Saltwater intrusion and the coastal landscapes of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts
Event statement and date The Saltwater Intrusion and Sea-Level Rise (SWISLR) Research Coordination Network (RCN) met at LUMCON’s DeFelice Marine Center in Cocodrie on May 13-15, 2025.
Background The SWISLR synthesis project represented the culmination of a three-year effort funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to amass a community of practice devoted to synthesis, understanding, and sharing of knowledge related to environmental change from the incursion of saltwater into the surface and ground water along a diversity of coastal landscapes. The network has worked to incorporate rural locations, agricultural systems, and wetland and upland forest mortality into a holistic understanding that, for the first time, includes the appropriate scope and scale of an issue that is stimulating rapid change to natural systems and social landscapes.
Keywords: science communication, social media, technology, storytelling, messaging
Background: OCEANDOTCOMM is a collaborative, storytelling, social media event hosted by LUMCON. The intended audience for this multiday, residential event are science communicators from diverse backgrounds interested in innovate models of science communication. LUMCON has invited a global collection of energetic and dedicated science communicators currently using social media to the Defelice Marine Center to share success stories and innovations related to social media technologies. Participants in science communication will combine their diverse backgrounds of mediums and methods to help others reach broader audiences through social media and popular science outlets. LUMCON is dedicating all staff, facilities, research vessels, and community connections to this recurring event.
Background: The purpose of this series of 1-2 day workshops is to bring together Gulf Coast microbial ecologists to discuss major research themes of their respective groups and their visions for future research foci. The goals of this workshop are to: 1) become more aware of the related research going on in Louisiana or other parts of the Gulf Coast, 2) identify collaborations that can aid in generating break-through research, 3) identify research themes that could likely be funded, and 4) identify equipment needs attendees would like to see at LUMCON (or home institutions) that would aid in this research. Each participant will provide a 30-minute overview of their research that is targeted for a general audience, with particular focus on broad questions that they are aiming to answer and the technological needs necessary to answer such questions. The inaugural meeting will be hosted at LUMCON over 2 days in May 2018.
Geaux Deep Workshop
Date: Auguest 18-19, 2017
Background: This initial workshop seeks to bring together active researchers that have made significant contributions to deep-sea biology in the Gulf of Mexico to further strengthen and elucidate new avenues for future work. The workshop includes short presentations on past and ongoing research spanning multiple oceanographic and biological disciplines. Topics range from comprehensive response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill from ECOGIG and DEEPEND projects to organismal studies of organisms and their genetic make-up and to larger oceanographic patterns of spatial distributions of animals. Opportunities are identified for observational research with the NOAA Ocean Explorer as it moves into the Gulf of Mexico to investigate poorly studied/understood habitats in the basin. Topics include specific research objectives, potential collaborative partnerships, identifying funding opportunities with potential support. Three main topics under discussion are 1) the potential for a Gulf of Mexico Cabled Observatory, 2) ongoing monitoring of continued impacts on marine life caused by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and 3) a large interdisciplinary investigation of the carbon budget in the Gulf of Mexico from the ocean surface to the deep.
The Biotic Fringe: A Deep Life Modeling and Visualization Workshop
Date: September 16-19, 2019
Keywords: deep biosphere, subsurface environments, modeling, microbiology, chemistry, biology, geology, collaborative research
Background: This multi-day workshop brings together specialists that have collaborated in past Deep Carbon Observatory-related projects associated with life in extreme (deep-sea) conditions, investigating existence, interactions, and mechanisms of organismal life on the ocean floor and in subsurface sediments. The goals of this workshop are to 1) identify funding sources for long-term investigations, 2) define the term “biotic fringe” that will drive empirical, experimental, theoretical, and computational components of future investigations, and 3) provide a working document to initiate interest in project funding in the future. Breakout sessions will focus on identifying gaps in knowledge and technology, and coalesce around subject-specific goals and aims of future research in the Deep Life Community that are of interest to American and European funding agencies and foundations.
Background: LUMCON’s Growth and Planning Panel (Grapple) seeks to understand a fundamental question facing coastal facilities today: How to expand capabilities during a future that is almost certain to face increased flood risks from climate change, sea level rise, and long running changes in the coastal landscape? This task is an intellectual challenge for LUMCON, which builds on long running strengths from researchers in the Marine Center and across Louisiana in understanding coastal change and its impacts on coastal communities. However, the task of the Grapple panel is not simply academic; its primary focus is LUMCON’s DeFelice Marine Center in Cocodrie, LA. The DeFelice Marine Center has experienced a substantial increase in flooding over in recent years—a result of numerous long-term physical changes including climate change, subsidence, and land loss, which poses a threat the functioning of the Marine Center. This panel is thus contending with the issues that include whether and how the Marine Center can maintain functionality during times of intense flooding, or whether and how relocations should occur. Topics and recommendations from this Working Group have importance—and will serve as future signposts—for other marine labs and centers in coastal areas throughout both the United States and other countries experiencing tough choices from similar effects of sea-level rise, subsidence, etc. To inform these issues, the panel consists of members from the LUMCON member institutions, governmental agencies and non-governmental organizations with a coastal focus, local businesses as well as marine center faculty and staff. The panel will ultimate produce a set of recommendations for LUMCON’s director, and a publication for a broad audience that can inform marine facilities worldwide.
