Ship to Shore: Linking Science to Policy
Keeping an eye on the ocean
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f you happen to be in a boat just off the coast and you see a tiny submarine-like apparatus glide by you in the water, there is no need for alarm. This is one of University of Southern California (USC) Researcher Dr. Burton Jones’ autonomous underwater vehicles or ‘gliders.’ These gliders help Dr. Jones and colleagues take the pulse of the coastal ocean waters. Coastal waters, especially those along the urban coastline of Southern California, are some of the most complex places in the earth’s ocean. We know that there are often many simultaneous oceanographic processes at play, including large oceanic currents, mixing and stratification, upwelling of deep nutrient rich waters, and freshwater inputs from rivers. Phytoplankton—the base of the marine food chain—bloom only when these processes give them simultaneous access to nutrients and sunlight, the ingredients for photosynthesis. However, this is just part of the picture on a densely urban coastline. Along the Southern California shore, scientists and managers must also consider the effects of often extremely large nutrient inputs from urban stormwater and treated sewage outfalls.
Why do we car
e about what these tiny creatures are doing beneath the waves? And why are we concerned about the mixing of the different coastal currents? It turns out that understanding the patterns of both is quite important for coastal managers. In the event of a storm causing major coastal runoff, it is critical in terms of human health to know how long that plume of bacteria and virus-laden water stays near the coast. It is also critical to know that not all phytoplankton blooms are good. Certain algae (i.e. Pseudo-nitzschia a and Alexandrium catenell) are capable of toxic or harmful algal blooms (HABs), releasing a compound (domoic acid or saxitoxin), which can accumulate up the marine food chain, causing severe illness and death in marine mammals, birds, and even humans. Another species, Lingulodinium polyedrum is probably the most common dinoflagellate in the region and causes the red water often seen near the beach; when it’s population crashes, it consumes large amounts of oxygen in the surrounding water, cause hypoxia in regions with low circulation (ports, marinas, lagoons, etc.) resulting in fish kills.
 Marine mammals and birds such as the California brown pelican can become quite sick from the concentration of toxins which builds up in their system during a harmful algal bloom. |
Scientists still do not know what conditions trigger a toxic algal species to bloom and produce toxin, but understanding the complex coastal oceanographic processes is certainly a key to unraveling this mystery, as well as important for sustainably managing human use and enjoyment of the coast. It is these questions that occupy the time of Dr. Burton Jones and his research team at the USC.
Dr. Jones, joined by other experts in robotics, computer science, and phytoplankton ecology, brings the applied oceanography expertise to the interdisciplinary group, CINAPS (Center for Integrated Networked Aquatic 
PlatformS), located at USC. CINAPS has designed and now operates an aquatic observing system of static and mobile aquatic sensors—including autonomous underwater vehicles—together with a long-distance communication network off Southern California’s urban coastline. CINAPS’ goal is to provide timely information on coastal water quality and harmful algal blooms to scientists, policy makers, and the general public.
Through the use of his gliders, as well as the stationary sensors placed strategically along the coast, Dr. Jones can monitor the coastal ocean 365 days a year. He and his colleagues can see the latest 
satellite data downloaded from the gliders on their office computers, providing them with an invaluable real time view of what is happening off the coast of Southern California. Moreover, as he and his research team have become familiar with the oceanographic patterns off the coast, they are actually able to make near-term predictions on the timing, location, and likelihood of toxicity in local algal blooms.
| “The ability for research to feed back into real change is difficult—this Sea Grant funded research allows us do just that,” says Dr. Jones. “Working closely with management agencies in Los Angeles and Orange counties, the Southern California urban ocean is really able to function as a laboratory where we can not only do scientific research but also immediately share that research with managers who can use it to better manage the urban coast. Sea Grant is able to provide a niche that other funding agencies do not provide.” |
Although Dr. Jones and his collaborators use southern California as their testing ground, it is clear that other coastal areas, especially urban coasts, would also benefit greatly from such real time views and the information these views afford scientists. Thus, CINAPS is in collaboration with other ocean observing systems, including the Southern California Coastal Ocean Observing System (SCCOOS) sponsored by the California Coastal Conservancy and National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration. Collaborations like this contribute to the overall national goal of creating a National Integrated Ocean Observing System. While urban environments will always have an effect on their coastal environments, there are ways to minimize negative impacts. A more precise, real-time understanding of coastal processes—both short and long term, on both regional and broad spatial scales—will allow urban managers to reduce any harmful effects, to the benefit of both marine and human health.
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