In this issue: Hurricane intensification & coastal resilience research, faculty accolades, alumni & student updates

October 6, 2017

From Dean D'Elia

Alumni, students and friends,

I hope the semester is going well for you. With the officialstart of fall, we look forward to the end of this veryactive tropical season, with its devastating damage tolife and property. As you know, areas near the Atlantic,Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico have been devastatedby Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria, and now weawait the fate of Tropical Storm Nate. My condolencesto all who are suffering loss during this time.

In terms of the science of these storms, at CC&E, ourresearchers are well versed in identifying surges, storm-related stressors andunpredictable, strong ocean currents. Tools such as coastal and oceanographicmodelling, GIS, remote sensing for community resilience and recovery, and socialnetworks are studied to better understand and communicate risks. The Collegecontinues to study the historical records of hurricanes and remote sensing and socialnetworking in community resilience and recovery.

October is National Seafood Month, one that should be celebrated in Louisiana, with itsnearly 400 miles of coastline and thousands of miles of rivers and streams. CC&E'sresearchers and students are working hard to study and enhance the quality offisheries in Louisiana, as well as across the U.S. and internationally. This week, LSUBoyd Professor R. Eugene Turner's research into the shrinking size of the economicallyvaluable Menhaden due to rising ocean temperatures has been published. WhileMenhaden are not consumed directly by humans for food, they are processed into fishoil and fish meal that are used as food ingredients, animal feed, and dietarysupplements.

Improved water quality and wetland conditions in fisheries help both the environmentand the associated local economy - as fishing and ecotourism activities are vital to thestate's economy. Natural processes and human factors influence the health of ourfisheries, and CC&E researchers are studying these influencing factors, learning waysto better measure changes and assist with recovery following disrupting events.

On a lighter note, Fall Break is October 19-20. We hope you enjoy your time off andreturn refreshed and ready to complete the busy fall semester.

Sincerely,

Christopher F. D'Elia, Ph.D.Professor and Dean

Want to learn more about CC&E?

Supporters and potential supporters of theCollege of the Coast & Environment are invited to a

presentation and tour of the College.

Contact Kathe Falls for details at kfalls1@lsu.edu

Thank you for your support!

Hurricane Harvey: Ocean Observing Satellites Help to ExplainRapid Intensification by Nan Walker and Alaric HaagLSU Earth Scan LaboratoryCC&E Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences

Bob LebenColorado Center for Astrodynamics ResearchUniversity of Colorado, Boulder, CO

Satellite data often provides valuable information to aid in the understanding ofhurricane strengthening and weakening. Hurricane Harvey's track, 6-hourly positions,and maximum sustained wind speeds in knots have been superimposed on colorizedsatellite images of Sea Surface Temperature (SST) and Sea

Colorized satellite image of Sea Surface Temperature (SST)

Surface Height (SSH) to assess the possible impacts of Gulf waters to its rapidintensification. Harvey moved from the Yucatan Peninsula over the SW Gulf of Mexicoas a tropical depression with a maximum sustained wind speed of 30 knots on August23 at 10pm CDT (03 Zulu). Twenty-four hours later, Harvey's winds were 75 knots(Category 1 hurricane) and 24 hours after that, just before hitting the Texas coast,maximum wind speeds reached 115 knots, a Category 4 hurricane!

Assistant Professor Zuo"George" Xue

Composite color image of Sea Surface Height (SSH)

In crossing the Gulf of Mexico, Harvey spent most of its time over a very large area ofpositive SSH (area within the 0 cm line) and a warm core eddy (circular feature shownby 10 cm line) in the western Gulf of Mexico.

Harvey's wind speeds began to increase soon after encountering positive SSH near 23degrees N latitude. In areas of positive SSH one can expect relatively high heat contentas the warm water extends deeper down in the water column than in the surroundingareas. Tropical storms and hurricanes are usually impacted by the upper 50-100 m ofthe water column, which is where the warmest water is found. The higher the oceanicheat content under its track, the more likely it will intensify. The satellite-derived SSTwithin the positive SSH area and warm eddy ranged from 28.5-29.5 C (83.3-85 F);however, much of the Gulf of Mexico exhibited a similarly high SST. Notice that therewas another warm eddy (see 10 cm circular feature east of the track) in the centralGulf which may have had an additional impact since tropical cyclones extract heat outof a very large ocean area.

