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SMAST offers a variety of events, workshops, and seminars.

Seminar Series

Weekly seminar series

UMass Dartmouth's School for Marine Science & Technology hosts weekly seminars on topics related to research and policy development, fisheries, coastal preservation, ocean modeling, underwater robotics, climate change, and other related fields. The seminars are free and open to the public. Presentations are given by guest speakers and scientists -- many who collaborate with SMAST faculty, staff, and students on cooperative research projects. Supporters and potential collaborators in industry, federal and state agencies, and others are welcome to attend.

Upcoming seminars

Feb
12
12:30PM
SMAST Seminar - DEOS -February 12, 2025 - "Patterns and drivers of cross-frontal exchange diagnosed in the Southeast Indian Ridge sector of the Southern Ocean" by: Ali Johnson Exley

Department of Estuarine and Ocean Sciences

"Patterns and drivers of cross-frontal exchange diagnosed in the Southeast Indian Ridge sector of the Southern Ocean"

Ali Johnson Exley
Postdoctoral Investigator, WHOI

Wednesday, February 12, 2025
12:30pm- 1:30pm
SMAST E 101-102 and via Zoom

Abstract:

The Southern Ocean plays a fundamental role in the meridional overturning circulation by ventilating deep, carbon-rich waters to the surface ocean, and through the conversion to bottom and intermediate waters, largely compensates sinking in the subpolar North Atlantic. Central to the Southern Ocean overturning circulation is the role of mesoscale eddies which are the primary mechanism by which heat, carbon, nutrients and other properties are transported poleward across fronts of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC), effectively balancing the wind-induced equatorward transport. Satellite altimetry has revealed distinct spatial patterns in eddy kinetic energy around the ACC, suggesting mesoscale eddy fields are largely confined to relatively small regions downstream from topographic ridge systems. Despite the outsize importance for meridional heat transport however, we lack an accurate estimate of fluxes across the ACC due to the challenges of observing mesoscale eddy fluctuations on the temporal and spatial scales required. Additionally, the physical mechanisms responsible for initiating and maintaining these mixing regimes remains poorly constrained. Here, observations from Argo are used together with high-resolution numerical model output to investigate horizontal patterns of eddy diffusivity and to diagnose eddy-mean field interactions in the Southeast Indian Ridge system, a relatively under-observed region known to be a hot spot of exchange in the Southern Ocean. We find a highly localized pattern of diffusivity, peaking between the crest and trough of the first standing meander in the lee of the ridge system, which correlates with an along-stream increase in eddy kinetic energy. Additionally, by adopting a wave-activity flux framework traditionally employed for atmospheric storm track studies, we decompose the role of barotropic and baroclinic instabilities as well as the ageostrophic fluxes which sustain the growth, flux and decay of energy in the along-stream direction. This work is an early step towards quantifying the contribution of these processes on the large-scale overturning circulation which ultimately will be essential for a comprehensive understanding of the system and how it might respond to future change. 

Join Zoom Meeting
https://umassd.zoom.us/j/97440069270?pwd=L2Z1bDZESTFCKzJYZWduYVhWenYvZz09

Note: Meeting passcode required, email contact below to receive 

To request the Zoom passcode, or for any other questions, please

Feb
12
3:00PM
SMAST Seminar - DFO - "Developing the NEFSC Bottom Trawl Survey Contingency Plan" by: Kathryn Ford

Department of Fisheries Oceanography

"Developing the NEFSC Bottom Trawl Survey Contingency Plan"

Kathryn Ford 
Director of Population and Ecosystems Monitoring and Analysis Division, NEFSC

Wednesday, February 12, 2025
3pm-4pm
SMAST E 101-102 and via Zoom

Abstract:

NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) collects data relevant to the sustainable management of fisheries under the mandates of the Magnuson Stevens Act and to meet the mission of NMFS, which is responsible for the stewardship of the nation's ocean resources and their habitat. One of the preeminent data collections in the NMFS Northeast Fishery Science Center (NEFSC) survey enterprise is the Bottom Trawl Survey (BTS). The NEFSC BTS is a fishery-independent survey which informs population assessments for more than 50 fisheries stocks and the Status of the Ecosystem assessments. A fishery-independent survey utilizes scientific methods within an experimental design in order to measure fish populations and vital rates. They are distinct from fishery-dependent surveys, which sample data from commercial and non-commercial fisheries. The main advantage of including fishery-independent surveys in the fisheries management context is that they provide less biased estimates of trends of fish populations and biological information than fishery dependent data alone. In the case of the NEFSC BTS, the survey also provides the most consistent long term information for assessing ecosystem trends on the U.S. east coast shelf. The value of this survey is linked to its stability and consistency. However, the survey is facing increasing pressures that are making fundamental methodological and statistical design changes necessary. The BTS is facing four primary pressures: marine development, lost sea days, a multi-season loss of the sampling vessel, and lapses in appropriations. These four pressures were assessed in the context of developing a contingency plan for the BTS to consider avenues available for ensuring the long term viability of the survey. This presentation will describe the ongoing process to develop the contingency plan cooperatively with the Mid-Atlantic and New England Fisheries Management Councils and the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission via the Northeast Trawl Advisory Panel.

Join Zoom Meeting
https://umassd.zoom.us/j/93758230260?pwd=OHJ5UDloQkZZaCtXcTlBNlR6Qm0rQT09

Note: Meeting passcode required, email contact below to receive 

To request the Zoom passcode, or for any other questions, please

See all events

Time and location

DEOS seminars are held on Wednesdays at 12:30 pm in Room 101/102 of SMAST-EAST, New Bedford.

DFO seminars are held on Wednesdays at 3:00 pm in Room 101/102 of SMAST-EAST, New Bedford. 

Access seminars remotely

If you are unable to attend the seminars, you may remotely view the seminar in progress. To access the live broadcast,

  • visit Echo360.
  • login as smast@umassd.edu with the password smastumassd.
  • click ALL CLASSES (MAR 700 - 01 - DEOS Seminar or MAR 700 - 02 - DFO Seminar).
  • click the green LIVE streaming.

Archived seminars

Download the Archive of Seminar Series (2014-2024)(PDF) (and associated videos where applicable).

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