December 2016 Newsletter
 
Stay updated with our bi-monthly newsletters!
The University of South Florida, Eckerd College, Florida Institute of Oceanography, Florida State University, Georgia Tech, Harte Research Institute/TAMU-Corpus Christi, Mind Open Media, Mote Marine Laboratory, Pennsylvania State University, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Technical University of Hamburg, Texas A&M University, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, University of Calgary, University of Miami, University of South Alabama, University of Western Australia, University of West Florida, Virginia Institute of Marine Science, Wageningen University, and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute

If it seems like a bit of time has passed since the last newsletter, it has! C-IMAGE was busy this summer and fall we missed our September edition. This edition of the C-IMAGE Consortium Newsletter recaps the 2nd Symposium on Deep Sea Oil Spills in Hamburg, the St. Petersburg Science Fest, two ways C-IMAGE students use Mass Spectrometers, and congratulates several of our researchers on recent accomplishments. Enjoy and share with your colleagues!
Administrative....
Happy Holidays from C-IMAGE
Photo taken at our December All Hands Meeting - St. Pete Beach, FL

GoMRI RFP-VI Proposal Request:
The Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative released the Call for Proposals for the final GoMRI funding period from 2018 through 2019.

3 October, 2016 - RFP-VI Released
14 November, 2016 - Letter of Intent Submission Date
7-9 December - C-IMAGE All Hands, St. Pete Beach, FL
6-9 February, 2017 - 2017 GoMOSES Meeting, New Orleans, LA
3 March, 2017 - Full Proposal Due
September 2017 - Award Notification
January 2018 through December 2019 - RFP VI Period

If you have any questions about the proposal process, contact Sherryl Gilbert .

Y2Q3 Activity Reports Submitted
Thank you to all the co-PIs who added to the spreadsheet and narrative sections of our quarterly report. Final reports are available, please contact Ben Prueitt
for more information. 
The Y2Q4 Activity Reports will be due 15 January, 2017.

2017 GoMRI Conference, 6-9 February, 2017, New Orleans, LA
Congratulations to all  10 of the C-IMAGE session for the 2017 GoMRI meeting!


C-IMAGE All Hands Meeting, 7-9 December, 2016, St. Petersburg, FL
Thank you to the 70 PIs, researchers, and students who joined us in St. Pete Beach, FL. The objectives of the C-IMAGE All Hands meeting were to discuss the final year of C-IMAGE II experiments and studies.

The three day meeting included Wednesday e vening tours and a dinner at Mote Aquaculture Park in Sarasota. And 1.5 days of research updates and discussion. Thursday night brought our researchers together for an informal poster session and dinner where research specific details could be discussed .  Presentations from the All Hands Meeting will be available for C-IMAGE members on our website shortly.

Past Conference Calls:
General C-IMAGE Call, 13 & 19 October, 2016. Call notes are available, contact Ben Prueitt for a copy.

GoMRI Consortia Directors Call, 7 October and 2 December.

GoMRI Outreach Call, 25 October:  Dr. Teresa Greely shared the bi-monthly education and outreach updates to the GoMRI outreach community. These updates included tracking the One Gulf Expedition, the C-IMAGE Student Communication weekend, St. Petersburg Science Fest and 2017 Story Collider in New Orleans.

Upcoming Calls: TBA

GoMRI Webinars:
The Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative presents a series of webinars about research topics from around GoMRI

18 January, 2017, 3pm EST, 8pm GMT -  Dr. David Hollander, USF, Chief Scientist C-IMAGE Consortium, details provided in subsequent email.

Past Webinars:
Dr. Antonietta Quigg (ADDOMex) -  Chemical and Microbial Controls on Aggregation and Degradation of Oil and Dispersants by Microbial Exopolymers -  21 Sept.

Dr. Cynthia Smith (NMMF) - Investigating High Reproductive Failure Rates in Dolphins Following the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill - 9 Nov.
Deep Sea Spill Symposium brings collaboration to Hamburg
Experiments, models and biodegradation highlight Symposium
Since 2012, C-IMAGE members at the Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH) have been building and improving labs to answer the difficult questions of how oil, gases, dispersants, and microbes act under extreme pressures and temperatures. Specifically the conditions seen during the Deepwater Horizon blowout, 150 bar of pressure and 4° C.

The 2nd Symposium on Deep Sea Oil Spills brought fifteen presenters from three GoMRI centers and SINTEF sharing the state of two research fields: (1) Experiments, models & simulations of deep-sea blowouts, and (2) marine snow and oil biodegradation.

