1:55 p.m., Feb. 4, 2011----More than two dozen University of Delaware faculty, students and staff contributed to the Fourth Delaware Estuary Science and Environmental Summit, organized by the Partnership for the Delaware Estuary Jan. 30-Feb. 2 in Cape May, N.J.

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Held every two years, the conference provides a forum for educators, government representatives, resource managers, scientists, and students and to discuss the health and future of the Delaware River and Bay. This year's theme, “Connections -- Land to Sea, Shore to Shore, Science to Outreach,” was highlighted by more than 130 presentations.

Contributing to those presentations were members of UD's College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment and the Water Resources Agency, a unit of the Institute for Public Administration.

While many of the UD participants shared posters at the event, UD participants who presented their research as a speaker or whose research was presented by a colleague included:

* Yoana Voynova, Jonathan H. Sharp, and Matthew J. Oliver -- “Sea surface temperature and biogeochemical anomalies due to coastal upwelling in the Delaware Estuary.”

* John Callahan and A. Scott Andres -- “A web-based mapping system for the delivery of hydrogeologic data for Delaware.”

* John Callahan, Daniel J. Leathers, David R. Legates, John H. Talley, Kevin R. Brinson, and Linden S. Wolf -- “A prototype coastal flood monitoring system for Delaware.”

* Lisa Tossey and Elizabeth Boyle -- “Getting Social -- Creating and building a social media presence on the web.”

* Jonathan H. Sharp -- Special plenary session speaker on the topic of “Dramatic long-term changes in Delaware Estuary environmental conditions explained using consistent water quality monitoring.”

* Nicole A. Raineault, Art Trembanis, and Doug C. Miller -- “Small-scale hard-bottom benthic diversity in Delaware Bay.”

* John A. Madsen -- “Relevance of the geologic setting of the Delaware Estuary to offshore wind sites.”

* Christopher Sommerfield and colleagues from the Academy of Natural Sciences, DNREC, and Delaware River Basic Commission -- “Tidal marshes in the Delaware Estuary: Historical reconstruction of chemical loadings.”

* Martha Corrozi Narvaez, Gerald J. Kauffman, and colleague from the Brandywine Conservancy -- “Restoration of shad and anandromous fish to the White Clay Creek National Wild and Scenic River.”

* Chris Sommerfield and Academy of Natural Sciences colleague -- “Understanding tidal marsh accretion in Delaware Estuary.”

* Chris Sommerfield and Rutgers University co-researchers -- “The role of stratification in controlling salt flux, sediment transport and primary production in Delaware Bay.”

* Christopher Sommerfield and colleagues from Woods Hole Group Inc., and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers -- “Historical bathymetric morphology of the Delaware Estuary, a component in developing a comprehensive sediment budget.”

* Thomas E. McKenna -- “A simple model for evaluating tidal inundation of wetlands in the Murderkill Estuary (Kent County, Delaware).”

* Andrew R. Homsey, Richard T. Field, Jo Young Heon, Geri Pepe, and colleague from Wetlands Research Services Inc. -- “Methods for quantifying tidal wetland changes in Delaware's Inland Bays (1937 to 2007).”

* Gerald Kauffman, Sarah Chatterson, Stacey Mack, and Erin McVey -- “Socioeconomic value of the Delaware Estuary: A hard-working river and bay.”

* John Callahan -- “Development of a GIS database in a marine spatial planning context for offshore wind power for Delaware.”

In addition, the following students each earned honorable mention in the conference's student presentation awards:

* Yoana Voynova, for her talk “Sea surface temperature and biogeochemical anomalies due to coastal upwelling in the Delaware Estuary.”

* Emily S. Maung, for her poster, "Predicting the effects of methoprene application on horseshoe crab populations in the Delaware"

Delaware Sea Grant was a sponsor of this event.

Article by Elizabeth Boyle
Photo by Lisa Tossey