St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center
Publications
Digging into the geologic record of environmentally driven changes in coral-reef development
This lesson uses data based on real-world geological archives to guide students toward understanding how climate and oceanography have impacted coral-reef growth over the last 5000 years. The objective of the lesson is for students to determine the relationship between environmental variability and coral-reef development over millennial timescales...
Gravinese, Philip M.; Aronson, Richard B.; Toth, Lauren T.
Application of decadal modeling approach to forecast barrier island evolution, Dauphin Island, Alabama
Forecasting barrier island evolution provides coastal managers and stakeholders the ability to assess the resiliency of these important coastal environments that are home to both established communities and existing natural habitats. This study uses an established coupled model framework to assess how Dauphin Island, Alabama, responds to various...
Mickey, Rangley C.; Elizabeth Godsey; Dalyander, P. Soupy ; Victor Gonzalez; Jenkins, Robert L.; Long, Joseph W.; Thompson, David M.; Plant, Nathaniel G.
Development of a modeling framework for predicting decadal barrier island evolution
Predicting the decadal evolution of barrier island systems is important for coastal managers who propose restoration or preservation alternatives aimed at increasing the resiliency of the island and its associated habitats or communities. Existing numerical models for simulating morphologic changes typically include either long-term (for example,...
Mickey, Rangley C.; Long, Joseph W.; Dalyander, P. Soupy ; Jenkins, Robert L.; Thompson, David M.; Passeri, Davina L.; Plant, Nathaniel G.
Development of a process-based littoral sediment transport model for Dauphin Island, Alabama
Dauphin Island, Alabama, located in the Northern Gulf of Mexico just outside of Mobile Bay, is Alabama’s only barrier island and provides an array of historical, natural, and economic resources. The dynamic island shoreline of Dauphin Island evolved across time scales while constantly acted upon by waves and currents during both storms and calm...
Jenkins, Robert L.; Long, Joseph W.; Dalyander, P. Soupy ; Thompson, David M.; Mickey, Rangley C.
Forecasting future beach width-A case study along the Florida Atlantic coast
Historical cross-shore positions of the shoreline and dune base were used as inputs for a Kalman filter algorithm to forecast the positions of these features in the year 2028. The beach width was also computed as the cross-shore distance between the forecasted 2028 shoreline and dune-base positions. While it does not evaluate the suitability of a...
Long, Joseph W.; Henderson, Rachel E.; Thompson, David M.
Seafloor change around the Mississippi barrier islands, 1920 to 2016—The influence of storm effects on inlet and island morphodynamics
The Mississippi Barrier Islands in the northern Gulf of Mexico experienced high rates of spatial change over recorded history. Wave-induced sediment transport induced island migration, landward retreat, and inlet evolution. These processes can be measured using repeat bathymetric surveys to analyze elevation change over time. This study analyzes...
Flocks, James G.; Buster, Noreen A.; Brenner, Owen T. A revised Holocene coral sea-level database from the Florida reef tract, USA
The coral reefs and mangrove habitats of the south Florida region have long been used in sea-level studies for the western Atlantic because of their broad geographic extent and composition of sea-level tracking biota. The data from this region have been used to support several very different Holocene sea-level reconstructions (SLRs) over the years...
Stathakopoulos, Anastasios; Riegl, Bernhard M; Toth, Lauren T. Event and decadal-scale modeling of barrier island restoration designs for decision support
An interdisciplinary project team was convened to develop a modeling framework that simulates the potential impacts of storms and sea level-rise to habitat availability at Breton Island, Louisiana (Breton) for existing conditions and potential future restoration designs. The model framework was iteratively developed through evaluation of model...
Long, Joseph W.; Dalyander, P. Soupy; Poff, Michael; Spears, Brian; Borne, Brett; Thompson, David M.; Mickey, Rangley C.; Dartez, Steve; Gandy, Gregory Assessing the water quality impacts of two Category-5 hurricanes on St. Thomas, Virgin Islands
Managing waterborne and water-related diseases is one of the most critical factors in the aftermath of hurricane-induced natural disasters. The goal of the study was to identify water-quality impairments in order to set the priorities for post-hurricane relief and to guide future decisions on disaster preparation and relief administration. Field...
Jiang, Sunny; Han, Muyue; Chandrasekaran, Srikiran; Fang, Yingcong; Kellogg, Christina A. Colony-forming unit spreadplate assay versus liquid culture enrichment-polymerase chain reaction assay for the detection of Bacillus Endospores in soils
A liquid culture enrichment-polymerase chain reaction (E-PCR) assay was investigated as a potential tool to overcome inhibition by chemical component, debris, and background biological impurities in soil that were affecting detection assay performance for soil samples containing Bacillus atrophaeus subsp. globigii (a surrogate for B. anthracis)....
Griffin, Dale W.; Lisle, John T.; Feldhake, David; Silvestri, Erin E. An overview of bioaerosol load and health impacts associated with dust storms: A focus on the Middle East
Dust storms are an important environmental problem worldwide. The main sources of dust storms include the Sahara, the Middle East, and central and northeastern Asia. Dust storms originating from these regions can be dispersed across oceans and in some cases globally. They occur throughout the year and vary in frequency and intensity. The...
Soleimani, Zahra; Teymouri, Pari; Darvishi Boloorani, Ali; Mesdaghinia, Alireza; Middleton, Nick; Griffin, Dale W.
Louisiana Coastal Zone sediment characterization; Comparison of sediment grain sizes for samples collected in 2008 and 2015–2016 from the western Chenier plain to the Chandeleur Islands, Louisiana—Louisiana Barrier Island Comprehensive Monitoring (BICM) Program
Repeated sampling and grain-size analysis of surficial sediments along the sandy shorelines of Louisiana is necessary to characterize coastal-zone sediment properties and evaluate sediment transport patterns within the nearshore environments. In 2008, and again in 2015 and 2016, sediment grab samples were collected along the shorelines of the...
Bosse, Stephen T.; Flocks, James G.; Bernier, Julie C.; Georgiou, Ioannis Y.; Kulp, Mark A.; Brown, Michael