Clare Reimers

Last updated

Clare E. Reimers
Scientific career
FieldsOceanography, Benthic Biogeochemistry
InstitutionsOregon State University
Thesis Sedimentary organic matter : distribution and alteration processes in the coastal upwelling region off Peru  (1981)
Doctoral advisor Erwin Suess

Clare Reimers is a Distinguished Professor of Ocean Ecology and Biogeochemistry at Oregon State University's College of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences. [1]

Contents

Education and career

Reimers earned a B.A. in Environmental Science from University of Virginia in 1976 and an M.S. in Oceanography from Oregon State University in 1978. [2] Reimers holds a Ph.D. from Oregon State University from 1982. [3] Subsequently, Reimers worked at Scripps Institution of Oceanography [4] and Rutgers University [4] before returning to Oregon State in 2000.

Research and advances

Reimers' early research used a combination of methods to quantify the flux of organic carbon to the seafloor [5] [6] and the efficiency of its conversion to carbon dioxide. [7] [8] [9] Reimers has developed benthic microbial fuel cells that generate power based on the redox gradient between reduced seafloor sediments and the oxidized seawater above the seafloor [10] [11] [12] Reimers serves as Project Support Office Scientist for construction of up to three new Regional Class Research Vessels. The National Science Board awarded the project almost $472 million, which includes the initial 199 foot, R/V Taani. [13] [14] [15] She holds U.S. Patent 6,913,854 for methane-powered microbial fuel cells, [16] which have been used to power long-term underwater sensors. [17] [18]

Awards

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Biological pump</span> Carbon capture process in oceans

The biological pump (or ocean carbon biological pump or marine biological carbon pump) is the ocean's biologically driven sequestration of carbon from the atmosphere and land runoff to the ocean interior and seafloor sediments. In other words, it is a biologically mediated process which results in the sequestering of carbon in the deep ocean away from the atmosphere and the land. The biological pump is the biological component of the "marine carbon pump" which contains both a physical and biological component. It is the part of the broader oceanic carbon cycle responsible for the cycling of organic matter formed mainly by phytoplankton during photosynthesis (soft-tissue pump), as well as the cycling of calcium carbonate (CaCO3) formed into shells by certain organisms such as plankton and mollusks (carbonate pump).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Biogeochemical cycle</span> Chemical transfer pathway between Earths biological and non-biological parts

A biogeochemical cycle, or more generally a cycle of matter, is the movement and transformation of chemical elements and compounds between living organisms, the atmosphere, and the Earth's crust. Major biogeochemical cycles include the carbon cycle, the nitrogen cycle and the water cycle. In each cycle, the chemical element or molecule is transformed and cycled by living organisms and through various geological forms and reservoirs, including the atmosphere, the soil and the oceans. It can be thought of as the pathway by which a chemical substance cycles the biotic compartment and the abiotic compartments of Earth. The biotic compartment is the biosphere and the abiotic compartments are the atmosphere, lithosphere and hydrosphere.

The bathypelagic zone or bathyal zone is the part of the open ocean that extends from a depth of 1,000 to 4,000 m below the ocean surface. It lies between the mesopelagic above and the abyssopelagic below. The bathypelagic is also known as the midnight zone because of the lack of sunlight; this feature does not allow for photosynthesis-driven primary production, preventing growth of phytoplankton or aquatic plants. Although larger by volume than the photic zone, human knowledge of the bathypelagic zone remains limited by ability to explore the deep ocean.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sediment–water interface</span> The boundary between bed sediment and the overlying water column

In oceanography and limnology, the sediment–water interface is the boundary between bed sediment and the overlying water column. The term usually refers to a thin layer of water at the very surface of sediments on the seafloor. In the ocean, estuaries, and lakes, this layer interacts with the water above it through physical flow and chemical reactions mediated by the micro-organisms, animals, and plants living at the bottom of the water body. The topography of this interface is often dynamic, as it is affected by physical processes and biological processes. Physical, biological, and chemical processes occur at the sediment-water interface as a result of a number of gradients such as chemical potential gradients, pore water gradients, and oxygen gradients.

