Inherently an interdisciplinary science, oceanography is also conducted on global as well as regional scales. As a consequence, faculty and scientists from Skidaway Institute of Oceanography are engaged with many foreign institutions and scientists as part of their research and educational activities.  Some of these international partnerships are discussed below.

AUSTRIA

Fachhochschule Hagenberg For five years, Skidaway Institute of Oceanography has collaborated with the Fachhochschule Hagenberg (FHH) in Austria to offer internships to their computer science university students.  Over the past years, Hagenberg has developed into a national center of computing and software development with a high international reputation. The College of Information Technology is located in modern facilities and boasts excellent equipment and infrastructure. As part of their internships at SkIO, Hagenberg students work on various aspects of upgrades, expansion, and documentation of image processing routines, data analysis capabilities, and media technology and design.  This collaboration represents an excellent example of how complementary technologies, in this case molecular biology, microbial ecology, and computerized image analysis, can interact to facilitate scientific progress in directions and at rates that are not achievable through individual application alone. Students work primarily in the laboratory of Dr. Peter Verity, who has dedicated the past 15 years to software development for studies in plankton and microbial ecology.  During that time experimentation with adapting commercial packages, designed for biomedical use, to marine applications always found the medical software lacking, expensive, and full of bugs.  Custom solutions had to be developed and in August 2002 SkIO released as shareware its first completely custom product: Skipper.  Skipper is not only free but also platform- and OS-independent.

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BRAZIL

In 2001, the Institute entered into a formal scientific and educational agreement of cooperation with Fundação Universidad do Rio Grande (FURG), in Rio Grande, near the Uruguay border in Southern Brazil.  The purpose of this agreement is to increase the development of research to further the progress of marine science via exchange of researchers, teachers and postdoctoral students. Research continues on this lagoon system, the largest in South America and one of the largest globally, studying groundwater-surface water interactions focused on the transport and mixing of freshwater and seawater under the barrier spit which separates the Lagoon from the South Atlantic.  This work is also funded jointly by NSF and CNPq.  Collaborators include Herb Windom (SkIO), Rick Jahnke (SkIO), Felipe Niencheski (FURG), and W. Moore (U. South Carolina).  Additionally, a joint project is underway between SkIO and the Fundação Universidad do Rio Grande to model the circulation and mixing of the Duplin River as part of the Georgia Coastal Ecosystem-LTER program. The work is being undertaken by J. Blanton (SkIO) and E. Furnandes (FURG). The model uses state-of-the-art algorithms that compute velocities in the intertidal area — the area bounding the river that is covered twice daily by the tide. The model will be eventually updated with bottom depths in the intertidal area as determined from a sequence of aerial images. This part of the program will include F. Andrade from the U. of Lisbon (see item under PORTUGAL). Furnandes and Blanton hope to expand this collaboration to include a comparison of the circulation of the Duplin River in Georgia with the circulation of Lagoa dos Patos in Brazil.

Left to right, Prof. Felipe Niencheski, Dr. Herbert Windom, Dr. Richard Jahnke, Director and Professor Carlos Rodolfo Brandão Hartmann and Prof. Milton Asmus

Left to right, Simoni Zarzur, Felipe Niencheski, and Captain Paulo Borges

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GERMANY

The Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology (MPI) in Bremen was founded in 1992 and investigates the role, diversity and features of microorganisms, especially of bacteria, and their interaction with physical and chemical processes in marine and other aquatic habitats. The activity of microorganisms in these habitats is indispensable for the maintenance of the global cycles of the elements. Dr. Stuart Wakeham of SkIO spent a 6-month sabbatical leave at the MPI in 2003 working on a project linking the biogeochemistry of organic matter and microbial ecology in the Black Sea. Under the auspices of Prof. Bo Barker Jørgensen, Director of the MPI, Dr. Wakeham worked closely with Dr. Rudi Amann, head of the Molecular Ecology group, and Dagmar Woebken, a graduate student, who taught Dr. Wakeham the intricacies of fluorescent in-situ hybridization (FISH) as a tool for evaluating microbial diversity in the Black Sea.

