Project II.5.2: Wecoma, Barnes, and Forerunner cruises, 08/14-09/01 ’07

Project Title: II.5.2: Wecoma, Barnes, and Forerunner cruises, 08/14-09/01 ’07
Project Leads: Byron Crump (R/V Wecoma), Lydie Herfort (R/V Barnes), Curtis Roegner (R/V Forerunner)
Web: http://www.stccmop.org/datamart/cruises

Project Description
This multi-platform campaign allowed for high-density sampling of the Columbia River, estuary, plume and coastal zone. Our goals were to apply a shotgun approach to characterizing river-to-ocean microbial and biogeochemical gradients in a broad range of gradient/event regions, to explore geographic diversity, to test methodologies under different regimes and regions, and to guide more targeted follow-up cruises. We integrated numerical modeling into cruise planning efforts, and applied an adaptive sampling strategy for which we queried these models in near real-time during the cruise to decide on sampling locations/times. We occupied a grid of stations along the Columbia and Willamette Rivers from Portland to the coast, within the Estuary and Plume, and over the Oregon and Washington continental shelf and slope. We measured hydrographic (T, S, pressure), bio-optical (chlorophyll fluorescence, light transmission) chemical (nitrate, dissolved oxygen) and physical (ADCP subsurface velocity) parameters. We collected samples for DNA- and RNA-based microbial community analyses and water chemistry, and made continuous measurements of surface water chemistry with several devices attached to the seawater flow-through system.  We collected sediment samples to characterize surface sediment microbial groups of special interest such as Crenarchaeota or Anammox bacteria, and collected a targeted set of estuary water samples to examine distributions and vertical migration behavior of the ciliate Mesodinium rubrum. We collected large-volume DNA samples from hypoxic waters for large-scale environmental cloning/sequencing. We also coordinated with airplane-based remote sensing of Columbia River Plume.

Fit in program
This broad survey of the CMOP region spawned a large number or research projects focused on several key environmental gradient/event regions.

Outcomes
Data and cruise report