Gulf Of Mexico Region Research Articles

3. Biologically Important Areas for Cetaceans Within U.S. Waters – Gulf of Mexico Region

In this review, we merge existing published and unpublished information along with expert judgment to identify and support the delineation of 12 Biologically Important Areas (BIAs) in U.S. waters of the Gulf of Mexico for Bryde’s whales and bottlenose dolphins. BIAs are delineated for small and resident populations to enhance existing information already available to scientists, managers, policymakers, and the public. BIAs ranged in size from approximately 117 to over 23,000 km. BIAs are intended to provide synthesized information in a transparent format that can be readily used toward the analyses and planning under U.S. statutes that require the characterization and minimization of impacts of anthropogenic activities on marine mammals. BIAs are not intended to represent all important areas for consideration in planning processes; in particular, areas of high marine mammal density, typically identified based on a combination of systematic visual and/or acoustic detections coupled with quantitative modeling, are very important to consider, where available, in any assessment. To maintain their utility, Gulf of Mexico BIAs should be re-evaluated and revised, if necessary, as new information becomes available.

A policy approach to establish an international network of marine protected areas in the Gulf of Mexico region

Existing conditions in the Gulf of Mexico region support an enterprise to establish an international network of marine protected areas for joint consideration by policy decision-makers from the United States, Mexico and Cuba. The analysis presented in this paper explores governance of living marine resources in the Gulf of Mexico and discusses legal frameworks and authorising laws specific to marine protected areas in the United States, Mexico, Cuba and the international arena. Although the three nations have different legal systems and regulatory frameworks, the United States, Mexico and Cuba each have governance objectives to move towards ecosystem-based management, which inherently includes protection of transboundary living marine resources. Federal and international legal mechanisms, including the creation of a tri-national memorandum of understanding and implementation of the Cartagena Convention, are identified as the most logical and efficient next steps towards creating the International Gulf of Mexico Marine Protected Area Network to protect transboundary living marine resources.

Molecular Typing of Environmental and Clinical Strains of Vibrio vulnificus Isolated in the Northeastern USA

Vibrio vulnificus is a ubiquitous marine bacterium that is responsible for infections and some seafood-related illnesses and deaths in the United States, mainly in individuals with compromised health status in the Gulf of Mexico region. Most phylogenetic studies focus on V. vulnificus strains isolated in the southern United States, but almost no genetic data are available on northeastern bacterial isolates of clinical or environmental origin. Our goal in this study was to examine the genetic diversity of environmental strains isolated from commercially-produced oysters and in clinical strains of known pathogenicity in northeastern United States. We conducted analyses of a total of eighty-three strains of V. vulnificus, including 18 clinical strains known to be pathogenic. A polyphasic, molecular-typing approach was carried out, based upon established biotypes, vcg, CPS, 16S rRNA types and three other genes possibly associated with virulence (arylsulfatase A, mtlABC, and nanA). An established Multi Locus Sequence Typing (MLST) method was also performed. Phylogenetic analyses of these markers and MLST results produced similar patterns of clustering of strains into two main lineages (we categorized as ‘LI’ and ‘LII’), with clinical and environmental strains clustering together in both lineages. Lineage LII was comprised primarily but not entirely of clinical bacterial isolates. Putative virulence markers were present in both clinical and environmental strains. These results suggest that some northeastern environmental strains of V. vulnificus are phylogenetically close to clinical strains and probably are capable of virulence. Further studies are necessary to assess the risk of human illness from consuming raw oysters harvested in the northeastern US.

Initial assessment of the potential for future CCUS with EOR projects in Mexico using CO2 captured from fossil fuel industrial plants

The Gulf of Mexico region (GMR) comprises the largest industrial CO2 emissions in Mexico and the location of large Mexican oil fields. The recent 2012 version of the North America Carbon Storage Atlas includes the Mexican perspective for geological storage of anthropogenic CO2 and recommends large areas found in the GMR for these purposes. The Mexican State company Petróleos Mexicanos (PEMEX) is interested in using CO2 for enhanced oil recovery (EOR) operations and has informed that large demands of CO2 (up to 50million tons of CO2 per year) are necessary to complete their plans in the near future. The Utility State Company, Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE), runs several fossil fuel power plants (i.e. natural gas and fuel oil) in areas nearby PEMEX oil fields that are candidates for EOR. In addition, Mexico launched its climate change law during 2012 that will enforce the reduction of its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, targeting between 30% and 50% reduction of its emissions in 2000 by 2020 and 2050 respectively. The present work describes positive conditions existing in the GMR for future EOR-CCS projects implemented in Mexico. There is not published work in the literature regarding matching potential Mexican industrial CO2 sources and CO2-demanding oil fields to the knowledge of the authors. Some of these positive facts are the proximity between CFE power plants (CO2 source) and the PEMEX oil fields (CO2 receptor), large demand for CO2 for EOR plans, large amounts of CO2 emitted by CFE power plants, important GHG emission sources located in the GMR and the necessity of reducing national GHG emission rates in the country. It is observed that the GMR has conditions that may motivate future EOR-CCS projects in Mexico; however, due to the actual high cost of CO2 capture technologies and the large CO2 demanded by PEMEX, these projects could be undertaken only with extra financial support from the Government of Mexico and based on expecting economic benefits from the selling of the oil recovered through EOR.