In the eastern Gulf (too far to be of major impact to Harvey), the Loop Current exhibitedextremely high SSH and, thus, high oceanic heat content. Storms and hurricanestracking over the Loop Current often intensify rapidly as did both Hurricanes Katrinaand Rita in 2005.

In summary, our preliminary assessment from these satellite measurements is thatHarvey tracked over a large area of positive SSH and a warm core eddy as well ashigh SST which provided an extreme amount of heat, throughevaporation/condensation, that allowed the rapid intensification from tropical storm toCategory 4 hurricane in less than 48 hours! To reach Category 4 status, however, theatmosphere would have played a critical role as well. Conditions of low vertical windshear and high water vapor are known conditions that aid in the intensification ofhurricanes. For more on the 2017 hurricane season, as well as past seasons, visit the Earth Scan Laboratorywebsite.

CC&E-led Team Awarded NASA EPSCoR Awardfor Carbon Export Research

A proposal led by CC&E's own Zuo "George" Xue has beenselected for funding by the NASA EPSCoR program. TheEstablished Program to Stimulate Competitive Research(EPSCoR) establishes partnerships with government, highereducation and industries that are designed to effect lastingimprovements in a state's or region's research infrastructure.

The project will be awarded in FY18 by the NASA EPSCoRprogram and funded jointly by NASA and the Louisiana Board ofRegents. The total amount is $1.5 Million with $1.38 Million awarded to LSU. The project,titled "Understanding and Quantifying Carbon Export to Coastal Oceans throughDeltaic Systems," focuses on critical carbon processes at the interface of human-natural ecosystems, addresses the transport of carbon through the land-sea interfaceand supports NASA's major strategic goal to advance understanding of Earth.

Read more.

Photo credit: Garold W. Sneegas via Fishes of Texas website.

Professor John R. White

LSU Researchers Awarded Final Round of BP Oil Spill Grants

LSU scientists will continue their work on the effects of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill onsoutheastern Louisiana marsh ecosystems under the umbrella of the Coastal WatersConsortium, or CWC. CWC was just awarded $4.8 million over the next two yearsbeginning in January 2018, announced by the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative,GoMRI, this week.

The Principal Investigator of the award is Nancy Rabalais, LSU Department ofOceanography & Coastal Sciences Professor and Shell Endowed Chair in the Collegeof the Coast & Environment.The grant will be administered by the Louisiana UniversitiesMarine Consortium, or LUMCON, where Rabalais also holds a Distinguished ResearchProfessor position. LUMCON Associate Director of Science Brian Roberts will continuebiogeochemical measurements of oiled and unoiled sites, and dose-dependenttreatments of marsh ecosystems.

Read more.

Turner's MenhadenResearch Published

LSU Boyd Professor R.Eugene Turner's work on theshrinking of the average bodysize of Menhaden has beenpublished. Turner's researchshows that the body weight,length and overall size of thesmall, economically importantfish is shrinking in bodyweight, length and overall physical size as ocean temperatures rise. The average bodysize of Menhaden, caught off the coasts from Maine to Texas, has shrunk by about 15percent over the past 65 years.

The paper, "Smaller size-at-age menhaden with coastal warming and fishing intensity,"appears in Geo: Geography and Environment. Read more.

White Named Fellow of Soil Science Society ofAmerica

The Soil Science Society of America, or SSSA, has namedCollege of the Coast & Environment Professor John R. WhiteSSSA Fellow. White, who holds the John & Catherine DayProfessor of Oceanography & Coastal Sciences, will beformally presented the honor at the SSSA Awards Ceremonyat the Annual Meeting in Tampa in this month.

The annual awards are presented for outstandingcontributions to agronomy through education, national and international service andresearch. White, a recognized expert on wetland soil biogeochemistry, investigatinghydrologic changes in the landscape linked to water and soil quality, has authoredmore than 80 peer-reviewed publications, 12 peer-reviewed chapters and supervised

more than 25 graduate students.

Read more.