Deepwater Horizon and live oil plume experiments
The Institute of Multiphase Flows (IMS) at TUHH studies the physical behavior of oil from high pressure wells. Recent experiments releasing "live-oil", a mixture of methane and liquid oil, have shown a plume more accurate to video from the Deepwater Horizon well.  IMS hosted the first session of the Symposium and brought together researchers from the C-IMAGE, DROPPS and Deep-C consortia to present their findings on plume experiment,  models and simulations. 

Students from the TUHH-IMS presented on dissolved methane and rise velocity of deep sea blowouts showing when methane is added to high-pressure blowouts, the spreading angle increases from 11.6° in "dead oil" (no methane) to 22.8°. Other presentations covered the application of dispersants increasing aqueous dissolution by 26% (Gros), and showing little difference of surface fate in far-field models (Paris).

The second section of the symposium was hosted by th Institute of Technical Biocatalysis  at TUHH. Dr. Andreas Liese leads the Institute and studies how methane and oil degrade at high pressures, and how microbial communities respond during petrocarbon degradation. Dr. Liese hosted the second session of the Symposium.

Using stable isotopes the sediment record from the Deepwater Horizon spill, C-IMAGE researchers are able to see the freshwater discharge, burning and dispersant use from the spring and summer of 2010, as highlighted by Chief Scientist David Hollander during his presentation. Additionally, evidence of MOSSFA (Marine Oil Snow Sedimentation and Flocculent Accumulation) found in northern Gulf sediments show a similar pattern in areas of the southern Gulf and those impacted by Ixtoc I spill in 1979.

Some results from the high-pressure labs at the TUHH show an increase in methane degradation by Metalacoccus bacteria. The 'Deep Sea in a Can' experiments from the Institute of Technical Biocatalysis will show important results to understanding the impact of pressure. 

If you'd like to learn more about research from students at TUHH visit the student of the month blogs from Nuttapol "Ice" Noirungsee (September 2015), Simeon Pesch (July 2016) and Juan Viamonte (October 2016, or look below!).
C-IMAGE Students of the Month
This newsletter features two ways which C-IMAGE students use a GC-MS (Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry). Mr. Juan Viamonte studies microbial degradation in deep-sea conditions, and Ms. Susan Snyder evaluates fish health in commercially important species like Red Snapper.

October 2016
Juan Viamonte, PhD Student, Institute of Biocatalysis, Hamburg University of Technology
Juan Viamonte in front of the GC-MS used to monitor biodegradation
Juan's research focuses on the degradation of oil performed by microorganisms. He uses microbes native to the Gulf of Mexico to track bacterial growth and oil decomposition in high-pressure chambers. 

To read more about Juan's research, visit the SotM blog here.

November 2016
Susan Snyder, PhD Student, University of South Florida-College of Marine Science.
Susan Snyder analyzes liver and bile samples from the Gulf of Mexico to monitor fish health and recovery.
Susan's research focuses on how sick a fish gets when it is exposed to oil, specifically exposure to Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs), the larger and more toxic components of oil.

Read Susan's full Student of the Month Blog, here
Communicating Science Weekend - St. Pete Beach - 7-9 Oct.
The C-IMAGE outreach team hosted a Communicating Science Weekend for 15 GoMRI early career scientists in October. Undergraduate, M.S. and PhD students from C-IMAGE,  RECOVER, CARTHE, and Deepend consortia attended the workshop.

Small group breakouts were a common theme allowing critical thinking and communicating.

During the weekend retreat, students were tasked with selecting a focus audience from science interested public,  government, and higher education. Each group selected a current event or issue which they needed to communicate to their target audience.

Solutions to current issues which the groups addressed included:
  • A program to improve knowledge and use of local recycling programs,
  • Ocean observing systems on oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico,
  • Citizen science for measuring ocean chemistry, 
  • Connecting the science community with the public for a one-stop-shop on environmental issues,
  • An interactive website where prospective scientists and graduate students could learn about the daily life of a graduate student.
New Sea Grant Brochure Released-Fish Lesions


The Gulf Coast Sea Grants have published an informative brochure about the skin lesions in fish following the Deepwater Horizon blowout. The brochure is based of a 2014 publication on the prevalence of fish lesions  found in C-IMAGE studies.


