"
CANCELED
"What are the consequences
of dredging in
North
Shore
harbors?"
R.
Lawrence Swanson
Director
Waste Reduction and Management Institute
Marine Sciences Research Center
CANCELED
Stony
Brook
Harbor
is arguably the least altered of the
North
Shore
pocket bays.
However, there is continuing pressure to extend and deepen navigational
channels and to expand marina capacity. Examples
of such changes include deepening existing channels, opening new channels, and
transforming the mouth of the harbor to pre-1965 conditions.
High resolution numerical modeling demonstrates that even small physical
changes in the shape of the harbor, particularly in the mouth, can alter tidal
heights, tidal currents, flushing characteristics, and sediment transport.
These changes will very likely have significant ecological consequences
such as to alter wetlands, extend mud flats, and modify the types of fish and
other creatures that presently inhabit this system.
Larry Swanson is Director
of the Waste Reduction and Management Institute (WRMI) of the
Marine
Sciences
Research
Center
,
Stony
Brook
University
. WRMI has responsibility for
implementing activities relative to waste management research, assessment,
education, policy analysis and public service.
Larry received his B.S. in Civil Engineering from Lehigh
University; his M.S. and Ph.D. in Physical Oceanography from Oregon State
University. He was a Senior
Executive Fellow at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.
Prior to his appointment at SUNY, he was with the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration and served in a variety of capacities
including Project Manager of the Marine Ecosystems Analysis Program for
the New York Bight; Director of the Office of Marine Pollution Assessment;
and the Executive Director of the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric
Research.
Dr. Swanson has worked on
numerous marine environmental crises and is currently involved in projects
dealing with understanding of physical processes in Long Island Sound,
designing and implementing marine monitoring programs, and understanding
the consequences of anthropogenic alterations in a couple of Long Island
north-shore harbors.
"Journey to the Center of the Earth:
A Mineral
Physicist's Perspective"
Robert C. Liebermann
Distinguished Service Professor
Department of Geosciences
7:30 to 8:30 p.m.
Friday October 24, 2003
As they travel through the Earth, earthquake waves provide important
clues to the behavior of minerals and rocks at great depth. Mineral
physics experiments at high pressures and temperatures provide the code to
unravel these clues and to arrive at a 3-D picture of the chemical
composition and mineralogy of these regions. In addition, these
experiments provide information on the fate of minerals as they are
subducted back inside the Earth as part of the plate tectonics process
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