AP Photo/David J. Phillip

Lam Article Featured, Interview Airs An article by CC&E Professor Nina Lam on the increasing risk of flooding facing someinland communities has been featured in a recent edition of The Conversation. Shewrites that, while a number of communities along the nation's coastlines have sloweddevelopment in flood zones, development in certain inland flood zones is increasing. "This is a worrisome trend. It implies that people who have experienced flooding on thecoast migrate inland, but may not realize that they are still vulnerable if they relocate toan inland flood zone," she writes. Read the full article here. Lam was also recently interviewed on the Michael S.Robinson Show on Microbin Radio. She joined SteveValk,of the Citizens Climate Lobby, Joel Kotkin, fellow,Chapman University and John Elkington, co-founder,Volans, to discuss climate change and proactivemeasures that should be taken to prevent future climatedisasters. Listen here.

Reams, Lam Paper Featured inJournal of Environmental Health A paper coauthored by EnvironmentalSciences Professors Margaret Reams andNina Lam and others is the lead article andfeatured on the cover of the September issueof the Journal of Environmental Health. Thepaper, titled "Response, Recovery, andResilience to Oil Spills and EnvironmentalDisasters: Exploration and Use of Novel

Dean D'Elia with Rep. Garret Graves

Approaches to Enhance CommunityResilience," addresses three topics relatedto enhancing resilience to environmentaldisasters: rapid response for characterizingexposure; recovery and the role of the citizenscientist; and increased resilience withcommunity participation. The research team gathered informationfrom leaders representing Gulf Coast NGOsand regulatory agencies, as well asresidents and researchers. Based on theparticipants' experiences, the teamdeveloped recommendations for improvedresponse, recovery, and resilience in futuredisasters. Read the abstract here.

Dean Welcomes Service Academy DayParticipants On Saturday, September 16, in the Dalton J.Woods Auditorium, Dean Chris D'Elia served as aco-host for Congressional Service Academy Day,an annual event during which interested studentslearn about admissions rules and congressionaloffices' nomination processes for attending one ofthe U.S. service academies.

The eventalso provides students an opportunity to meetwith representatives from the U.S. MilitaryAcademy at West Point, the U.S. NavalAcademy, the Air Force Academy, the CoastGuard and Merchant Marine Academies andROTC programs.

"Our service academies and ROTC programs areincredibly important to our nation," said D'Elia. "Onbehalf of President F. King Alexander, I was honored towelcome such talented, bright students to LSU to learnabout opportunities to serve their country." More than 170 students registered to attend. DeanD'Elia provided welcoming remarks and introducedCongressman Garret Graves.

USFSP Graduate Studies Director Recommends

Knudsen says her department advocates for

USFSP graduateprograms, as well as the

students they serve.

Brown at the banding station at BluebonnetSwamp.

"Personalized Approach" On Wednesday, October 4, the CC&E welcomed DonnaKnudsen, founding director of the Office of Graduate Studies forUSF St. Petersburg (USFSP), to talk to faculty, staff and studentsabout best practices for enhancing enrollment, collaboration andprogram development. Knudsen's office at USFSP provides a"one-stop shop" for graduate students that "spans the graduateeducation life cycle from prospective student outreach throughgraduation." She emphasized the importance of a personalized approach tograduate studies, one that "marries administrative functions andacademic initiatives." Knudsen's presentation was followed by aworkshop on building graduate enrollment.

ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT

Collin Brown Master of Science in Environmental Sciences May 2017 Recent ENVS master's graduate Collin Brown now worksfor international laboratories group Eurofins in Lancaster,Pa. This week, CC&E Today caught up with theWernersville, Pa., native to talk about his new job, hisexperience in the ENVS master's program and more.

Eurofins is an international company thatprovides testing and support services to thepharmaceutical, food, environmental andconsumer products industries and togovernments. What work will you be doingthere? At Eurofins, I'm a scientist in the Cell and MolecularBiology Department. I help to create and developnew methodology to test pharmaceutical samples for contamination.

Why Eurofins (just curious)? I believe that the work done in all 300+ Eurofins facilities is important because of thehigh quality service that we provide. By testing and creating pharmaceutical products,we provide services that directly or indirectly influence a huge amount of people. Itmakes it easy to go to work knowing that your job is helping people in need of medicalhelp.

