Central Gulf Coast Research Articles

Simulation of Surface Ozone Pollution in the Central Gulf Coast Region Using WRF/Chem Model: Sensitivity to PBL and Land Surface Physics

The fully coupled WRF/Chem (Weather Research and Forecasting/Chemistry) model is used to simulate air quality in the Mississippi Gulf coastal region at a high resolution (4 km) for a moderately severe summer ozone episode between 18 CST 7 and 18 CST 10 June 2006. The model sensitivity is studied for meteorological and gaseous criteria pollutants (O3, NO2) using three Planetary Boundary Layer (PBL) and four land surface model (LSM) schemes and comparison of model results with monitoring station observations. Results indicated that a few combinations of PBL and LSMs could reasonably produce realistic meteorological fields and that the combination of Yonsei University (YSU) PBL and NOAH LSM provides best predictions for winds, temperature, humidity and mixed layer depth in the study region for the period of study. The diurnal range in ozone concentration is better estimated by the YSU PBL in association with either 5‐layer or NOAH land surface model. The model seems to underestimate the ozone concentrations in the study domain because of underestimation of temperatures and overestimation of winds. The underestimation of NO2 by model suggests the necessity of examining the emission data in respect of its accurate representation at model resolution. Quantitative analysis for most monitoring stations indicates that the combination of YSU PBL with NOAH LSM provides the best results for various chemical species with minimum BIAS, RMSE, and high correlation values.

A Statistical Methodology to Discover Precipitation Microclimates in Southeast Louisiana: Implications for Coastal Watersheds*

AbstractThis study quantifies the spatial distribution of precipitation patterns on an annual basis for southeast Louisiana. To compile a long-term record of 24-h rainfall, rainfall reports collected by National Weather Service (NWS) cooperative observers were gathered from National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) archives, private collections of observational data held at regional and local libraries, NWS offices, and local utility providers. The reports were placed into a digital database in which each station’s record was subjected to an extensive quality control process. This process produced a database of daily rainfall reports for 59 south Louisiana stations for the period 1836–2002, with extensive documentation for each site outlining the differences between the study’s data and the data available from the NCDC Web page. A statistical methodology was developed to determine if the four NCDC climate divisions for southeast Louisiana accurately depict average monthly rainfall for the area. This method employs cluster analysis, using Euclidean distance as the measure of dissimilarity for the clustering technique. To resolve missing rainfall observations, an imputation scheme was developed that uses the two most similar stations (based on Euclidean distance) to determine appropriate values for missing rainfall observations. Results from this testing structure show statistical evidence of precipitation microclimates across south Louisiana at higher spatial scales than those of the NCDC climate zones. Quantifying the spatial extent of daily precipitation and documenting historical trends of precipitation provides critical design information for regional infrastructure within this highly vulnerable area of the central Gulf Coast region.

Diet Composition of Wintering Wilson's Snipe

We examined diet composition of Wilson's Snipe (Gallinago delicata) (n = 372) collected along the central Gulf Coast of Texas based solely on upper digestive tract contents. Food items included 11 invertebrate orders, one invertebrate class, and eight plant genera. Oligochaetes were the predominant food throughout the non-breeding period, but snipe consumed fewer (P = 0.021) earthworms in spring than in fall. Aquatic insects were frequently consumed by snipe and during spring represented approximately the same proportion of the diet as earthworms. Plant foods consisted almost entirely of seeds and comprised 9.7–26.8% of the diet throughout the non-breeding period. Wilson's Snipe consumed dipteran larvae more often during spring than fall (P = 0.056). Female snipe consumed crustaceans during spring (14.8%), while only trace amounts were found in the diet of male snipe. Differences in the diet of Wilson's Snipe between males and females were probably related to differences in habitat use as well as availability of invertebrates throughout the non-breeding period.