Linking the Coastal and Marine Ecological Classification Standard (CMECS) to ecosystem services: an application to the US Gulf of Mexico

At the first Gulf of Mexico Ecosystem Services Workshop (2010), ecosystem services were linked to the Gulf of Mexico habitat types as defined in the Coastal and Marine Ecological Classification Standard (CMECS), recently endorsed as the first US standard for classifying coastal and marine ecosystems. Participants identified and classified the Gulf habitat types based on CMECS, linked ecosystem services to habitat types, and prioritized services using expert opinion. Only three categories of ecosystem services were considered: regulating, provisioning, and cultural. However, supporting services, such as biological interactions, were considered as part of reclassified services. Highly ranked services were distributed across all the three service categories for each Gulf habitat, except for mangroves and dune/beach (only regulating and cultural services). Predictably, the majority of the habitat types were linked to the service of food. The importance of this exercise lies in the utility of the results for resource managers conducting activities within the Gulf of Mexico coastal and marine environments and can be informative to other regions wishing to conduct a similar exercise. This is, as far as the authors are aware, the first inventory of habitat types and their associated ecosystem services within the Gulf of Mexico region.

Smart Yard, Healthy Gulf: Using Community-Based Social Marketing to Educate Gulf of Mexico Residents on Proper Lawn Care Practices

Smart Yard, Healthy Gulf is an environmental stewardship campaign that uses community-based social marketing to educate homeowners on lawn care practices and residential nutrient runoff. The goal is to change homeowners' behavior regarding lawn care practices using simple, easily remembered messages that guide them on timing of fertilizer applications. Most Smart Yard, Healthy Gulf participants are middle class homeowners living in the Gulf of Mexico region who maintain their own lawns. The campaign is a collaborative effort with the Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium, the Gulf of Mexico Alliance, and the Cooperative Extension Services in the five Gulf of Mexico States.

Spatial patterns of diurnal variations in summer-season lightning activity across the tropical and subtropical regions of the Northern Hemispheric Americas

Hourly lightning data were obtained from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission dataset collected through the Lightning Imaging Sensor instrument from 1998 to 2011 to analyze the diurnal pattern of lightning activity in the tropical and subtropical northern hemispheric Americas. The majority of the lightning strikes occurred over land, with relatively lower strike rates over the oceanic areas. The results of our studies showed substantial spatial variations in the time of maximum and strength of the diurnal cycle in the study area. A clockwise progression in the time of maximum was observed across most of the study area, particularly over North America where an east–west orientation was observed. The findings of our study were mainly a result of the interaction between local topography such as the Andes and Rocky mountains, and surface level atmospheric circulations. The strength of the observed diurnal cycle was greatest in the Gulf of Mexico region.

Spatial distributions of tropical cyclones and gravity anomalies

Spatial distributions of the beginnings and most intense stages of tropical cyclones (TCs) in the northwestern part of the Pacific Ocean are compared with gravity anomalies (GAs) in the zone of action of cyclones. The possible influence of GAs on hurricanes that reached land in the Gulf of Mexico region and in the southeastern part of China is considered. The relation of the formal feedback between some characteristics of the intensity of TCs and spatially averaged GAs is shown. It is suggested that GAs can be regarded as a factor affecting the life cycle of a TC to a certain extent.

A Proposal for Analyzing and Forecasting Lower-Atmospheric Undular Bores in the Western Gulf of Mexico Region

Abstract A method is presented for analyzing and forecasting the occurrence of lower-atmospheric undular bores over the western and central Gulf of Mexico (GOM) and adjacent land areas using standard operational forecasting and analysis techniques. The method is based on research that has identified a set of sufficient conditions associated with these occurrences realized by observations of the phenomena in recent years and is grounded in the theoretical understanding of undular bores developed during the last century by fluid dynamicists. The approach discusses practical approximations to the theory that allows the operational forecaster to use output from standard numerical and statistical forecast models. In addition to providing an operational method for forecasting the time and location of occurrence, the technique provides a methodology for analyzing and anticipating the strength, forward speed, and horizontal wavelength of the phenomena.

