Impacts of Transient Events on Ecosystem Resistance and Resilience along the Western Gulf of Mexico Coast

Dr. Xinping Hu, Endowed Chair for Ecosystem Science and Modeling, will be responsible for assisting Louisiana State University in modeling the export of carbon from the coastal lands, into the estuaries, and eventually offshore. Hu will lead the field campaign to Galveston Bay on board a research vessel, boats-of-opportunity trips Mission-Aransas Estuary and adjacent continental shelf to collect post-event water chemistry samples, conduct lab-based analysis and data interpretation. The parameters that Hu’s group will collect include, sea surface pCO2, water column carbonate chemistry parameters (total dissolved inorganic carbon, total alkalinity, and pH), chlorophyll-a, nutrients, dissolved organic carbon, and particulate organic carbon. In addition, Hu’s team will carry out data mining using the long-term water quality data collected by both Galveston Bay Estuary Program and Mission-Aransas National Estuarine Research Reserve to study historical impacts of transient event on these coastal environments.