by professional biologists involved both in long-term monitoring programs and short-term studies, 6 by amateur naturalists as part of community-based science programs in the field, and 3 through a combination of all three. Increased warm waters, sustained for an unprecedented 4 of 5 years, facilitated the northward redistribution of multiple species from several taxonomic groups. Species shifting northward were from warm-temperate and subtropical ecosystems to the south. In the absence of programs designed to detect range shifts, we must rely on the serendipitous observations of biologists conducting both long-term monitoring and short-term research, and the growing wealth of information from community-based science programs made available via online databases.