Quantifying urban land cover change between 2001 and 2006 in the Gulf of Mexico region

We estimated urbanization rates (2001–2006) in the Gulf of Mexico region using the National Land Cover Database (NLCD) 2001 and 2006 impervious surface products. An improved method was used to update the NLCD impervious surface product in 2006 and associated land cover transition between 2001 and 2006. Our estimation reveals that impervious surface increased 416 km2 with a growth rate of 5.8% between 2001 and 2006. Approximately 1110.1 km2 of non-urban lands were converted into urban land, resulting in a 3.2% increase in the region. Hay/pasture, woody wetland, and evergreen forest represented the three most common land cover classes that transitioned to urban. Among these land cover transitions, more than 50% of the urbanization occurred within 50 km of the coast. Our analysis shows that the close-to-coast land cover transition trend, especially within 10 km off the coast, potentially imposes substantial long-term impacts on regional landscape and ecological conditions.

Near-source air quality impacts of large olefin flares

Large petrochemical flares, common in the Houston Ship Channel (the Ship Channel) and other industrialized areas in the Gulf of Mexico region, emit hundreds to thousands of pounds per hour of highly reactive volatile organic compounds (HRVOCs). We employed fine horizontal resolution (200 m × 200 m) in a three-dimensional (3D) Eulerian chemical transport model to simulate two historical Ship Channel flares. The model reasonably reproduced the observed ozone rise at the nearest monitoring stations downwind of the flares. The larger of the two flares had an olefin emission rate exceeding 1400 lb/hr. In this case, the model simulated a rate of increase in peak ozone greater than 40 ppb/hr over a 12 km × 12 km horizontal domain without any unusual meteorological conditions. In this larger flare, formaldehyde emissions typically neglected in official inventories enhanced peak ozone by as much as 16 ppb and contributed over 10 ppb to ambient formaldehyde up to ∼8 km downwind of the flare. The intense horizontal gradients in large flare plumes cannot be simulated by coarse models typically used to demonstrate ozone attainment. Moreover, even the relatively dense monitoring network in the Ship Channel may not be able to detect many transient high ozone events (THOEs) caused by industrial flare emissions in the absence of stagnant air recirculation or stalled sea breeze fronts, even though such conditions are unnecessary for the occurrence of THOEs. Implications: Flare minimization may be an important strategy to attain the U.S. federal ozone standard in industrialized areas, and to avoid inordinate exposure to formaldehyde in neighborhoods surrounding petrochemical facilities. Moreover, air quality monitoring networks, emission inventories, and chemical transport models with higher spatial and temporal resolution and more refined speciation of HRVOCs are needed to better account for the near-source air quality impacts of large olefin flares.

Understanding the Potential Impacts of Global Climate Change on Marsh Birds in the Gulf of Mexico Region

Global climate change is expected to significantly affect coastal ecosystems worldwide. For tidal marsh birds of the Gulf of Mexico, the extent of these impacts on future population dynamics is unknown. Here, we present information on our current understanding of marsh bird responses to climate change, identify gaps in that understanding, and propose ways of improving our ability to predict impacts on avian populations. Our understanding of how Gulf Coast avian populations will respond to environmental drivers such as sea-level rise, precipitation patterns, and hurricanes is limited, and detailed local and regional studies linking avian biology to wetland processes are needed. Impacts of wetland change on marsh bird species will be optimally assessed and forecasted within an adaptive framework, making use of process-driven studies that include models designed to elucidate patterns in avian biology and wetland dynamics. Further, because management and conservation efforts are implemented at local or site-specific scales, we recommend that process-driven studies incorporate hierarchical structures, nesting local efforts within a regional context. Implementing this research program will prove fundamental in furthering our understanding of avian population dynamics within the changing Gulf of Mexico environment.

Hopedale Branch: A Vessel of Opportunity Success Story

ABSTRACT Alaska Clean Seas (ACS) provided operational support to the Mississippi Canyon 252 (Deepwater Horizon) spill in several stages. Beginning on 05 May 2010, ACS sent approximately 80,000 feet of various sizes of boom to the Gulf of Mexico region; later shipments of equipment included 5,500 feet of fire boom and several large skimmers. ACS also deployed response personnel to Staging Areas and Incident Command Posts throughout the theater, in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. Personnel deployment was initiated through the Global Response Network in support of Marine Spill Response Corporation (MSRC) and continued as direct support to BP. In early May, the Hopedale Branch (St. Bernard Parish, LA) identified ACS' expertise in nearshore response and requested the organization to develop a nearshore Vessel of Opportunity (VOO) skimming capability. Over the next several weeks, an intensive effort was put forth to identify adequate local vessels; design and fabricate deployment systems to attach ...

