Evaluation of the Photometrics CH250 CCD Camera for use in the NOAA/MLML Marine Optics System

This report summarizes initial work to incorporate Photometries CH250 charge-coupled device (CCD) detectors in the NOAAIMLML Marine Optics System (MOS). The MOS spectroradiometer will be used primarily in the Marine Optics Buoy (MOBY) to surface truth the ocean color satellite, SeaWiFS, scheduled for launch later this year. This work was funded through Contract NAS5-31746 to NASA, Goddard Space Flight Center. (PDF contains 24 pages)

The Marine Science Library, Resource Center : poster presentation

The first concept of a new library was introduced in 2001 by a faculty member at the University of Texas Marine Science Institute. The suggestion for the construction of a new library was based on two specific reasons: existing library is located in one of the most vulnerable buildings to hurricane damage and the library has outgrown its current space. This presentation provides a general overview of the current status and changing needs of the Marine Science Library and how the idea of a new library finally became a reality

In search of climate effects on Atlantic Croaker (Micropogonias undulatus) stock off the U.S. Atlantic coast with Bayesian state-space biomass dynamic models

Atlantic Croaker (Micropogonias undulatus) production dynamics along the U.S. Atlantic coast are regulated by fishing and winter water temperature. Stakeholders for this resource have recommended investigating the effects of climate covariates in assessment models. This study used state-space biomass dynamic models without (model 1) and with (model 2) the minimum winter estuarine temperature (MWET) to examine MWET effects on Atlantic Croaker population dynamics during 1972–2008. In model 2, MWET was introduced into the intrinsic rate of population increase (r). For both models, a prior probability distribution (prior) was constructed for r or a scaling parameter (r0); imputs were the fishery removals, and fall biomass indices developed by using data from the Multispecies Bottom Trawl Survey of the Northeast Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, and the Coastal Trawl Survey of the Southeast Area Monitoring and Assessment Program. Model sensitivity runs incorporated a uniform (0.01,1.5) prior for r or r0 and bycatch data from the shrimp-trawl fishery. All model variants produced similar results and therefore supported the conclusion of low risk of overfishing for the Atlantic Croaker stock in the 2000s. However, the data statistically supported only model 1 and its configuration that included the shrimp-trawl fishery bycatch. The process errors of these models showed slightly positive and significant correlations with MWET, indicating that warmer winters would enhance Atlantic Croaker biomass production. Inconclusive, somewhat conflicting results indicate that biomass dynamic models should not integrate MWET, pending, perhaps, accumulation of longer time series of the variables controlling the production dynamics of Atlantic Croaker, preferably including winter-induced estimates of Atlantic Croaker kills.