In biogeochemistry, remineralisation refers to the breakdown or transformation of organic matter into its simplest inorganic forms. These transformations form a crucial link within ecosystems as they are responsible for liberating the energy stored in organic molecules and recycling matter within the system to be reused as nutrients by other organisms.

f-ratio (oceanography) In oceanic biogeochemistry, the fraction of total primary production fuelled by nitrate

In oceanic biogeochemistry, the f-ratio is the fraction of total primary production fuelled by nitrate. The ratio was originally defined by Richard Eppley and Bruce Peterson in one of the first papers estimating global oceanic production. This fraction was originally believed significant because it appeared to directly relate to the sinking (export) flux of organic marine snow from the surface ocean by the biological pump. However, this interpretation relied on the assumption of a strong depth-partitioning of a parallel process, nitrification, that more recent measurements has questioned.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Microbial loop</span> Trophic pathway in marine microbial ecosystems

The microbial loop describes a trophic pathway where, in aquatic systems, dissolved organic carbon (DOC) is returned to higher trophic levels via its incorporation into bacterial biomass, and then coupled with the classic food chain formed by phytoplankton-zooplankton-nekton. In soil systems, the microbial loop refers to soil carbon. The term microbial loop was coined by Farooq Azam, Tom Fenchel et al. in 1983 to include the role played by bacteria in the carbon and nutrient cycles of the marine environment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gelatinous zooplankton</span> Fragile and often translucent animals that live in the water column

Gelatinous zooplankton are fragile animals that live in the water column in the ocean. Their delicate bodies have no hard parts and are easily damaged or destroyed. Gelatinous zooplankton are often transparent. All jellyfish are gelatinous zooplankton, but not all gelatinous zooplankton are jellyfish. The most commonly encountered organisms include ctenophores, medusae, salps, and Chaetognatha in coastal waters. However, almost all marine phyla, including Annelida, Mollusca and Arthropoda, contain gelatinous species, but many of those odd species live in the open ocean and the deep sea and are less available to the casual ocean observer. Many gelatinous plankters utilize mucous structures in order to filter feed. Gelatinous zooplankton have also been called Gelata.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">South Pacific Gyre</span> Major circulating system of ocean currents

The Southern Pacific Gyre is part of the Earth's system of rotating ocean currents, bounded by the Equator to the north, Australia to the west, the Antarctic Circumpolar Current to the south, and South America to the east. The center of the South Pacific Gyre is the oceanic pole of inaccessibility, the site on Earth farthest from any continents and productive ocean regions and is regarded as Earth's largest oceanic desert. With an area of 37 million square kilometres, it makes up approximately 10% of the Earth's ocean surface. The gyre, as with Earth's other four gyres, contains an area with elevated concentrations of pelagic plastics, chemical sludge, and other debris known as the South Pacific garbage patch.

The benthic boundary layer (BBL) is the layer of water directly above the sediment at the bottom of a body of water. Through specific sedimentation processes, certain organisms are able to live in this deep layer of water. The BBL is generated by the friction of the water moving over the surface of the substrate, which decrease the water current significantly in this layer. The thickness of this zone is determined by many factors, including the Coriolis force. The benthic organisms and processes in this boundary layer echo the water column above them.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oceanic carbon cycle</span> Ocean/atmosphere carbon exchange process

The oceanic carbon cycle is composed of processes that exchange carbon between various pools within the ocean as well as between the atmosphere, Earth interior, and the seafloor. The carbon cycle is a result of many interacting forces across multiple time and space scales that circulates carbon around the planet, ensuring that carbon is available globally. The Oceanic carbon cycle is a central process to the global carbon cycle and contains both inorganic carbon and organic carbon. Part of the marine carbon cycle transforms carbon between non-living and living matter.