Estimating the Provision of Ecosystem Services by Gulf of Mexico Coastal Wetlands

Gulf of Mexico (GOM) coastal wetlands contribute to human well-being by providing many ecosystem services. The GOM region continues to experience substantial losses of coastal wetlands, but the magnitude of reduction in ecosystem services resulting from the loss of GOM coastal wetlands is unknown. To gain an appreciation of the impact of GOM coastal wetland loss on ecosystem services, recent literature was reviewed to derive quantitative estimates of ecosystem services provided by GOM coastal wetlands. GOM coastal wetlands provide essential habitat for the production of juvenile shrimp, which supports the GOM’s most valuable commercial fishery; protect coastal communities from storm surge; improve water quality by removing nitrogen from surface waters; and are valuable sinks for greenhouse gases due to high rates of carbon sequestration combined with low rates of methane emission. Using 1998 to 2004 as a baseline, the potential loss of ecosystem services associated with loss of coastal wetlands is presented. Additional research is needed to quantify wetland services at multiple geospatial and socioeconomic scales, to determine the effect of wetland loss on ecosystem services, and to demonstrate the impact of future management decisions on the capacity of GOM coastal wetlands to provide services that affect human well-being.

A 50 Year Accomplishment in Marine Science: A History of the Journal Published by the Gulf Coast Research Laboratory

The Gulf Coast Research Laboratory (GCRL) has a 50 year history of annual publication of the peer-reviewed journal Gulf and Caribbean Research (GCR, 2000-present; formerly Gulf Research Reports (GRR) from 1961—1999). Other extant journals serving the region during this time include Contributions in Marine Science (since 1945), Proceedings of the Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute (since 1948), Bulletin of Marine Science (since 1951), Revista de Biología Tropical (since 1953), and Caribbean Journal of Science (since 1961). In the early years of the GCR publication, papers were primarily concerned with research in Mississippi and the northern Gulf of Mexico (GOM), and the majority of authors were from USM/GCRL or the GOM region. However, in the past 15 years, studies from Mexico and the Caribbean have dramatically increased, with a concurrent increase in the geographical diversity of authors. Overall, surveys and inventories, taxonomy, and life history studies have been most common, and taxa have been dominated by fish and crustaceans. Offshore, benthic and marsh habitats have been the most commonly studied during GCR’s 50 year history. In general, publications during the last 15 years are more similar to each other (≥ 65% similarity based on CLUSTER analysis and MDS ordinations) than to earlier publications for geography, taxon, habitat and subject areas. The journal is well cited in peer-reviewed literature, with 72% of the papers published in GRR and 65% of those published in GCR cited at least once. GCR provides an important outlet for peer-reviewed publications from the GOM and Caribbean region.

The Gulf of Mexico is a Jurassic backarc basin

Any basin with seafloor spreading that forms over an active subduction zone is a backarc basin (BAB). The Gulf of Mexico (GoM) opened behind the 232–150 Ma Nazas arc over an east-dipping subduction zone in Late Jurassic time, beginning ca. 165 Ma, and thus is a BAB. The hypothesis that the Gulf of Mexico formed as a backarc basin explains two enigmas: (1) Why was the GoM opening pole (79–84°W, 23–30°N) so different from that of the central Atlantic (15–18°W, 65–67°N)? and (2) Why was the GoM opening so short-lived (ca. 165–142 Ma), when there was no collision or other obvious reason for seafloor spreading to stop? The GoM BAB hypothesis also illuminates the relationship between the GoM and the Border rift system, which can be traced from the GoM near the mouth of the Rio Grande >2000 km along the U.S.–Mexico border into the Independence Dike Swarm of eastern California. Late Jurassic rifting in the Border rift system was succeeded by thermotectonic subsidence through Early Cretaceous time. In addition, the segmentation of the transitional crust beneath the northern GoM into a magmatically robust segment beneath the Texas coast and a stretched margin beneath Louisiana is also consistent with BAB behavior: igneous activity is most prolific nearest the arc and diminishes with distance from the trench. A possible objection to the GoM BAB hypothesis is that the spreading ridge was oriented at high angles to the Nazas arc trend, whereas modern oceanic BAB spreading ridges generally parallel the associated arc. Continental BABs like the GoM develop spreading ridge orientations that are often at high angles to the associated convergent margin; for example, spreading ridges associated with the Miocene Sea of Japan and Andaman Sea BABs trend perpendicular to the associated arc. Such geometries reflect the presence of extensional stresses that are not orthogonal to the subduction zone, a situation that also existed in the GoM region during Late Jurassic time.