Behavior and Habitat use by Shorebirds in an Urban Wetland Complex along the Central Gulf Coast of Texas

Shorebirds (Charadrii) spend the majority (ca. 70%) of their lifecycle in wintering and migratory staging areas located on temperate and tropical coastlines; therefore, the implications of habitat loss and destruction require assessment of both marginal and prime habitats in coastal areas. In this study, behavior was used to determine use of habitat within an urban wetland complex located on the Texas coast. Instantaneous scans were used to determine behavior of shorebirds in five habitat types: bayshore, tidal and isolated ponds, estuarine lakeshore, and a salt marsh. Behavior of 22 species of shorebirds representing six guilds was documented. Of the shorebirds observed, 90% were foraging and significantly more were foraging than were engaged in other activities. Foraging occurred significantly more in tidal ponds than in the four other habitats and foraging was greatest in spring. Behavioral observations provided important insight into function of habitat, underscoring the need to incorporate behavioral studies into strategies to monitor shorebirds.

Book review: Tatham Mound and The Bioarchaeology of European Contact: Disease and Depopulation in Central Gulf Coast Florida

Book review: Tatham Mound and The Bioarchaeology of European Contact: Disease and Depopulation in Central Gulf Coast Florida

Chemical contamination assessment of Gulf of Mexico oysters in response to hurricanes Katrina and Rita

Hurricane Katrina made landfall on August 29, 2005 and caused widespread devastation along the central Gulf Coast states. Less than a month later Hurricane Rita followed a similar track slightly west of Katrina's. A coordinated multi-agency response followed to collect water, sediment and tissue samples for a variety of chemical, biological and toxicological indicators. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Status and Trends Program (NS&T) participated in this effort by measuring chemical contamination in sediment and oyster tissue as part of the Mussel Watch Program, a long-term monitoring program to assess spatial and temporal trends in a wide range of coastal pollutants. This paper describes results for contaminants measured in oyster tissue collected between September 29 and October 10, 2005 and discusses the results in the context of Mussel Watch and its 20-year record of chemical contamination in the region and the nation. In general, levels of metals in oyster tissue were higher then pre- hurricane levels while organic contaminants were at or near record lows. No contaminant reported here exceeded the FDA action level for food safety.

Tatham Mound and the Bioarchaeology of European Contact: Disease and Depopulation in Central Gulf Coast Florida. Dale L. Hutchinson

Previous articleNext article No AccessBook ReviewsTatham Mound and the Bioarchaeology of European Contact: Disease and Depopulation in Central Gulf Coast Florida. Dale L. Hutchinson Douglas K. CharlesDouglas K. Charles Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Journal of Anthropological Research Volume 64, Number 2Summer, 2008 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/jar.64.2.20371228 Views: 8Total views on this site Copyright 2008 The University of New MexicoPDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

Tatham Mound and the Bioarchaeology of European Contact: Disease and Depopulation in Central Gulf Coast Florida.

Tatham Mound and the Bioarchaeology of European Contact: Disease and Depopulation in Central Gulf Coast Florida.

Environmental and anthropogenic factors associated with coastal wetland differentiation in La Mancha, Veracruz, Mexico

At least 10% of the wetlands in Mexico are situated in the State of Veracruz on the central Gulf coast. The region has been intensively used for agriculture by humans for the last thousand years and today pastureland for cattle ranching is the dominant element of the landscape. We present a study of the wetland vegetation in a series of representative and internationally significant freshwater wetlands near the coastal lagoon La Mancha in Veracruz State. We obtained eleven wetland types formed by three wetland communities dominated by trees (mangrove or swamps), eight dominated by herbaceous species which we classified as marsh, five of which were native emergent marsh, one was a non-native emergent marsh and two were floating-leaved marsh. The highest diversity values were found in the Annona swamp, followed by the Sagittaria marsh and the Rhizophora–Laguncularia–Avicennia mangrove. CCA ordination showed that water level, disturbance and species number were the major factors explaining variation along axis 1, and on axis 2 conductivity, salinity, and bulk density. Wetland size was a major factor in both axes. We examined the interplay of intrinsic and extrinsic factors that give rise to the nature and diversity of wetland types that characterize the important wetland landscapes in this part of Mexico, being disturbance by human activities an important factor that favors the appearance of diverse species combinations.