How do you think your degree prepared you for your work at Eurofins? I think that during my time at LSU, Prof. Crystal Johnson helped me to develop thetechnical skills needed in the lab to conduct scientific research at the highest level. Notonly that, but she helped me develop writing skills and interpersonal skills within thescientific realm, making me a more sound scientist and coworker. I can't thank herenough for my time there.

Professor Johnson mentioned that you're submitting two first-author papers.Tell us about those.

Both papers are about antibiotic-resistant bacteria collected from birds at a localswamp. The first paper attempts to provide evidence about which bird behaviorsfacilitate the pick-up of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in birds. The second paper looks todescribe, using genetic techniques, the profile of antibiotic-resistant bacteria collected.

Thanks, Collin, and best of luck to you!

STUDENT SPOTLIGHT

LeBlanc Recounts Summer 2017Teaching, Research Madeline LeBlanc is a senior pursuing a doublemajor in chemistry and coastal environmentalscience. She recently shared her summerteaching and research experiences abroadand at home.

Read her story here.

Fontenot a "Featured Tiger" Coastal Environmental Sciences studentAmanda Fontenot is an LSU Featured Tiger thismonth.

Watch the YouTube video, in which she sharesher experiences studying in the CC&E and doingresearch with Sea Grant.

UPCOMING EVENTS

CC&E Offers Hydric Soil Identification Course

October 19-20, 2017, 8 a.m.-5 p.m.Rm. 1070, LSU Energy, Coast and Environment Building

The LSU College of the Coast & Environment's Department of Oceanography andCoastal Sciences is hosting a two-day workshop addressing the field identification anddelineation of hydric soils. Workshop attendees will gain the skills required to identifyhydric soils in the field and conduct hydric soils delineations within Louisiana andacross the Gulf Coast region. Additionally, the workshop will be applicable to thoseworking throughout the Atlantic region and other areas of the country.

For additional information contact Dr. John White by email at jrwhite@lsu.edu. Online

registration is available here. Students may register here.

CC&E to Make a Splash at CERF 2017 November 5-9, 2017

CERF, the Coastal & Estuarine Research Federation, is arguably the most importantassociation devoted to the understanding and wise stewardship of estuarine andcoastal ecosystems worldwide. LSU's CC&E has a rich history with this organization.Three of the federation's current and former presidents have LSU ties: Dean ChrisD'Elia served as president of the organization 1991-1993; Professor and Shell ChairNancy Rabalais served as president 1997-1999; and Louisiana Sea Grant CollegeProgram Executive Director Robert Twilley currently serves as president (2015-2017).

At CERF's 2017 biennial conference in Providence, Rhode Island, CC&E will host abooth. Additionally, LSU faculty, alumni and friends are invited to a LSU reunion, whichwill be held on November 8. Contact Kathe Falls, director corporate and foundationrelations at kfalls1@lsu.edu for details about CC&E's participation in this event.

Coast & Environment Graduate Organization (CEGO)Fall 2017 Seminar Series

All seminars 11:30 -12:30 Dalton J. Woods Auditorium Energy, Coast & Environment Building October 20 Fall Break

October 27"Zooplankton of the Northern California Current: Spatial and Temporal Variability in Energy Content"Christine Cass, Assistant Professor, Department of OceanographyHumboldt State University November 3"Duck Tales: An Overview of the Waterfowl Research Program at LSU"Kevin Ringelman, Assistant Professor, Waterfowl Ecology and ManagementLSU School of Renewable Natural Resources

Energy Summit™ 2017 October 18, 2017Dalton J. Woods Auditorium

The Center for Energy Studies willhost its annual Energy Summit™on Wednesday, October 18,

2017, at the Dalton J. WoodsAuditorium in the LSU Energy,Coast & Environment Building.The theme for this year's event is"Operating in a New EnergyWorld."

This year, the Center is pleasedto feature guest speaker, JohnWasik, award-winning journalistand author of Lightning Strikes:Timeless Lessons in Creativityfrom the Life and Work ofNikola Tesla. Presented by Campanile Charities, Wasik will discuss how Tesla'svisionary works continue to have global influence in energy development. Copies of hisbook will be on sale at the event.

For more information, visit the Energy Summit 2017 webpage.

CC&E ALUMNI -- New job? New location? We want to hear from you!Send your Alumni Update to kfalls1@lsu.edu

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