C-IMAGE researchers studied Red Snapper, Red Grouper, Gulf Smoothound Sharks, and Golden Tilefish in the Gulf of Mexico to learn the exact cause of these lesions. More about the episodic exposure of oil and PAHs leading to these lesions can be read in the latest publication by Texas Sea Grant and Florida Sea Grant.

Open sores (lesions) on fish became more common following the Deepwater Horizon spill.
2017 MOSSFA Workshop at GoMOSES - New Orleans, LA

MOSSFA Workshop
Monday, 6 February, 2017
8:30 AM - 5:00PM

The MOSSFA workshop at the GoMOSES 2017 will focus on new and still pressing issues surrounding the MOSSFA phenomena including:
  • Chemical and biological factors that control MOS formation, and its vertical transport from its location of origin at the surface and in the deep sea.
  • Diagnostic parameters/observations that best and broadly characterize MOSSFA events in sediments in order to determine its spatial distribution, benthic ecosystem impacts and temporal evolution recovery rate/preservation in the sediments
  • Current state of numerical modeling of MOSSFA events, and future considerations to improve predictive capabilities.
C-IMAGE Accolades and Awards
Dr. Kevan Main - 2017 White House Champion of Change
Dr. Main was honored by the White House for her dedication to sustainable seafood

Dr. Kevan Main has been the Director of the Mote Aquaculture Park in Sarasota, FL since 2001. Recently, Main has been managing the health and prosperity of the Ecotoxicology studies at the Aquaculture Park.

Dr. Main was honored as a "Champion of Change for Sustainable Seafood" by the White House in early December.

Congratulations Dr. Main, and thank you for your efforts for C-IMAGE. Full article here.

Melissa Rohal - 1st Place in TAMUCC Three Minute Thesis
Rohal and multicore
As a PhD student at TAMUCC, Melissa studies the diversity and abundance of meiofauna around the sites of oil spills

Three Minute Thesis (3MT) is a competition celebrating the research of graduate students while promoting and improving skills in students' presentation, academic, and research communication. The competition encourages the students' capacity to effectively explain their research in language appropriate to a non-specialist audience.

Melissa won the first 3MT competition held at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and will compete in regional competitions in March 2017. Read the full article on Melissa's accomplishment.

Dr. Paul Montagna - Co-Editor-in-Chief - 
Estuaries and Coasts
Estuaries and Coasts, the official journal of the Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation (CERF) has selected Dr. Montagna as Co-Editor-in-Chief.

Montagna is the Endowed Chair for Ecosystems and Modeling at the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi and a Regents Professor in the Texas A&M University System.

Click here to read the full article.
 

Marieke Zeinstra-Helfrich - PhD Thesis Defense - NHL Hogeschool
Dr. Tinka Murk, Marieke Zeinstra , and Dr. Weird Koops

Marieke Zeinstra has studied the behaviors of oil slicks since C-IMAGE I, mainly how dispersion - both natural and chemical - changes the fate and location of oil.

In late November, Marieke successfully defended her PhD thesis " Oil slick fate in 3D: Predicting the influence of (natural and chemical dispersion on oil slick fate."

During the same week, Dr. Weird Koops of NHL Hogeschool in the Netherlands, gave his final address to his institution, retiring after over 43 years of studying spills.

Congratulations to Dr. Zeinstra and Dr. Koops for these accomplishments!

Robert Domin - M.S. Thesis Defense - Technical University of Hamburg
Robert Domin defended his M.S. thesis, " Microbial Community Development in High Pressure Reactors for the Analysis of Crude Oil Biodegradation," in early December 2016 under the supervision of Steffan Hackbush and Dr. Rudi Müller.

Robert's work coincides with the Institute of Biocatalysis at the Technical University of Hamburg.  Congratulations Robert!
C-IMAGE: Reaching Out in the Community....
St. Petersburg Science Festival  - St. Petersburg, FL - 22 October
The C-IMAGE and Deepend Consortia represented GoMRI at the 2016 St. Petersburg Science Festival

An estimated 25,000 people attended the annual St. Petersburg Science Festival at USF St. Petersburg and the Florida Fish & Wildlife Research Institute. C-IMAGE provided guests with making their own 'Sediment core from the Ocean floor', origami fortune tellers, and a hands-on foraminfera exhibit. We shared the booth with the C-SCAMP Project, and had a booth next to fellow GoMRI Center, DEEPEND.

 

Blogs from the One Gulf Expedition
During the 40-day cruise around the Gulf, C-IMAGE researchers completed ten blogs about their experiences along the way and how their specific research relates to the big picture.

