Facilities

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[Oceanography] [Mathematics] [Chemistry]
[Naval Architecture & Ocean Engineering]

Oceanography

The Oceanography Department will contribute to the center through its faculty and through use of its research and educational facilities. Faculty members in the department have expertise in physical oceanography, biological oceanography, marine geology, and meteorology. Facilities in the department include a waterfront oceanographic laboratory facility (Hendricks Lab) and a fully outfitted oceanographic research vessel (YP-686). The department also employs two full-time oceanographers on staff to run the laboratory and operate equipment on board the YP686.

The YP686 routinely conducts operations in the region of the Chesapeake Bay near Annapolis, including the areas near the Severn River, Bay Bridge, and Kent Island. The vessel can be used as a platform to installing semi-permanent measurement systems, and it can be used in real-time research while underway. On-board instrumentation includes fathometers, current meters, side-scan sonar, sub-bottom profilers, CTD’s, fluorometers, and related oceanographic equipment. The YP686 is the sole oceanographic research vessel operated by the Naval Academy and has a long history of supporting Midshipmen education. Use of the YP686 as a research platform to support the CBOS system represents a major contribution by the Naval Academy and the Center to Chesapeake Bay research.

Some proposed contributions to the center from the Oceanography Department include:

• Point records of oceanographic properties, continuous in time, obtained from fixed measurement stations
• Transects of oceanographic and atmospheric data, repeated periodically, obtained from operations of the YP686
• Student and faculty research projects, including:
• Senior-level project to use oceanographic data to ground-truth mathematical model development.
• Studies of seasonal phenomena and their impacts on the state of the bay: water quality, optical properties, and fisheries health.
• Studies of meteorological phenomena and their impacts on bay properties and circulation.

The Oceanography Department has worked with the American Meteorological Society for 12 years in K-12 teacher enhancement on physical oceanography. A core of faculty provides expertise to develop educational resource materials and the Maury Project Summer Workshop provides a beta-testing venue exposing classroom teachers to such resources, dovetailing closely with the IOOS outreach initiative.

Mathematics

The Mathematics Department's will contribute to the CCBOM through its Chesapeake Bay Modeling group. This group of faculty members specializes in development and operation of complex computer simulation models, and have been active in developing analytical and computational tools to study the hydrodynamic features of the Bay.

Some proposed contributions from the Mathematics Department include:

• Study of numerical strategies appropriate for simulation of marine phenomena in the Bay. These include the existing finite element and finite difference models of Quoddy and the Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS), as well as a planned in-house model in the commercial finite element software FEMLAB. For Quoddy and ROMS, the modeling group will conduct a comprehensive study of model strengths and weaknesses for fixed initial and boundary conditions. This will likely include detailed sub-grid modeling of features around the Severn River and Annapolis. Unlike Quoddy and ROMS, which are based on the Boussinesq approximation, the in-house model will retain the governing equations’ 3D formulation and take advantage of the fast solvers embedded in the most recent release of FEMLAB. We will compensate for the complexity of the full 3D nonlinear differential equations by first concentrating on geometries that have the global features of the bay while smoothing out the high frequency and subgrid features.
• Develop the necessary signal and statistical analysis methodology to incorporate field data, whether Eulerian or Lagrangian, into the numerical models described above. The main goal of this initiative is to incorporate state-of-the-art data assimilation tools into our numerical modeling capabilities.

The above steps will have components suitable for midshipman research projects. This group has had extensive experience in mentoring student projects in all facets of its research, as evidenced by the data from the recent past where four Trident Scholars completed their theses on various aspects of the numerical approximation of systems of partial differential equations.

Chemistry

The Chemistry Department will contribute to the Center by measuring key chemical species relevant to the Chesapeake Bay’s health and using these measurements to understand the transport and fates of these chemical species. The Chemistry Department’s expertise in analytical chemistry and environmental sampling, along with the instrumentation facilities within the Department will be utilized to measure these chemical species. The Chemistry Department will also integrate undergraduate education into all aspects of their proposed activities.

There is currently an ambitious goal of reducing nutrient loads to the Chesapeake Bay. These excess nutrients result in the degradation of water quality that affects ecosystem health. Nutrient sources to the Bay include both riverine sources and atmospheric sources. While riverine sources dominate, a significant portion (possibly up to 1/3) of the total nutrient fluxes to the Bay may be derived from the atmosphere through the direct deposition of nutrients (e.g., ammonia, nitrate) to the Bay or indirectly through deposition to the surrounding watershed and then transported to the Bay. There is large uncertainty in this atmosphere flux because of the relatively few measurements of these atmospheric species at sites near the Chesapeake Bay and the complicated micrometeorological processes that control the rate of deposition. The Chemistry Department will measure both aqueous concentrations of nutrients in the Bay along with atmospheric concentrations to understand the overall transport and fate of these key biological chemical species.