Tatham Mound and the bioarchaeology of European contact: disease and depopulation in central Gulf Coast Florida

This is the first systematic analysis of Tatham Mound, one of the most important archaeological sites in Central Gulf Coast Florida. Because it documents the earliest years of contact between the resident Native Americans of the area and European colonists, Tatham Mound has provided archaeologists and bioarchaeologists with a wealth of direct and indirect evidence from the early contact period - a rare occurrence in American archaeology. Hutchinson examines the skeletal remains of more than 350 burials as well as the European artifacts found within those burials. Comparing the bioarchaeological evidence and scientific data with the historic accounts of the early Spanish explorers, Hutchinson challenges the long-held theory that novel pathogens caused the immediate demographic collapse of native societies at the inception of the European colonial era. He argues that long-term political, social, economic, and biological changes - in addition to introduced epidemic disease - all contributed to the decline of Florida's native populations.

Tatham Mound and the Bioarchaeology of European Contact: Disease and Depopulation in Central Gulf Coast Florida, by Dale L. Hutchinson, 2006. Gainesville (FL): University Press of Florida; ISBN-13 978-0-8130-3029-6 hardback US$59.95; xxii+259 pp., 83 figs., 32 tables

Tatham Mound and the Bioarchaeology of European Contact: Disease and Depopulation in Central Gulf Coast Florida, by Dale L. Hutchinson, 2006. Gainesville (FL): University Press of Florida; ISBN-13 978-0-8130-3029-6 hardback US$59.95; xxii+259 pp., 83 figs., 32 tables - Volume 18 Issue 1

WHERE ARE THE ASIAN AND HISPANIC VICTIMS OF KATRINA?: A Metaphor for Invisible Minorities in Contemporary Racial Discourse

Hurricane Katrina, which hit the Central Gulf Coast in August 2005, was undoubtedly one of the worst natural disasters to strike the United States in the age of round-the-clock media journalism. Television coverage of Hurricane Katrina brought to the forefront the costs of disadvantage along racial and class lines. Needless to say, the victims left behind were disproportionately African American, elderly, and impoverished residents of the area. While the focus of media discussions centered around whether African Americans were abandoned by governmental agencies or if they were to blame for not heeding the call to evacuate, there was a complete absence of coverage and discussion of Hispanic and Asian American residents of the area, who are also disproportionately poor and many of whom lacked English skills to navigate the little help available to residents. This essay briefly discusses the few newspaper articles that examined these populations; Hispanic and Asian American journalists wrote almost all of these articles. I then examine how the lack of attention to these populations shapes our common understandings of race and why this may be problematic both in the United States and in a global environment.

Nutrition and health at contact in late prehistoric central Gulf Coast Florida

This paper presents an analysis of human remains from Tatham Mound, a dual-component mortuary site from central Gulf Coast Florida. The human remains from Tatham are significant because they come from a limited time period during the initial contact with Europeans at AD 1525-1550. Dietary reconstruction demonstrates that at the time of European contact, maize was not a predominant dietary item. Low frequencies for several dental and skeletal pathological indicators are consistent with relatively good health as compared to other Southeastern late prehistoric and protohistoric populations. Despite the limited time period represented by the mound population, critical interactions occurred between Native Americans and Spaniards, as indicated by skeletal elements severed by metal weapons. The Tatham population is significant because it is one of the earliest studied populations contacted by Europeans in North America, and the only one with well-documented sharp-force trauma that represents intergroup hostility.

Membrane and filtration companies aid Katrina recovery efforts

This news round-up looks at how many US companies and water professionals helped the victims of Hurricane Katrina, which struck the Central Gulf Coast of the US at the end of August 2005.

Cancer Risk Factors Among Southeast Asian American Residents of the U.S. Central Gulf Coast

This study profiles aggregate-specific cancer risk factors of Southeast Asian Americans residing along the Central Gulf Coast in the United States. An investigator-designed cross-sectional survey was conducted with 332 volunteer Southeast Asian community residents aged 18 years and above. Aggregate-specific cancer risk factors include high prevalence of hepatitis, high smoking and drinking rates in men, extended ultraviolet light exposure without protection, low colorectal and prostate cancer screening rates, and knowledge deficits of cancer and cancer screenings. Based on the study findings, progress toward the targets of the Alabama Comprehensive Cancer Control Plan: 2001-2005 is evaluated and compared to available national data. Implications for public health nursing practice and future research are also addressed. In particular, the study findings underscore the importance of developing culturally tailored interventions to reduce cancer risk factors in this underserved Asian American population.