Geopsychrobacter electrodiphilus is a species of bacteria, the type species of its genus. It is a psychrotolerant member of its family, capable of attaching to the anodes of sediment fuel cells and harvesting electricity by oxidation of organic compounds to carbon dioxide and transferring the electrons to the anode.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Particulate organic matter</span>

Particulate organic matter (POM) is a fraction of total organic matter operationally defined as that which does not pass through a filter pore size that typically ranges in size from 0.053 millimeters (53 μm) to 2 millimeters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jelly-falls</span> Marine carbon cycling events whereby gelatinous zooplankton sink to the seafloor

Jelly-falls are marine carbon cycling events whereby gelatinous zooplankton, primarily cnidarians, sink to the seafloor and enhance carbon and nitrogen fluxes via rapidly sinking particulate organic matter. These events provide nutrition to benthic megafauna and bacteria. Jelly-falls have been implicated as a major “gelatinous pathway” for the sequestration of labile biogenic carbon through the biological pump. These events are common in protected areas with high levels of primary production and water quality suitable to support cnidarian species. These areas include estuaries and several studies have been conducted in fjords of Norway.

Steven D’Hondt is an American geomicrobiologist who studies microbial communities living beneath the seafloor. He is a professor of oceanography at the University of Rhode Island.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heceta Bank</span> Rocky bank off the coast of Oregon, United States

Heceta Bank is a rocky bank located 55 kilometers (km) off the Oregon coast near Florence, centered on approximately 44°N, 125°W, and is roughly 29 km long and upwards of 13 km wide. Heceta Bank is an area of ecological and oceanographic importance. The unique bathymetric features and seasonal circulation within the bank provides habitat for a diversity of economically-important fish species.

The deep biosphere is the part of the biosphere that resides below the first few meters of the surface. It extends down below 10 kilometers below the continental surface and 21 kilometers below the sea surface, at temperatures that may reach beyond 120 °C (248 °F) which is comparable to the maximum temperature where a metabolically active organism has been found. It includes all three domains of life and the genetic diversity rivals that on the surface.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roberta Marinelli</span> American oceanographer

Roberta Marinelli is an oceanographer and Professor in the College of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences at Oregon State University. From 2016 to 2022, she was Dean of this college.

Maureen Hatcher Conte is biogeochemist known for her work using particles to define the long-term cycling of chemical compounds in seawater.

Helle Ploug is marine scientist known for her work on particles in seawater. She is a professor at the University of Gothenburg, and was named a fellow of the Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography in 2017.

