Ajit Subramaniam

Lamont Associate Research Professor

Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory

Biology and Paleo Environment

3 Marine Biology

61 Route 9W - PO Box 1000

Palisades

10964-8000

Fax:

(845) 365-8150

ajit@ldeo.columbia.edu

View Website

Fields of interest:

Oceanography, Remote sensing, Bio-Optics, Coastal Water Quality

I am interested in the use of remote sensing, ocean optics, phytoplankton physiology, biological and physical oceanography and geographical information systems to better understand how the marine ecosystem works and can be managed. To this end, I have worked closely with biological and chemical oceanographers and ecosystem modelers, placing in-situ shipboard measurements on a broader basin-scale or global context and complementing model results with remote sensing [Capone et al. 1997, Carpenter et al. 1999, Hood et al. 2001]. We have just completed a five-year study of the Amazon River plume and its effect on the Tropical North Atlantic Ocean. My specific interest has been to develop mechanistic models that can explain why a particular organism blooms where it does, what are the factors that cause the bloom, that lead to its demise and the consequences of these blooms. I am also interested in using bio-optics and remote sensing as tools for monitoring coastal water quality and have been working with the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority towards this goal. I am working on developing a site-specific algorithm for SeaWiFS data to provide a daily synoptic time series of water quality at a sewage outfall site in Massachusetts Bay.

Some of my projects include:

Potential Impacts of Rivers and Aerosols on Nitrogen fixation in the Atlantic ocean ( details )
Nitrogen Fixation in the Global Ocean ( details )
Using Ocean Color Satellite Data for Monitoring Water Quality

Education

List of degrees from highest to lowest:

Ph.D. in Coastal Oceanography

State University of New York at Stony Brook

1995

M.S. in Marine Environmental Sciences

State University of New York at Stony Brook

1989

B.Sc. Physics (Special)

The American College

1984

Educational Activities:

Field Oceanography for Undergraduates

Selected Publications:

Influence of the Amazon River plume on distributions of free-living and symbiotic cyanobacteria in the western tropical north Atlantic Ocean, Foster, R. A.; Subramaniam, A.; Mahaffey, C.; Carpenter, E. J.; Capone, D. G.; Zehr, J. P. , Limnology and Oceanography, Mar, Volume 52, Issue 2, p.517-532, (2007)

Biomass and primary productivity of the cyanobacterium Trichodesmium spp. in the tropical N Atlantic ocean, Carpenter, E. J.; Subramaniam, A.; Capone, D. G. , Deep-Sea Research Part I-Oceanographic Research Papers, Feb, Volume 51, Issue 2, p.173-203, (2004), DOI 10.1016/j.dsr.2003.10.006

Detecting Trichodesmium blooms in SeaWiFS imagery, Subramaniam, A.; Brown, C. W.; Hood, R. R.; Carpenter, E. J.; Capone, D. G. , Deep-Sea Research Part Ii-Topical Studies in Oceanography, Volume 49, Issue 1-3, p.107-121, (2002)

Bio-optical properties of the marine diazotrophic cyanobacteria Trichodesmium spp. II. A reflectance model for remote sensing, Subramaniam, A.; Carpenter, E. J.; Falkowski, P. G. , Limnology and Oceanography, May, Volume 44, Issue 3, p.618-627, (1999)

Bio-optical properties of the marine diazotrophic cyanobacteria Trichodesmium spp. I. Absorption and photosynthetic action spectra, Subramaniam, A.; Carpenter, E. J.; Karentz, D.; Falkowski, P. G. , Limnology and Oceanography, May, Volume 44, Issue 3, p.608-617, (1999)