Flagship; Tidewater; Jacksonville and Central Gulf Coast Sections

Flagship; Tidewater; Jacksonville and Central Gulf Coast Sections

Overcoming Challenges of Teaching Earth History Classes for Teachers in a Rock-free, Urban Environment

Instructing university-level Earth history to future teachers is made all the more difficult when it is being done in an urban environment devoid of any local rock outcroppings. At the University of South Alabama, which is located along the rock-free central Gulf Coast, we have attempted to improve Earth history instruction to education majors by using a three-pronged approach: (1) designing a course specifically for students intending to become science teachers; (2) encouraging students to think “locally” when designing geological teaching activities and (3) offering future teachers relevant field excursions and directed research opportunities. Our main objective is to demonstrate to new science teachers that geology is all around them, regardless of their location. It is this philosophy that we wish them to communicate to their students in the public school system.

Vegetative characteristics of three low-lying Florida coastal rivers in relation to flow, light, salinity and nutrients

The Chassahowitzka, Homosassa and Crystal rivers along the central Gulf coast of Florida were studied from 1998 to 2000 to identify factors controlling the abundance and distribution of submersed aquatic vegetation (SAV). Each of these three low-lying coastal rivers are spring-fed and exhibit low to moderate absolute flow rates (flows in either direction because of tidal influences, 0.06–0.46 m s−1) with only 14 of the stations sampled for SAV having flow rates in excess of 0.25 m s−1. At those stations where flow rates exceeded 0.25 m s−1, the substrate was generally comprised of exposed limestone outcroppings and did not provide a favorable habitat for either submersed macrophytes or macroalgae. The remaining sampling stations, where flow rates were less than 0.25 m s−1, had suitable substrates (e.g. mud, mud/sand, and sand) for the colonization and subsequent growth of SAV. Light availability and salinity were determined to be major factors affecting the distribution and abundance of SAV. Sampling stations, where the percent of incident light at the surface reaching the substrate was less than 10, had little or no SAV biomass. Low SAV biomass was also linked to sites where annual average salinities exceeded 3.5‰. Nutrient loads and nutrient concentrations accounted for little variance in SAV biomass after accounting for flow and related substrate type, light and salinity. These latter factors control the distribution and abundance of SAV in these three Florida coastal rivers.

Flagship Section; Central Gulf Coast Section; Tidewater Section and Wallops Island Section

Flagship Section; Central Gulf Coast Section; Tidewater Section and Wallops Island Section

GEOGRAPHIC VARIATION IN PHRYNOSOMA CORONATUM (LACERTILIA, PHRYNOSOMATIDAE): FURTHER EVIDENCE FOR A PENINSULAR ARCHIPELAGO

Principal components analysis of 24 morphological and color-pattern characters scored for 634 specimens reveals four distinct, geographic groups within Phrynosoma coronatum. The four groups can be diagnosed on the basis of color pattern characters, but there are nearly discrete differences in morphological characters as well. Morphological evidence of hybridization has been detected between two groups. The four morphological groups are likely genetic entities given the close correspondence between the morphological patterns in Phrynosoma and genetic units detected in Urosaurus. Therefore, the four groups of coast horned lizards are treated as separate species. Latinized names (blainvillii, cerroense, coronatum) are available for three of the four taxa. The subspecies frontale and schmidti cannot be adequately distinguished by the multivariate analysis and are placed in the synonymy of P. blainvillii. In addition, a new species, Phrynosoma wigginsi, is described from the eastern side of the Sierra de Guadalupe and Sierra de La Giganta in the central Gulf Coast region of the peninsula of Baja California. Diversification in Phrynosoma has occurred via allopatric speciation and the geographic juxtaposition of these morphological groups provides additional evidence for two ancient transpeninsular seaways.