- Jim Hench
- Stanford University
Having been surfing since I was little, it’s probably not an entire coincidence that I’m a physical oceanographer. My main research interests are in shallow–water circulation, the physical forcing that drives it, and the resulting transport of materials within the flow. My dissertation work was on lagoon–ocean exchange and inlet circulation dynamics, and this continues to be my favorite problem. I am also interested in the effects of stratification on shallow flows, and have worked on a number of interdisciplinary problems that have a significant physical component, such as larval fish transport, small–scale shear effects on phytoplankton, and tidal–stream transport in crabs.
For this Aquarius mission, we are studying the effects of sponge pumping on the nutrient budget of the reef. Our preliminary measurements of sponge excurrents indicated that for some species in the Florida Keys, excurrent jets exceed 25 centimeters per second. Thus it appears likely that the water flowing near the bottom of some tropical reefs, such as Conch Reef, may be significantly affected by sponge activity. To further explore this effect, we are deploying a set of acoustic Doppler current meters (ADVs) above individual sponges to continuously measure their pumping flowrates. Data from these instruments will be sent by cable to Aquarius. Streaming these data into Aquarius is a physical oceanographer’s dream (nearly unlimited electrical power and computer storage!). Even better for the sponge work, is the unique capability to collect excurrent and ambient water samples around the clock (9 km offshore) using saturation diving. Combining these two capabilities we plan to look at the effects that environmental conditions have on sponge pumping rates and water chemistry transformations. This will be my first Aquarius mission, and I couldn’t be more stoked!