A Final Blog from the Chief Scientist of the One Gulf Survey

Read all ten of the cruise blogs here .

Clean Gulf Conference: 
Oil Spill Response 101
Sponsored by the API and co-chaired by C-IMAGE Program Director Sherryl Gilbert, representatives from industry, state & national government, and academia discussed the needs of each group during an oil spill.

Kevin Shaw, GoMRI Program Manager, discusses how academia could assist the spill response process.

Introductory presentations by four GoMRI members were followed by presentations from industry and national spill res ponders to address the current knowledge of oil spills from two perspectives. The second half of the workshop discussed the collaboration of groups during an oil response and lessons learned in the past.

Upcoming Events
C-IMAGE Story Collider - 6 February, 2017 - New Orleans, LA
In conjunction with the 2017 GoMOSES Conference, C-IMAGE is hosting its second Story Collider at Club XLIV at the New Orleans Superdome. There is no charge for registration, reserve your seats at the link below.


Science surrounds us. Even when we don't notice it, science touches almost every part of our lives. At the Story Collider, we believe that everyone has a story about science-a story about how science made a difference, affected them, or changed them on a personal and emotional level. We find those stories and share them in live shows and on our podcast.

Consortium-Wide Outreach Coordinators Workshop 6 February, 2017

Monday, 6 February | Hyatt Regency New Orleans | 9:00a -6:00p

The Outreach Coordinators of each GoMRI center will meet to discuss the inventory, approaches, and an assessment of outreach products and activities across the consortia. The closeout of RFP-IV and the legacy of GoMRI in the public eye, and archiving products will be discussed during the workshop.

Featured Videos

Aerial Footage from the One Gulf Expedition
Aerial Footage from the One Gulf Expedition


The C-IMAGE outreach team wants to hear more about how our members interact with the communities. If there is an upcoming event, let Ben Prueitt know and we can promote it through social media, and highlight it in upcoming newsletters.
 
Recent Publications





As research is submitted and published through the months, please remember to have this exact phrase in the Acknowledgements or a similar section:

"This research was made possible by a grant from The Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative.  Data are publicly available through the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative Information & Data Cooperative (GRIIDC) at  https://data.gulfresearchinitiative.org (doi: <doi1> [, <doi2>, <doi3> ...])."
or
"This research was made possible in part by a grant from The Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative, and in part by [list other sources]. Data are publicly available through the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative Information & Data Cooperative (GRIIDC) at  https://data.gulfresearchinitiative.org (doi: <doi1> [, <doi2>, <doi3> ...])."

Additionally, before submitting any manuscript for publication, verify with the data team ( Richard McKenzie & Todd Chavez) that GRIID-C has the data in place. 
News Articles

GoMRI Fall Newsletter - The Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative

Marine snow, degradation, and corals - GoMRI eNews - 12 July, 2016

Interviews with Dr. Andreas Liese and Steffan Hackbush (in German, begins at 58:02) - WDR 5 Leonardo - 15 July, 2016


Fiddler Crabs, ROVs, topography - GoMRI eNews - 26 July, 2016

USF researchers prep for unprecedented Gulf trip - WTSP 10News - 2 August, 2016

Sunlight, plumes, and forecasting - GoMRI eNews - 9 August, 2016


Grad Student Sun Uses Sun Glint to Assess Oil Spills - GoMRI Scholar - 23 August, 2016

Plankton, plumes, and drifters - GoMRI eNews - 23 August, 2016

Waves, sun, and the sully - GoMRI eNews - 6 September, 2016


Fish, whales, and hurricanes - GoMRI eNews - 20 September, 2016

Mote scientist wins award to study effects of Oil Exposure on Fish - Mote Marine Laboratory - 20 September, 2016


Football, sunlight, and shorts - GoMRI eNews - 4 October, 2016


Erosion, bubbles, and mahi-mahi - GoMRI eNews - 18 October, 2016


Economics, fisheries, and Killifish - GoMRI eNews - 1 November, 2016


Academia and the Military Can Be Valuable Partners - Earth & Space Science News - 10 November, 2016


Food web, microbes, and embryos - GoMRI eNews - 15 November, 2016

Awards, oil, and data - GoMRI eNews - 29 November, 2016

BOEM Seeking Study Ideas for FY 2018 - Bureau of Ocean Energy Management - 29 November, 2016


Deep critters, predators, and corals - GoMRI eNews - 13 December, 2016
 

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