Invitation to a Workshop on Hypoxia in Narragansett Bay

When: 9:00 AM – 3:00 PM, Monday October 2, 2006

Where: Hazard Conference Room, Coastal Institute Building,

Narragansett Bay Campus, University of Rhode Island

Directions: http://www.gso.uri.edu/aboutGSO/directions.html

Campus Map: http://www.gso.uri.edu/aboutGSO/campusmap.html

To register: Contact Dan Codiga (d.codiga@gso.uri.edu)

or Candace Oviatt (coviatt@gso.uri.edu).

Workshop description and purpose

You are invited to a workshop on hypoxia in Narragansett Bay. Your attendance will be important to its success. In addition, it would be helpful for you to circulate this invitation to other colleagues at your institution who may be interested in participating.

The workshop is the first in a series of annual meetings associated with a 5-year multi-institution research project supported by NOAA’s Coastal Hypoxia Research Program. Scientists collaborating on the effort represent the URI Graduate School of Oceanography, Brown University, University of Connecticut, Virginia Institute of Marine Science, and the Narragansett Bay Estuary Program.

A central thrust of the project is to develop modeling tools for hypoxia, and to test/verify/validate them by collecting suitable field measurements. The purpose of the modeling tools is to improve understanding of oxygen dynamics, and improve capabilities for planning/assessment of management/regulatory actions (for example, nutrient load reduction). Narragansett Bay is the focus of the effort but the approach and products are intended to have some transferability to other systems.

One important goal of the workshop is to inform, involve, and obtain inputs from representatives of management and regulatory agencies. Following presentations by investigators to summarize their research activities and results during the first year of the project, there will be a discussion of how the effort in the coming years can be steered in order to best address the needs of decision makers. All workshop attendees are encouraged to provide feedback and suggestions by participating in this discussion.

Workshop Agenda

Title: Workshop on Hypoxia in Narragansett Bay

Click on links below for a PowerPoint file of the talk.

Background on National CHRP Program -- David Scheurer, NOAA 9:00-9:10

Overviews of Narragansett Bay CHRP Components

Modeling -- Dan Codiga -- 9:10-9:50

Ecological model (Brush/Kremer)

Hydrodynamic model (Bergondo/Kincaid)

Hybrid ecological/hydrodynamical model (Kremer/Brush)

Empirical/statistical model (Codiga)

Fieldwork in support of ecological model -- Candace Oviatt -- 9:50-10:30

Historical hypoxia based on benthic forams (Prell)

Water-column metabolism (Oviatt)

Sediment oxygen demand (Prell)

Denitrification (Nixon/Fulweiler)

[Break] 10:30-10:40

Fieldwork in support of hydrodynamic model -- Chris Deacutis -- 10:40 -11:20

Large-scale CTD surveys (Deacutis/Murray)

Circulation (moored and vessel-based) (Kincaid/Bergondo)

Towed undulator surveys (Ullman)

Moored vertical profilers (Vaudrey/Kremer)

Multi-Year Observational Records of Hypoxia in Narragansett Bay

Fixed-site Timeseries -- Heather Stoffel -- 11:20-11:40

Spatial Surveys -- Warren Prell / David Murray -- 11:40-12:00

[Lunch] --12:00-1:00

Forums/Panels/Discussions

Decision makers and NB CHRP, with context from other systems -- 1:00-2:00

[Break] 2:00-2:10

Greenwich Bay hypoxia: case study within Narragansett Bay -- 2:10-2:50