Max Planck Institute, Bremen

Since 1997 the Skidaway Institute of Oceanography has supported student research interns from the University of Applied Sciences in Biotechnology in Mannheim, Germany.  Biotechnology and chemistry students working toward the equivalent of bachelor's and master's degrees in engineering are required to spend at least one six month term participating in practical training internships.  Research labs at SkIO provide the opportunity for these students to explore applications of biotechnology and chemistry to basic and applied research in the marine sciences.  Students participate in internship projects within individual investigators labs and are supported by research stipends.  Typically, one to five students are in residence at Skidaway per semester.  Over twenty students from Mannheim, thus far, have completed internships at SkIO.  Students from Mannheim contribute substantially to ongoing research and enhance the Skidaway community with their skills, creativity, and cultural perspectives.

Universities of Applied Sciences or as they are called in German, Fachhochschules, do not have an equivalent institution in the US.  The primary mission of these universities is the training of highly-qualified, responsible, independently-minded and critical graduates who are able to present, discuss and implement solutions.  After graduation, students typically follow careers in the private sector although students are not restricted from pursuing academic careers.  The Fachhochschule in Mannheim specializes in the training of biotechnology students.

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ITALY

Cooperation between the SkIO and the Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn in Napoli, Italy was initiated in 1994 when Dr. G.-A. Paffenhöfer was invited for a keynote presentation on marine zooplankton ecology.  In 1995, Dr. Maria Grazia Mazzocchi visited SkIO for eight months to conduct laboratory studies on oceanic planktonic copepods.  This cooperation between Drs. Mazzochi and Paffenhöfer was strengthened with long-term oceanographic research on the ecology of subtropical/tropical open ocean copepods resulting in three cruises to Bermuda (2000) and Puerto Rico (2001, 2002).  Analysis of fine-scale zooplankton vertical distribution samples from these cruises are near completion.  The findings from their oceanographic and experimental studies are presently being evaluated in order to design similar efforts in the Mediterranean Sea.

Collaborations continued in 2001 when Dr. A. Ianora from the Stazione and G.-A. Paffenhöfer organized a workshop on interactions between zooplankton and their assumed main food source: diatoms.  This research subject had developed into a controversial issue during the past 8 years.  This workshop was conducted on the island of Ischia in November 2002 with 30 scientists from 10 countries participating.  The goals of this workshop were first, to evaluate the present status of research on the toxicity of diatoms to copepod reproduction, mortality and growth, and the nutritional quality of diatoms and other unicellular taxa for copepods; and second, to develop a common experimental template to study the effects of various food types, environmentally and experimentally, in order to better understand their potential toxicity and their effects on copepods on a global basis.  Research on the two subjects continues at the Stazione and will also be forthcoming at SkIO as an interdisciplinary effort. 

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MONACO

Dr. Stuart Wakeham has teamed up with a group of US and European oceanographers to study particle dynamics in the northwestern Mediterranean Sea. During 2003, four cruises took place off Monaco to the French JGOFS "DYFAMED" site. The research group was sponsored in Monaco by Drs. Scott Fowler, Juan-Carlos Miquel, and Beat Gasser of the International Atomic Energy Agency's Marine Environment Laboratory (IAEA-MEL) at Monaco. US participants included Meaghan Askea from Skidaway, Drs. Cindy Lee, Robert Armstrong, and Kirk Cochran, and graduate students Zhanfei Liu and Gillian Stewart, all of the State University of New York-Stony Brook, and Michael Peterson of the University of Washington. Other European participants included Dr. Madeleine Goutx of CNRS, Marseilles, France,  and Dr. Pere Masque of the Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain. The goals of the research program are to investigate the relationship between particulate organic matter and inorganic minerals in the upper 1000 m of the ocean. Sediment traps were used to collect particulate matter in the water column. The DYFAMED site was chosen because there is a 10-year time-series of data there, and it is a deep water site (2000m) that is easily accessible from Monaco, being only 50 km offshore.  

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THE NETHERLANDS

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NORWAY

SkIO and Norwegian scientists are jointly interested in the role of Phaeocystis in marine pelagic ecosystems and since 1985, they have joined forces to conduct their research.  Dr. Paul Wassmann of the Norwegian College of Fishery Science at the University of Tromso in northern Norway and Dr. Peter Verity (SkIO) both study Phaeocystis, which may play a pivotal role in the structure and function of ecosystems where and when it occurs.  Dr. Wassmann maintains an active research group in Tromso, and has a 20 year archive of data on Phaeocystis versus diatom blooms, along with complementary data, including phytoplankton, zooplankton, and nutrients.

