6th International Conference on Oceanography, Ocean Technology and Marine Biology September 21-22, 2018 Dallas, Texas, USA

German Daniel Rivillas Ospina profile is based on hydraulics and coastal engineering topics. He has ten years of experience on hydraulic and coastal projects with technical and investigation interest, in order to understand the physical problems that affect the ecosystems and to promote restoration solutions. Since 2012 he is doing research in coastal erosion and coastal wetlands restoration, in order to reduce the anthropogenic impacts. Structural solutions are evaluated to implement restoration measures and encourage the growth of the resilience of the coastal zone.

The aim of this research is focused on the application of a methodology to assess erosive processes in Colombian Caribbean coastal wetlands. The analyses of the coastal bar that separate the lagoon from the sea, as well as the diagnostic process that helps to characterize the effect of the coastal infrastructure in coastal zones in a short and medium scale, was done. Geomorphology, wave climate, hydrodynamic and evolution of the coastline topics was taking into account to understand “Mallorquín” coastal wetland equilibrium. The degradation level assessment shows that slightest changes in physics conditions produce adverse effects and system modifications. This work describes a procedure to understand the relationship between alterations of coastal processes and the response of a coastal environment against anthropogenic modifications due to navigation activities that exacerbate the coastal equilibrium losses. The procedure uses numerical and theoretical models to evaluate the behavior of the local hydrodynamic, considering the coastline evolution that has occurred, in order to establish a baseline to predict variations of the coastal bar as consequence of the establishment of Barranquilla port development. The results show that the coastal zone will be affected by the works to be developed for facilitating the navigability conditions of a new port in the city of Barranquilla, Colombia.

André Droxler is a carbonate sedimentologist, marine geologist, paleo-oceanographer and climatologist with interests in reef and carbonate evolution at different time scales, ad in past ocean climate and sea-level changes. He is an expert on reefs and carbonate platforms from the Cambrian to the Holocene.

This study focuses on the last 1500 yr. precipitation record and tropical storm occurrence, archived in the sediments from the Belize Central Shelf and the Blue Hole of Lighthouse Reef, proximal to the land areas where the Mayan Urban Civilization thrived and then abruptly collapsed. Cores were retrieved in 30 and 19 mbsl (meters below sea level) from Elbow Caye Lagoon and English Caye Channel, respectively, in addition to cores retrieved from the anoxic bottom sediment of the Blue Hole at 120 mbsl. The core timeframe is constrained by AMS radiocarbon dating of benthic foraminifera and organic residues, in addition to varve counts. Element (Ti, Si, K, Fe, Al, Ca, and Sr) counts were quantified via X-Ray Fluorescence. The records of Ti and K counts, and Ti/Al in these two cores have recorded, in the past 1500 years, the variable weathering rates of the adjacent Maya Mountain, defining alternating periods of high precipitation and droughts, linked to large climate fluctuations and extreme events, highly influenced by the ITCZ latitudinal migration. Coarse sediment layers in the upper part of the Blue Hole cores were correlated with historical tropical cyclones. The CE 800-900 century just preceding the Medieval Climate Anomaly (MCA), characterized by unusually low Ti counts and Ti/Al, and tropical cyclone scarcity, is interpreted to represent a time of low precipitation and resulting severe droughts in the Yucatan Peninsula, contemporaneous with the Mayan Terminal Classic Collapse. High Ti counts and Ti/Al, although highly variable, during the MCA (CE 900-1350), are interpreted as an unusually warm period characterized by two 100-to-250 years-long intervals of higher precipitation when the number of tropical cyclones peaked. These intervals of high precipitation are separated by a century (CE 1000 -1100) of severe droughts and rare tropical storm coinciding with the collapse of Chichen Itza (CE 1040-1100).

Maksim Koval graduated from the Far East Technical University of Fishery Industry (Vladivostok, Russia) in 1994 (specialties: hydrobiology and ichthyology). Same year began to work in Kamchatka Research Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography (KamchatNIRO, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky). In 1994-2011 was participant and coordinator of marine research expeditions in offshore and coastal water of the North Pacific and the Far East Seas (including international cruises under North Pacific Anadromous Fish Commission programs). In 2007 has defended a PhD with the dissertation “Forage base and feeding particularities of Pacific salmon in the Kamchatkan waters of the Okhotsk and Bering seas and in the northern part of the Pacific Ocean”. Since 2012 main research project: Ecology of Coastal, Estuarine and Freshwater Ecosystem of the Kamchatka.

