“Great Rivers and Changing Oceans”

by admin | Jul 20, 2023 | Brasil, Climate Change, Continent-Ocean Margins, Marine and Terrestrial Biology, Remote Sensing, Using Data Sets

Originally presented 13 Jan 2018

SUPPORTED BY NSF DIVISION OF OCEAN SCIENCES AWARD #1737128

The ten largest rivers in the world contribute 38% of all riverine input into the oceans. Their plumes extend 100’s to 1000’s of kilometers offshore and are important conduits for terrigenous nutrients to the oceans. Direct anthropogenic activity through land and water use change as well as indirect climate change effects are altering the chemistry of these rivers and consequently the marine ecosystem influenced by the plumes. We have to understand the biogeochemical cycles affected by these river plumes in order to predict changes to the marine ecosystem in the future. Techniques for detection and mapping of these river plumes will be presented. Mapping the plumes allows us to understand short term and long term changes. We will also discuss the supply of nutrients and how affects primary productivity and structure of microbial populations in the river plumes.

At the end of the session, we will develop a common understanding of:

1) The distribution of large river plumes in the ocean,
2) How processes happening on land affect microbial communities in the ocean, and
3) Remote sensing techniques used to map river plumes in the ocean

Ajit Subramaniam is a Lamont Research Professor who first presented an Earth2Class Workshop in 2004, and has been a good friend to this program through the years. You can find out more about Ajit’s accomplishments on his home page.

Previous E2C Workshops presented by Ajit

“PIRANAs and PIRATAs Remote Sensing the Amazon River Plume” (Oct 2004)

“From Satellites to Microscopes: Studying Phytoplankton” with Andrew Juhl (Nov 2005)

INTRODUCTORY SLIDE SHOW (.pptx)

INTRODUCTORY SLIDE SHOW (.pdf)

Related Research

“Amazon River Drives Carbon Sink” (Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci., v. 105, no. 30, pp. 10271 – 10632)