The proposed activities of the Chemistry Department include:

• Monitoring concentrations of primary nutrient species (e.g., nitrate, ammonium, phosphate) in the Bay and the fluxes at the air-sea interface. Atmospheric fluxes of nutrient species will be monitored by collecting rainwater samples and measuring atmospheric nutrient species. The dry deposition fluxes of atmospheric species can be modeled using the atmospheric concentrations along with micrometeorological measurements. Monitoring nutrient concentration in the water column will provide information on the impact of nutrient reduction efforts.
• As our understanding of the Chesapeake Bay expands so does our need to measure other chemical species and the Chemistry Department’s analytical facilities have the flexibility to measure a variety of organic and inorganic chemical species. These measurements can be done on samples collected during the research cruises and also on samples collected with permanent collection systems.
• Undergraduate education will be a large component of the Chemistry Department’s effort through the development of learning modules and laboratory experiments for both general chemistry and advanced chemistry courses. Undergraduate research opportunities will also be a focal point of the implementation of the Chemistry Departments proposed activities.

Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering

The Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering Department’s Ocean Engineering Program will contribute to the CCBOM through direct measurement of Bay hydrodynamic phenomena, through integration of measurements and simulation models, and though administration of data products from the center. Faculty members in the Ocean Engineering Program have expertise in ocean instrumentation, marine aquaculture engineering, naval architecture and ship operations, marine environmental engineering, ocean wave mechanics, sediment transport, and coastal engineering. Because ocean engineering involves practical application of both measurements and simulation to the design of man-made facilities and maritime operations (naval, commercial, and recreational ships), the ocean engineering group will interface with potential users of CCBOM products.

Some proposed contributions of the Ocean Engineering Program include:

• Establishment of a permanent, moored observational platform in the Chesapeake Bay, to measure real-time oceanographic parameters (currents, waves, temperature, salinity) as well as key environmental parameters (dissolved oxygen, fluorescence, turbidity). The permanent observational system will incorporate a suite of sensors to collect both physical and environmental data parameters and transmit the data real-time. The main instrument is an Acoustic Wave and Current Sensor (AWAC) that can provide both water surface elevations on different time scales (tides vs. waves) and a vertical profile of three dimensional currents from the water surface to the sea floor. The real-time data streams will be checked for quality and provided in a format consistent with CBOS and IOOS initiatives.
• Establishment of a website for dissemination of data products from the CCBOM. The current draft of the IOOS Development Plan states that successful implementation of ocean observing data depends on enabling connectivity between the observing system and the ocean science and engineering community. Raw oceanographic measurement data, selected data quality control, and data analysis will be provided for public dissemination, integration into the CBOS, and for educational uses. These materials will be placed on an internet server located in USNA’s Rickover Hall. The materials will be accessible via any standard web browser and shall comply with current standard internet protocols and accessibility conventions.
• Ocean Engineering students will be involved in the CCBOM through: (1) exposure to real-time oceanographic data in upper-level engineering elective courses, (2) analysis of data in independent research projects and (3) application of data in senior “capstone” design projects. These capstone projects normally involve design of coastal shore protection an erosion control, breakwaters and marinas, dredge-material disposal islands, and similar large civil infrastructure systems. These projects generally require use of field data or simulations and they provide an opportunity for students to use the data and modeling products of the center.

The Ocean Engineering Group also provides a link to several support groups that will assist the Center field measurements. These include the following:

• The Hydromechanics Laboratory in Rickover Hall will support the CCBOM through (1) the use of the wave/towing tank facilities to calibrate instruments, (2) assistance in instrument selection, deployment, and recovery and (3) development of prototype instrumentation data analysis. The laboratory is used routinely by both Ocean Engineering and Oceanography majors in both formal courses and in independent research projects. The laboratory also supports research for Naval Academy faculty and outside organizations in such tropic areas as ship resistance and propulsion, ship motions in wind and waves, basic ocean wave mechanics, and wave-structure interaction.
• The Computer-Aided Design and Interactive Graphics (CADIG) group supports electronic classrooms and central systems for midshipmen courses and academic projects. CADIG also supports faculty, research and administrative efforts, as well as some special support services. CADIG expertise will support maintenance of web-base services.
• The Technical Support Department’s (TSD) model shop supports the USNA engineering departments by providing operation, maintenance and construction of laboratories and laboratory devices. The model shop has the facilities for fabrication of custom parts for instrumentation mounts and other equipment. Shop personnel are expert in composite design and fabrication, material machining and welding.
• The Annapolis Naval Station Dive Locker will support underwater diving activities for Naval operations for the center. This group of professional Navy divers performs inspections, underwater ship husbandry duties and conducts re-qualification activities. The Naval Station Dive Locker can support Center mission by providing professional dive support for instrument deployment, maintenance, and recovery.