Summer 2019 – GoMRI Synthesis & Legacy
– SEPTEMBER 18, 2019
 Participants in the Ecosystem Impacts of the Deepwater Horizon Event (Core Area 3) workshop held in St. Petersburg, Florida from July 23-25, 2019. Photo Credit: Sean Beckwith/C-IMAGE. |
(From Summer 2019 Newsletter) Contributing Author: Callan Yanoff
Two workshops took place during the summer months to further synthesize the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative’s (GoMRI) research across two topics. The Living on the Edge: Enhancing the Sustainability of Coupled Human-Environment Systems in the Gulf of Mexico Region (Core Area 5) workshop took place from July 10-12 in Mobile, Alabama. More information on this workshop, including the goals, a participant list, and the agenda, is available here. The Ecosystem Impacts of the Deepwater Horizon Event: Assembling the Record of Species and Community Change (Core Area 3 Workshop I) workshop took place from July 23-25 in St. Petersburg, Florida. More information on this workshop, including the goals, a participant list, and the agenda, is available here. The Ecosystem Impacts workshop was recorded and can be viewed on the Center for the Integrated Modeling and Analysis of the Gulf Ecosystem (C-IMAGE) website here.
Looking forward to the fall, two additional Synthesis workshops will bring researchers together to share knowledge and increase understanding across the following GoMRI Synthesis Core Areas:
- Vulnerability and Resilience of Species and Ecosystems to Large-Scale Contamination Events: Lessons from Deepwater Horizon (Core Area 3 Workshop II) will take place from October 9-11 in Washington, District of Columbia. This workshop aims to prepare a high-level quantitative synthesis of longitudinal (time series) information indexing the population and ecosystem trajectories of marine species and ecosystems impacted by the Deepwater Horizon (DWH) accident. The workshop will evaluate life history and associated scale effects that are implicated in the decline and potential recovery of ecosystem components, including life span, fractions of populations impacted by the spill, population connectivity among potential source populations, and sensitivity of various life stages to oil Correlations among time series will be evaluated and compared with ecotype specific food webs to evaluate species interactions potentially affected by the spill. Vulnerability and susceptibility of various impacted resources will be evaluated.
- Operational Oil Spill Modeling (Core Area 7) will take place from October 15-17 in Washington, District of Columbia. The main objective of this workshop is to examine operational aspects of oil spill modeling, review the state of knowledge that preexisted GoMRI as well as the new knowledge or technical solutions developed in the past 10 years. All required modeling components of an “integrated oil spill system” will be addressed, such as ocean circulation models, wave forecast models, numerical weather prediction and oil fate (weathering), and transport modeling. The workshop will focus on short timescale mechanisms that are relevant for operational oil spill modeling and how these mechanisms are, can, or cannot be implemented in operational oil spill prediction systems.
As 2020 and the conclusion of the GoMRI’s investment in research approaches, Synthesis and Legacy efforts have begun to focus on products, legacy pieces, and outreach activities to more broadly share the results of the Synthesis workshops and highlight the importance of investing in collaborative science. Please continuously visit the Synthesis and Legacy Products page, as there are many products currently in development.
GoMRI will have a presence at many upcoming conferences and venues across the country to share results of the Synthesis efforts through proposed sessions, posters, and events, including:
American Geophysical Union (AGU) 2019 Fall Meeting
December 9-13, 2019, San Francisco, California
The Core Area 3 leaders will chair an eLightening session entitled GoMRI/C-IMAGE: Lessons Learned and Global Applications from Deepwater Horizon. GoMRI and C-IMAGE will also collaborate to host a Story-Collider event on December 12.
National Council for Science and the Environment (NCSE) Annual Conference
January 6-9, 2020, Washington, District of Columbia
A general synthesis session was submitted by the GoMRI Research Board, with an overarching title of Ten years since DWH – Lessons learned from the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative.
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Annual Meeting
February 13-16, 2020, Seattle, Washington
Advances in Understanding Oil Spills and Mitigating Impact and Consequences, a GoMRI Research Board-motivated session, was submitted and accepted. This session will aim to build interest in GoMRI Synthesis results.
Ocean Sciences Meeting 2020
February 16-21, 2020, San Diego, California
Core Area 6 leadership will be hosting a session entitled Microbial Genomics to Improve Predictive Understanding of Disturbance in the Global Ocean System.
International Oil Spill Conference (IOSC) 2020
May 11-14, 2020, New Orleans, Louisiana
GoMRI leadership has collaborated with IOSC to create a GoMRI Special Session to integrate synthesized GoMRI science into IOSC 2020.
