Thesis (Ph.D.)--Joint Program in Oceanography (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution), 2000. / Vita. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 179-187). / A spectral camera (ALISS - Ambient Light Imaging and Spectral System) was used to image ambient light from high-temperature vents at 9°N East Pacific Rise and the Juan de Fuca Ridge during 1997 and 1998 Alvin dive cruises. ALISS is a low-light digital camera with custom-designed optics. A set of nine lenses, each covered by an individual bandpass filter (50 and 100 nm nominal bandwidths), allows vents to be imaged in nine wavelength bands simultaneously spanning the range of 400-1000 nm. Thus, both spatial and spectral information are obtained. ALISS was used to image three types of vents: black smokers, flange pools, and beehives. The primary source of light is thermal radiation due to the high temperature of the hydrothermal fluid (~350°C). This light is dominant at wavelengths greater than 700 nm. At flange pools, where the fluid is relatively stable, only thermal radiation is present. Black smokers and beehives, however, are subject to mixing with ambient seawater (2°C) leading to mineral precipitation. Data from these types of vents show the existence of non-thermal, temporally varying light in the 400-700 nm region. This light is probably caused by mechanisms related to mixing and precipitation, such as chemiluminescence, crystalloluminescence and triboluminescence. / by Sheri N. White. / Ph.D.

Thesis: Ph. D., Joint Program in Oceanography/Applied Ocean Science and Engineering (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Biology; and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution), 2015. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references. / Males and females may differ in stage-specific survival, maturation, fertility, or mating availability. These demographic differences, in turn, affect population growth rates, equilibrium structure, and evolutionary trajectories. Models considering only a single sex cannot capture these effects, motivating the use of demographic two-sex models for sexually reproducing populations. I developed a new two-sex modeling framework that incorporates population structure and multiple life cycle processes through transition rate matrices. These models can be applied to a variety of life histories to address both ecological and evolutionary questions. Here, I apply the model to the effects of sex-biased harvest on populations with various mating systems. Demographic considerations also affect evolutionary projections. I derived matrix calculus expressions for key evolutionary quantities in my two-sex models, including the invasion fitness, selection gradient, and second derivatives of growth rates (which have many applications, including the classification of evolutionary singular strategies). I used these quantities to analyze the evolution of the primary sex ratio, under various sex- and stage-specific offspring costs and maternal conditions. Demographic two-sex models lend insight into complex, and sometimes counterintuitive, results that are not captured by models lacking population structure. These findings highlight the importance of demographic structure in ecology and evolution. / by Esther Shyu. / Ph. D.