Since Phaeocystis is a dominant species in Norwegian waters for much of the growing season, the fjords and coastal waters of northern Norway offer several unique advantages to conducting on-site research: they are well known to us, have a long database, provide Phaeocystis blooms every spring, and are an excellent location for related cooperative studies (e.g. DMS/gas exchange).  For this reason, Dr. Peter Verity has participated in research programs and workshops in Norway in 1986, 1988, 1993, and 1996-9.  The International Programs division of the National Science Foundation supported SkIO's collaborative studies with Norwegian scientists in 1999 during a three week cruise.  Dr. Marc Frischer, Dr. Peter Verity, two Ph.D. students, H. Howard-Jones (GIT) and A. Allen (UGA), and a host of Norwegian scientists studied planktonic and microbial communities.  The cruise aboard a Norwegian ice-reinforced research vessel was led by Dr. Wassmann, and crossed an ecological gradient from productive fjords across the open ocean and into pack ice.  It was a great opportunity to look for patterns in nature, and for our students to begin to learn about science and people in a unique environment.

University of Bergen

Espeland Marine Biological Station

Land-based Mesocosm Laboratory

Floating Mesocosm Laboratory

Typically 10-12 of our students and technical staff travel to Norway for these collaborative studies, and other colleagues at the University of Bergen and from additional countries join us for these 5-week experiments.

As part of these studies, Dr. Jens Nejstgaard received a very prestigious fellowship from the Norwegian Research Council to spend one year at SkIO developing state-of-the-art molecular biology protocols to quantify how much food of what types are eaten by zooplankton feeding on Phaeocystis and competing phytoplankton. 

In the near future (2005-6) these scientists hope to pursue the final empirical stage of this project.  The general objective will be to accept or reject those hypotheses derived from the lab studies that are also supported or modified during the mesocosm experiments.  By this phase these scientists will have available a complete toolkit of empirical and model results describing linkages and feedbacks among system components; chemical ecology bioassays and specific chemical indicators of biological interactions; molecular probes to recognize Phaeocystis solitary cells in situ and in gut contents; and perhaps chemical tracers with reporter molecules. 

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PORTUGAL

Active collaboration between SkIO and three universities in Portugal has existed since 1995. The program consists of a combination of research and teaching programs as well as an exchange of faculty and students. SkIO faculty member, Jack Blanton, was awarded a Fulbright Senior Fellowship to pursue teaching and research at the University of Lisbon (Universidade de Lisboa). This collaboration has been made possible through generous support from Fundação Luso-Americana para Desenvolvimento (FLAD) and the US Fulbright Commission.

Faculty from the Universidade do Algarve and University of Lisbon have participated in research cruises in Georgia estuaries through the National Science Foundation's Land Margin Ecosystem Research.  This exchange has resulted in several publications on the transport and fate of salinity and suspended sediments in coastal plain estuaries. Dr. Blanton (SkIO) and Prof. F. Andrade (U. of Lisbon) were the coordinators of this program.

Through a Fulbright Grant, Blanton spent seven months at the University of Lisbon's Laboratório Maritimo da Guia Marine Laboratory where he taught a course in coastal physical oceanography.  He also worked jointly with Prof. Andrade conducting research on a coastal plain estuary in southern Portugal. This collaboration has resulted in three publications on transport and mixing of oceanic and riverine water in estuaries.

One of the key results of this exchange has been the development of a remote sensing method to measure the tidal prisms of tidal creeks and estuaries. The method has been used to create detailed depth data in the intertidal area for use in numerical simulations.

There has also been active collaboration between SkIO and the Universidade de Aveiro where Blanton has given short courses on coastal physical oceanography. Dr. H. Queiroga has included Blanton on an advisory committee for a multi-institutional program on larval recruitment. Queiroga spent a 3-month sabbatical at SkIO where he and Blanton wrote a review paper on larval recruitment. This paper has been accepted for publication.

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