New data on the abiotic conditions; species composition; abundance, distribution, and migrations of fauna; and feeding interactions in an estuary ecosystem were obtained during expeditions in the mouths of Penzhina and Talovka rivers (Northwest Kamchatka), June-September 2014-2015. It is revealed that in the ice-free season, the hydrological regime of the estuary is determined by seasonal fluctuations of river runoff, as well as fortnightly and daily variation of tides. The estuary is characterized by hypertidal fluctuations (up to 10–12 m); strong reverse flows (up to 1.0–1.5 m/s), considerable tidal variations in salinity (from 0 to 6–9‰ at the river boundary and from 6–8 to 14–16‰ at the offshore boundary), and high water turbidity (up to 1 000 NTU or more). Based on the spatial structure of the community, three ecological zones with mobile boundaries are distinguished: freshwater (salinity 0–0.1‰), estuarine (0–12.3‰), and neritic (11.2–18.9‰). High turbidity prevents the development of phytoplankton in the estuarine zone (EZ), and the local benthic community is significantly depleted due to the desalination and widespread of aleuritic silts. Neritic copepods and nektobenthic brackish-water crustaceans generate the maximum abundance and biomass here. The species that have adapted to the local extreme hydrologic conditions dominate and form the basis of the estuarine food chain. Dominant among the EZ vertebrates are such groups as anadromous fishes (smelts, pacific salmons, charrs, and sticklebacks); waterfowl (terns, kittiwakes, cormorants, fulmars, puffins, guillemots, auklets, and wadepipers); and predatory marine mammals (larga, ringed seal, bearded seal, and white whale). The total abundance and biomass of these animals are much higher in the pelagic EZ in comparison to neighboring zones. The scheme of the food web of the Penzhina and Talovka hypertidal estuary was constructed.

Andrew Ziegwied is the Scientific Sales Manager for Autonomous Surface Vehicles LLC (ASV Global), a small US business headquartered in Broussard, Louisiana. ASV Global is the leading designer, manufacturer and operator of high-performance, rugged, force multiplying Autonomous Surface Vehicle systems delivering multi-domain capable unmanned and autonomous systems for research, survey, surveillance, and defense applications. Andrew is a University of Washington School of Oceanography graduate with extensive government and commercial consulting experience providing integrated instrumentation solutions with the international MacArtney Underwater Technology Group. His background also includes field work and project management with Evans-Hamilton, Inc. (Now RPS) and application engineering with instrument manufacturer Sea-Bird Electronics, Inc. (Now Sea-Bird Scientific).

Statement of the Problem: A number of measurement systems are commonly employed to autonomously monitor the ocean conditions in the outer continental shelf to support energy development, military activities, shipping and other key Blue Economy industries. These methods are frequently limited by satellite orbits, sensor resolution, and atmospheric conditions. This problem becomes acute for obtaining reliable data on smaller meoscale features such as the frontal eddies (LCFE) along current systems. Satellite-tracked Lagrangian drifters are often combined with remote sensing data to track and measure currents. The limited drifter residency within features of interest creates gaps in coverage and necessitates regular drifter replacement. Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers (ADCPs) have been deployed into the GOM on many deepwater moorings, offshore platforms, and mobile drilling units (MODU), but these systems remain sparsely distributed and operate intermittently. There are a growing number of high frequency radar systems in use for observing coastal circulation, but their horizontal range and up-time are limited to shelf waters. And evolving industries, such as offshore wind, are just beginning to explore opportunities for collecting ocean data. The recent advances in autonomous surface vehicle (ASV) design, propulsion, software, and sensors have resulted in a proliferation of vehicles, including optionally manned conversions, for a multitude of missions. These technologies have created new opportunities to develop heterogeneous and collaborative unmanned systems based around smaller, lower-cost, unmanned surface, underwater and aerial vessels. We propose that diesel-electric powered ASVs with modular architectures can incorporate numerous interchangeable sensor payloads and allows one ASV unit to function as a multi-instrument platform to support other offshore operations. With over 30 days at 7 knots endurance capability and over the horizon communications, this technology represents a step change in offshore operations is a cost effective surrogate to the use of Regional Class Research/ Survey vessels to deliver the equivalent capability.