Thesis: Ph. D., Joint Program in Oceanography/Applied Ocean Science and Engineering (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences; and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution), 2016. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (pages 165-172). / Glacial fjords form conduits between glaciers of the Greenland Ice Sheet and the North Atlantic. They are the gateways for importing oceanic heat to melt ice and for exporting meltwater into the ocean. Submarine melting in fjords has been implicated as a driver of recent glacier acceleration; however, there are no direct measurements of this melting, and little is known about the fjord processes that modulate melt rates. Combining observations, theory, and modeling, this thesis investigates the circulation, heat transport, and meltwater export in glacial fjords. While most recent studies focus on glacial buoyancy forcing, there are other drivers - e.g. tides, local wind, shelf variability - that can be important for fjord circulation. Using moored records from two major Greenlandic fjords, shelf forcing (from shelf density fluctuations) is found to dominate the fjord circulation, driving rapid exchange with the shelf and large heat content variability near the glacier. Contrary to the conventional paradigm, these flows mask any glacier-driven circulation in the non-summer months. During the summer, when shelf forcing is reduced and freshwater forcing peaks, a mean exchange flow transports warm Atlantic-origin water towards the glacier and exports glacial meltwater. Many recent studies have inferred submarine melt rates from oceanic heat transport, but the fjord budgets that underlie this method have been overlooked. Building on estuarine studies of salt fluxes, this thesis presents a new framework for assessing glacial fjord budgets and revised equations for inferring meltwater fluxes. Two different seasonal regimes are found in the heat/salt budgets for Sermilik Fjord, and the results provide the first time-series of submarine meltwater and subglacial discharge fluxes into a glacial fjord. Finally, building on the observations, ROMS numerical simulations and two analytical models are used to investigate the dynamics of shelf-driven flows and their importance relative to local wind forcing across the parameter space of Greenland's fjords. The fjord response is found to vary primarily with the width relative to the deformation radius and the fjord adjustment timescale relative to the forcing timescale. Understanding these modes of circulation is a step towards accurate modeling of ocean-glacier interactions. / by Rebecca H. Jackson. / Ph. D.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Joint Program in Oceanography (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences; and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution), 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 135-140). / Chapter 1 presents the first published measurements of Sr-isotope variability in olivine-hosted melt inclusions. Melt inclusions in just two Samoan basalt hand samples exhibit most of the total Sr-isotope variability observed in Samoan lavas. Chapter 3 deals with the largest possible scales of mantle heterogeneity, and presents the highest magmatic 3He/4He (33.8 times atmospheric) discovered in Samoa and the southern hemisphere. Along with Samoa, the highest 3He/4He sample from each southern hemisphere high 3He/4He hotspot exhibits lower 143Nd/144Nd ratios than their counterparts in the northern hemisphere. Chapter 2 presents geochemical data for a suite of unusually enriched Samoan lavas. These highly enriched Samoan lavas have the highest 87Sr/86Sr values (0.72163) measured in oceanic hotspot lavas to date, and along with trace element ratios (low Ce/Pb and Nb/U ratios), provide a strong case for ancient recycled sediment in the Samoan mantle. Chapter 4 explores whether the eclogitic and peridotitic portions of ancient subducted oceanic plates can explain the anomalous titanium, tantalum and niobium (TITAN) enrichment in high 3He/4He ocean island basalts (OIBs). The peridotitic portion of ancient subducted plates can contribute high 3He/4He and, after processing in subduction zones, a refractory, rutile-bearing eclogite may contribute the positive TITAN anomalies. / by Matthew G. Jackson. / Ph.D.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Joint Program in Oceanography (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences; and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution), 2008. / Includes bibliographical references. / Segmentation and crustal accretion at oceanic transform fault systems are investigated through a combination of geophysical data analysis and geodynamical and geochemical modeling. Chapter 1 examines the effect of fault segmentation on the maximum predicted earthquake magnitude of an oceanic transform fault system. Results of thermal modeling suggest that fault segmentation by intra- transform spreading centers (ITSC) drastically reduces the available brittle area of a transform fault and thus limits the available earthquake rupture area. Coulomb stress models suggest that long ITSCs will prohibit static stress interaction between segments of a transform system and further limit the maximum possible magnitude of a given transform fault earthquake. In Chapter 2, gravity anomalies from a global set of oceanic transform fault systems are investigated. Surprisingly, negative residual mantle Bouguer gravity anomalies are found within fast-slipping transform fault domains. These gravity observations suggest a mass deficit within fast-slipping transform faults, which may result from porosity variations, mantle serpentinization, and/or crustal thickness variations. Two-dimensional forward modeling and the correlation of the negative gravity anomalies to bathymetric highs indicate crustal thickness excesses in these locations. Finally, in Chapter 3, mantle thermal and melting models for a visco-plastic rheology are developed to investigate the process of mantle melting and crustal accretion at ITSCs within segmented transform faults, and are applied to the Siqueiros transform fault system. Models in which melt migrates into the transform fault domain from a large region of the mantle best explain the gravity-derived crustal thickness variations observed at the Siqueiros transform. Furthermore, a mantle potential temperature of 1350⁰C and fractional crystallization at depths of 9 - 15.5 km best explain the major element composition variation observed at the Siqueiros transform. / by Patricia Michelle Marie Gregg. / Ph.D.

Thesis (M.S.)--Joint Program in Oceanography (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences; and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution), February 1988. / "October 1987." / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 87-89). / Thermohaline staircases consisting of a series of well mixed layers approximately 30 m thick are found at depths of 300-500 m in a region of the tropical North Atlantic spanning 48° to 58°W, 8° to 17° N. Density ratios ( ... ) with values near 1 indicate a double diffusive origin for the structure (Schmitt, 1981,1986). Determining the importance of double-diffusive mixing to the regional advection - diffusion balance is the subject of this study. Using hydrographic and current meter data collected in the C-SALT program of 1985 (Schmitt, 1987), we construct inverse models in both cartesian and density coordinates and seek bounds on the cross isopycnal mixing in the staircase region. In cartesian coordinates, the role of diffusion was not well resolved, probably due to inadequacy of the steady state model in the presence of eddies. By reformulating the problem in boxes bounded by isopycnals which more closely follow the layers, and solving directly for cross isopycnal fluxes of salt and heat, the resolution of the diffusivities was improved. Inversions were done on data from the spring and fall CTD surveys. The average salt diffusivity in the step region was estimated from the isopycnal inversions to be ks = (2.8 + 1.3)cm2 /s in spring and ks = (3.9 ± 2.2)cm2 /s in fall. / by Joyce Marie Federiuk. / M.S.