Energy Infrastructure Damage Analysis for Hurricane Rita

In 2005, Hurricane Rita caused significant damage to the in the Gulf of Mexico region. In the context of this investigation, the energy infrastructure refers to the offshore oil platforms, refineries, and gasoline supply stations in the region, often referred to as the petroleum infrastructure, the natural gas supply lines, and the delivery of electric power. In this paper, we examine the structural damage to the networks as defined by restoration, resilience, and fragility with a focus on the analysis of the electric power delivery disruptions. Our concern is not on the evaluation of risk, but rather to provide those who assess hurricane risk with relevant structural damage prediction models. We provide correlations of hurricane wind speed data with outages. We conclude that high winds alone can create significant damage to the system.

The impact of the 2005 Gulf hurricanes on pollution emissions as inferred from Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) nitrogen dioxide

The impact of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005 on pollution emissions in the Gulf of Mexico region was investigated using tropospheric column amounts of nitrogen dioxide (NO 2) from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) on the NASA Aura satellite. Around New Orleans and coastal Mississippi, we estimate that Katrina caused a 35% reduction in NO x emissions on average in the three weeks after landfall. Hurricane Rita caused a significant reduction (20%) in NO x emissions associated with power generation and intensive oil refining activities near the Texas/Louisiana border. We also found a 43% decrease by these two storms over the eastern Gulf of Mexico Outer Continental Shelf mainly due to the evacuation of and damage to platforms, rigs, and ports associated with oil and natural gas production.

The areal extent of brown shrimp habitat suitability in Mobile Bay, Alabama, USA: targeting vegetated habitat restoration

The availability of wetlands and shallow water habitats significantly influences Gulf of Mexico (GOM) penaeid shrimp fishery productivity. However, the GOM region has the highest rate of wetland loss in the USA. Protection and management of these vital GOM habitats are critical to sustainable shrimp fisheries. Brown shrimp (Farfantepenaeus aztecus) are a major component of GOM fisheries. We present an approach for estimating the areal extent of suitable habitat for post-larval and juvenile brown shrimp in Mobile Bay, Alabama, using an existing habitat suitability index model for the northern GOM calculated from probabilistic survey of water quality and sediment data, land cover data, and submerged aquatic vegetation coverages. This estuarine scale approach is intended to support targeted protection and restoration of these habitats. These analyses indicate that approximately 60% of the area of Mobile Bay is categorized as suitable to near optimal for post-larval and juvenile shrimp and 38% of the area is marginally to minimally suitable. We identify potential units within Mobile Bay for targeted restoration to improve habitat suitability.

Understanding the Characteristics of Daily Precipitation over the United States Using the North American Regional Reanalysis

Abstract This study examines the seasonal characteristics of daily precipitation over the United States using the North American Regional Reanalysis (NARR). To help understand the physical mechanisms that contribute to changes in the characteristics of daily precipitation, vertically integrated moisture flux convergence (MFC) and precipitable water were included in the study. First, an analysis of the NARR precipitation was carried out because while observed precipitation is indirectly assimilated in the system, differences exist. The NARR mean seasonal amount is very close to that of observations throughout the year, although NARR exhibits a slight systematic bias toward more-frequent, lighter precipitation. Particularly during summer, the precipitation intensity and the probability distribution function (PDF) indicate that NARR somewhat underestimates extremes and overestimates lighter events in the eastern half of the United States. The intensity and PDF of moisture flux convergence exhibit a strong similarity to those of precipitation, suggesting a link between strong MFC and precipitation extremes. On the other hand, the relationship between the precipitable water and precipitation PDFs is weaker, based on the lack of agreement of their gamma distribution parameters. The dependence of the precipitation PDF on the lower-frequency modulation of ENSO was examined. During El Niño winters, the Southwest and central United States, Gulf of Mexico region, and southeastern coast have greater precipitation intensity and extremes than during La Niña, and the Ohio River and Red River basins have lower intensity and fewer extreme events. During summer, the northern Rocky Mountains receive higher intensity precipitation with more extreme events. Most areas where the change in the daily mean precipitation between ENSO phases is large have greater shifts in the extreme tail of the PDF. The ENSO-related response of moisture flux convergence is similar to that of precipitation. ENSO-related shifts in the precipitation PDF do not appear to have a strong relationship to the shifts in precipitable water.