GSO biological oceanographer Edward Durbin and physical oceanography postdoctoral fellow Yiyong Luo were awarded $35,000 to study pathways for transport of the copepod Calanus finmarchicus between the Labrador Sea and areas in the northwest Atlantic, such as Georges Bank. Calanus finmarchicus is a microscopic crustacean that feeds off phytoplankton and is a favorite food of cod and haddock. Durbin and Luo will use the Princeton Ocean Model with a high resolution grid to determine if seasonal variations in Calanus transport can be linked to climatic variations such as those associated with the North Atlantic Oscillation.

"We are grateful to the Vetlesen Foundation for the funds to conduct this research," said Durbin. "This project provides an excellent opportunity to demonstrate the benefits of combining expertise at GSO in biological distributions and hydrodynamic modeling of transport processes."

An award for $53,800 was also given to geological oceanographers Scott Rutherford, John King, Steven D'Hondt, and Beth Laliberte, biological oceanographers Jeremy Collie, Paul Hargraves, and Candace Oviatt, and atmospheric chemist Brian Heikes. The team of scientists will study New England regional effects of global climate change to build a foundation for climate research where the sea and land meet and interact. The first objective of this project is to compile and make available for distribution to the research community a series of existing datasets related to New England regional climate. The data will be assembled into a systematic database and be analyzed for relationships among the various types of measurements. The datasets to be used include the GSO Beach S
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Contact: Lisa Cugini
lcugini@gso.uri.edu
401-874-6642
University of Rhode Island
15-Aug-2002