Download The Sea Grant programs in the New York Bight are facilitating the

 The Sea Grant programs in the New York Bight are facilitating the development of an agenda for regional research on processes and ecosystems in the coastal ocean and estuaries that is necessary to inform coastal manager for the coming decade. To develop a consensus on the needs and priorities, the programs are hosting a series of meetings to bring together managers and scientists from across the region to share information, problems and ideas. We are inviting you to participate in the workshop The Consequences of Temporal Variability and Climate Change on Management Actions in the Coastal Ecosystems of the New York Bight. The coastal ecosystems of the region are closely coupled through their interaction with the waters of the continental shelf. It is well established that these waters originate and are appreciably freshened by Arctic melt water which drifts southward along the continental shelf through the Gulf of Maine and the Middle Atlantic Bight. The major estuaries of the New York Bight exchange waters with the inner shelf through circulation that is seasonally modulated by river discharge and wind patterns. It has recently become apparent that there have been long‐term changes (e.g., inter‐annual and decadal‐scale fluctuations) in the characteristics of river discharge, regional wind patterns, and along‐shelf transport from the Gulf of Maine. We must anticipate that these changes will be reflected in the character of inner‐shelf and estuarine ecosystems and introduce perturbations to the natural variability of these ecosystems. There will be several invited presentations that summarize what we know about trends and variability in circulation, meteorology and ecosystem characteristics in the region. Others will outline emerging management issues. A consensus on the essential research (both observational and theoretical) that is needed to assist in the development of ecosystem management will then be drafted based on presentations and the subsequent questions and discussion and through facilitated working groups. The final report from the workshop will be incorporated into a larger regional research priorities plan by the New York Bight Sea Grant Programs that will be used to inform regional and state government planners, NGO’s, academia and others of the regional research and management needs of the New York Bight. Tentative Agenda 8:00 am Registration and continental breakfast 8:45 am Welcome Remarks and Setting the Stage (Rowe, O’Donnell, NJIT rep TBD) 9:00 am Temporal Variation in Physical Oceanography – Estuary to Ocean (Chant, Wilkin, Lwiza) 10:30 am Discussion 11:00 am Break 11:15 am Temporal Variation in Chemistry and Biology (Fulweiler, Whitlatch, Hare) 12:45 am Discussion 1:15 pm Lunch 2:30 pm Manager’s Panel (4 panelists TBD) 3:30 pm Discussion 4:00 Summary and Adjourn Information on Speakers Jon Hare – NOAA/NMFS/NEFSC Ecosystem Processes Division – Oceanography Branch (Narragansett) Research Interests: Analyze how components of the Northeast Continental Shelf ecosystem influence the distribution, abundance, and productivity of living marine resources (LMR); Process oriented research on influence of environment and lower trophic levels on LMRs; Monitor seasonal and interannual variability in water properties ; Investigate physical and biological processes that control growth and survival of early life stages of fish populations and of their zooplankton prey organisms http://na.nefsc.noaa.gov/ecosystem.html and http://www.nefsc.noaa.gov/epd/ocean/ Robert Chant ‐ Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences, Rutgers University Research Interests: Physical oceanography and estuarine dynamics http://marine.rutgers.edu/faculty_rchant_cv.pdf Kamazima Lwiza – School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, Stony Brook University Research Interests: Structure and dynamics of shelf‐seas and remote sensing oceanography http://www.somas.stonybrook.edu/people/lwiza.html John Wilkin ‐ Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences, Rutgers University Research Interests: Coastal ocean forecasting; variational methods for data assimilation, re‐analysis and ocean observing system design; Mesoscale satellite remote sensing; physical‐biological interactions on the continental shelf; oceanography of the Mid‐Atlantic Bight http://marine.rutgers.edu/~wilkin/cv_wilkin.pdf Robert Whitlatch – Department of Marine Sciences, University of Connecticut Research interests: Marine benthic population and community ecology; Use of laboratory and field experimentation in combination with modeling, to address abiotic and biotic processes influencing distribution and composition of populations and communities http://www.marinesciences.uconn.edu/faculty/faculty.php?users=rbw02003 Robinson (Wally) Fulweiler ‐ Marine Program, Department of Earth Sciences, Boston University Research Interests: Energy flow and biogeochemical cycling of nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus, and silica), carbon, and oxygen in a variety of environments; Anthropogenic changes effects on ecology and elemental cycling of ecosystems on a variety of scales (i.e. local ‐nutrient loading; regional/global – climate change); Transformations and the ultimate fate of nitrogen in the marine environment and the impact of climate change on benthic‐pelagic coupling http://www.bu.edu/es/people/faculty/robinson-
w-fulweiler/