References

  1. ↑ "Clare Reimers". oregonstate.edu. Retrieved August 7, 2021.
  2. ↑ Reimers, Clare E. "The flow mechanics and resulting erosional and depositional features of explosive volcanic density currents on earth and Mars". ir.library.oregonstate.edu. Retrieved April 27, 2021.
  3. ↑ Reimers, Clare E. "Sedimentary organic matter : distribution and alteration processes in the coastal upwelling region off Peru". ir.library.oregonstate.edu. Retrieved April 27, 2021.
  4. 1 2 "Chemistry Tree - Clare E. Reimers". academictree.org.
  5. ↑ Reimers, Clare E. (December 1, 1987). "An in situ microprofiling instrument for measuring interfacial pore water gradients: methods and oxygen profiles from the North Pacific Ocean". Deep Sea Research Part A. Oceanographic Research Papers. 34 (12): 2019–2035. Bibcode:1987DSRA...34.2019R. doi:10.1016/0198-0149(87)90096-3. ISSN   0198-0149.
  6. ↑ Reimers, Clare E.; Fischer, Kathleen M.; Merewether, Ray; Smith, K. L.; Jahnke, Richard A. (April 1986). "Oxygen microprofiles measured in situ in deep ocean sediments". Nature . 320 (6064): 741–744. Bibcode:1986Natur.320..741R. doi:10.1038/320741a0. ISSN   1476-4687. S2CID   4263559.
  7. ↑ Reimers, Clare E; Suess, Erwin (July 1, 1983). "The partitioning of organic carbon fluxes and sedimentary organic matter decomposition rates in the ocean". Marine Chemistry . 13 (2): 141–168. doi:10.1016/0304-4203(83)90022-1. ISSN   0304-4203.
  8. ↑ Reimers, Clare E.; Jahnke, Richard A.; McCorkle, Daniel C. (1992). "Carbon fluxes and burial rates over the continental slope and rise off central California with implications for the global carbon cycle". Global Biogeochemical Cycles. 6 (2): 199–224. Bibcode:1992GBioC...6..199R. doi:10.1029/92GB00105. ISSN   1944-9224.
  9. ↑ Jahnke, Richard A.; Reimers, Clare E.; Craven, Deborah B. (November 1990). "Intensification of recycling of organic matter at the sea floor near ocean margins". Nature. 348 (6296): 50–54. Bibcode:1990Natur.348...50J. doi:10.1038/348050a0. ISSN   1476-4687. S2CID   4302926.
  10. ↑ Reimers, Clare E.; Tender, Leonard M.; Fertig, Stephanie; Wang, Wei (January 1, 2001). "Harvesting Energy from the Marine Sediment−Water Interface". Environmental Science & Technology . 35 (1): 192–195. Bibcode:2001EnST...35..192R. doi:10.1021/es001223s. ISSN   0013-936X. PMID   11352010.
  11. ↑ Reimers, C. E.; Girguis, P.; Stecher, H. A.; Tender, L. M.; Ryckelynck, N.; Whaling, P. (2006). "Microbial fuel cell energy from an ocean cold seep". Geobiology . 4 (2): 123–136. doi:10.1111/j.1472-4669.2006.00071.x. ISSN   1472-4669. S2CID   131102544.
  12. ↑ "OSU Scientists Able To Harness "Plankton Power"". ScienceDaily. Retrieved April 26, 2021.
  13. ↑ "OSU Moves Forward with New Class of Research Vessels". The Maritime Executive. Retrieved April 28, 2021.
  14. ↑ "Past Workshop Webpages – 2019 NSF-UNOLS Biological and Chemical Oceanography Chief Scientist Training Cruise" . Retrieved April 28, 2021.
  15. ↑ Floyd, Mark (April 17, 2019). "National Science Foundation authorizes Oregon State to lead construction of third research vessel". oregonstate.edu. Retrieved August 7, 2021.
  16. ↑ Reimers, Clare (November 23, 1999). "Method and apparatus for generating power from voltage gradients at sediment-water interfaces". patents.google.com. Retrieved August 8, 2021.
  17. ↑ Reimers, Wolf, Schrader (June 19, 2017). "Autonomous sensors powered by a benthic microbial fuel cell". IEEE : 1–4. doi:10.1109/OCEANSE.2017.8084602. S2CID   26179218 . Retrieved August 14, 2021.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  18. ↑ Carter, Troy (February 13, 2022). "Microbial Fuel Cells on Seafloor Are Ready To Power Environmental Sensors". techlinkcenter.org. Retrieved February 13, 2022.
  19. ↑ "Fellows Winner Search". Honors Program. Retrieved April 26, 2021.
  20. ↑ "OSU Oceanographer, Forest Hydrologist Named AGU Fellows". Life at OSU. May 12, 2009. Retrieved June 15, 2021.
  21. ↑ "About Leadership". agu.org. Retrieved August 7, 2021.
  22. ↑ Register-Guard, The. "OSU names three professors of distinction". The Register-Guard. Retrieved April 26, 2021.
  23. ↑ "Clare E. Reimers selected as Fellow of The Oceanography Society". EurekAlert!. Retrieved June 15, 2021.
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