Thesis: Ph. D., Joint Program in Oceanography/Applied Ocean Science and Engineering (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering; and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution), June 2014. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. "June 2014." / Includes bibliographical references (pages 103-112). / Evolutionary pressures have led to some astonishing camouflage strategies in the animal kingdom. Cephalopods like cuttlefish and octopus mastered a rather unique skill: they can rapidly adapt the way their skin looks in color, texture and pattern, blending in with their backgrounds. Showing a general resemblance to a visual background is one of the many camouflage strategies used in nature. For animals like cuttlefish that can dynamically change the way they look, we would like to be able to determine which camouflage strategy a given pattern serves. For example, does an inexact match to a particular background mean the animal has physiological limitations to the patterns it can show, or is it employing a different camouflage strategy (e.g., disrupting its outline)? This thesis uses a computational and data-driven approach to quantify camouflage patterns of cuttlefish in terms of color and pattern. First, we assess the color match of cuttlefish to the features in its natural background in the eyes of its predators. Then, we study overall body patterns to discover relationships and limitations between chromatic components. To facilitate repeatability of our work by others, we also explore ways for unbiased data acquisition using consumer cameras and conventional spectrometers, which are optical imaging instruments most commonly used in studies of animal coloration and camouflage. This thesis makes the following contributions: (1) Proposes a methodology for scene-specific color calibration for the use of RGB cameras for accurate and consistent data acquisition. (2) Introduces an equation relating the numerical aperture and diameter of the optical fiber of a spectrometer to measurement distance and angle, quantifying the degree of spectral contamination. (3) Presents the first study assessing the color match of cuttlefish (S. officinalis) to its background using in situ spectrometry. (4) Develops a computational approach to pattern quantification using techniques from computer vision, image processing, statistics and pattern recognition; and introduces Cuttlefish 72x5, the first database of calibrated raw (linear) images of cuttlefish. / by Derya Akkaynak. / Ph. D.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Joint Program in Oceanography (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences; and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution), 1987. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 179-201). / by Bernward Josef Hay. / Ph.D.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Joint Program in Oceanography/Applied Ocean Science and Engineering (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Biology; and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution), February 2012. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references. / The marine fecal indicator Enterococcus is measured at beaches to detect fecal contamination events, and beaches are closed to bathers when Enterococcus is found to exceed the federally mandated limit. This dissertation presents evidence that beach sands are an environmental reservoir of enterococci, tests the relationship between beach sand enterococci and water quality measurements, examines how real-time environmental conditions measured at beaches can be used to better understand and predict water quality violations, and uses molecular methods to provide an alternative characterization of water and sand fecal contamination. Initially, a qPCR method was developed and applied to monitor enterococci DNA in sands. Subsequently this qPCR method was used in tandem with traditional detection of culturable enterococci in sand and water at recreational beaches that have closures every summer. One field season was spent in Maine at beaches in the Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve, where high frequency water and weather measurements are routinely collected in situ. Two field seasons were spent at the beach in Provincetown Harbor, Massachusetts, where a weather station and ADCP were deployed to characterize the environmental conditions associated with observations of elevated enterococci. All studies revealed that environmental variables were related to the distribution of enterococci in sands and water, with water temperature and tides having the strongest relationship to enterococci in water. In dry weather, elevated enterococci in sands were strongly related to the increased moisture content of sands during spring tides. These environmental variables were used in multiple linear regressions to explain a significant amount of the variation observed in environmental enterococci abundance, which notably had no relationship to molecular markers of human fecal pollution. Results suggest that under certain conditions sands can contribute bacteria to the water and that tidal cycles, which are not taken into account in monitoring schemes, can bias routine sampling. / by Elizabeth Halliday. / Ph.D.

Thesis: Ph. D., Joint Program in Oceanography (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences; and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution), 2017. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references. / While aerobic respiration is typically invoked as the dominant mass-balance sink for organic matter in the upper ocean, many other biological and abiotic processes can degrade particulate and dissolved substrates on globally significant scales. The relative strengths of these other remineralization processes - including mechanical mechanisms such as dissolution and disaggregation of sinking particles, and abiotic processes such as photooxidation - remain poorly constrained. In this thesis, I examine the biogeochemical significance of various alternative pathways of organic matter remineralization using a combination of field experiments, modeling approaches, geochemical analyses, and a new, high-throughput lipidomics method for identification of lipid biomarkers. I first assess the relative importance of particle-attached microbial respiration compared to other processes that can degrade sinking marine particles. A hybrid methodological approach - comparison of substrate-specific respiration rates from across the North Atlantic basin with Monte Carlo-style sensitivity analyses of a simple mechanistic model - suggested sinking particle material was transferred to the water column by various biological and mechanical processes nearly 3.5 times as fast as it was directly respired, questioning the conventional assumption that direct respiration dominates remineralization. I next present and demonstrate a new lipidomics method and open-source software package for discovery and identification of molecular biomarkers for organic matter degradation in large, high-mass-accuracy HPLC-ESI-MS datasets. I use the software to unambiguously identify more than 1,100 unique lipids, oxidized lipids, and oxylipins in data from cultures of the marine diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum that were subjected to oxidative stress. Finally, I present the results of photooxidation experiments conducted with liposomes - nonliving aggregations of lipids - in natural waters of the Southern Ocean. A broadband polychromatic apparent quantum yield (AQY) is applied to estimate rates of lipid photooxidation in surface waters of the West Antarctic Peninsula, which receive seasonally elevated doses of ultraviolet radiation as a consequence of anthropogenic ozone depletion in the stratosphere. The mean daily rate of lipid photooxidation (50 ± 11 pmol IP-DAG L⁻¹ d⁻¹, equivalent to 31 ± 7 [mu]g C m⁻³ d⁻¹) represented between 2 and 8 % of the total bacterial production observed in surface waters immediately following the retreat of the sea ice. / by James R. Collins. / Ph. D.