Dr. Doug Biggs

Bio

Professor Doug Biggs is a sea-going oceanographer. Biggs has lead or otherwise collaborated in a wide variety of oceanographic research programs in the Gulf of Mexico. Since 1995, Biggs has served as Chief or Co-Chief Scientist on 5 Sperm Whale Seismic Study (SWSS) and Gulf of Mexico Cetacean Study (GulfCet) cruises, 9 NorthEast Gulf of Mexico (NEGOM) chemical oceanography and hydrographic cruises, 5 multidisciplinary research cruises that trained TAMU grad students in the northern Gulf of Mexico, and he was a participant on 2 other cruises. Twenty of these research cruises were conducted using the R/V Gyre; the other (in 1995) was on the Mexican Navy research vessel Antares.

Biggs' research bridges physical with biological oceanography. Biggs and his grad students have been investigating the oceanographic habitat of sperm whales and other marine mammals by merging remote sensing with shipboard hydrographic surveys, and by using the acoustic backscatter signal from vessel-mounted as well as moored ADCPs as a proxy for plankton biomass. Zooplankton are potential food for small fish and squid, which are in turn potential prey for marine mammals and other apex predators.

Research Interests

• Physical and biological habitat use by sperm whales and other apex predators in the Gulf of Mexico, extends through summer 2008
• Biogeochemical processes in Gulf of Mexico mesoscale eddies
• Zooplankton stock estimation from ADCP backscatter intensity
• Nutrient enhanced coastal ocean productivity

Projects

• Characterization of the oceanographic habitat of sperm whales in the northern Gulf of Mexico (see "Current Research" summary that follows for details about "Sperm Whales and their response to Seismic Exploration", a.k.a. Sperm Whale Seismic Studies = SWSS).
• Comparing shipboard measurements of Gulf of Mexico dynamic topography made on research cruises on R/V Gyre with the Sea Surface Height Anomaly measured by Topex/Poseidon and ERS-2 altimeters (cooperative work with University of Colorado). Biggs is collaborating with Robert Leben and George Born of the Colorado Center for Astrodynamics Research (CCAR) to compare sea truth measurements of Gulf of Mexico dynamic topography made on training and research cruises on R/V Gyre with the Sea Surface Height Anomaly measured by Topex/Poseidon and ERS-2 altimeters. The animations of the SSH anomaly fields available on line on CCAR's "Gulf of Mexico Near Real-Time Altimetry" home page agree with CTD and XBT dynamic topography to within 2-5 dyn cm.
• With funding from the U.S. Geological Survey and U.S. Minerals Management Service (MMS), Biggs and graduate students working with him participated in fieldwork to define the hydrographic and biological habitat of sperm whales and other marine mammals in the northern Gulf of Mexico 1996-1997 ("Gulf Cet") in cooperation with John Wormuth (TAMU College Station) and with colleagues from Texas A&M at Galveston and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) at Pascagoula MS. Biggs and his students also surveyed phytoplankton and zooplankton in the northeast Gulf of Mexico during 9 NEGOM cruises, 1997-2000, as part of a multidisciplinary study of the hydrography and chemical oceanography of the continental margin there.
• After the conclusion of GulfCet and NEGOM fieldwork, Biggs partnered again with NMFS to analyze oceanographic conditions during fieldwork in summer 2001 in support of the Sperm Whales Acoustic Monitoring Program (SWAMP). Biggs and TAMU graduate student Laurie Sindlinger evaluated ADCP and other data collected from NOAA Ship Gordon Gunter to describe the hydrographic and acoustic backscatter characteristics of the work area along the 1000 m isobath of the north central Gulf of Mexico. In 2002 and 2003, these sperm whale studies were continued and expanded as TAMU oceanographers and marine mammal researchers, in partnership with marine mammal researchers at Oregon State University, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and two UK institutions, began working together. With funding from MMS and facilities support from the International Association for Geophysics Contractors (IAGC) and from other interested groups in the Gulf of Mexico Oil & Gas industry, we initiated a program of Cooperative Research on Sperm Whales and Their Response to Sesimic Exploration in the Gulf of Mexico. This cooperative research program (SWSS, for short) runs through September 2008.

Experience

• Professor, Oceanography, Texas A&M University, 1996-present
• Associate Professor, Oceanography, Texas A&M University, 1983-1996
• Assistant Professor, Oceanography, Texas A&M University, 1977-1983
• Manager, Tech Support Services Group, Oceanography, Texas A&M University, 1986-1996
• Instructor, Marine Zooplankton Ecology 3-week summer course, Bermuda Biological Station for Research, taught 1983, 1986, 1987, 1989, 1991
• Postdoctoral Research Associate, Marine Sciences Research Center, University of New York-Stony Brook, 1976-1977

Selected Publications

• Biggs, D.C., Hu, C., and Muller-Karger, F.E. 2008.  Remotely sensed sea surface chlorophyll and POC flux at Deep Gulf of Mexico Benthos sampling stations.  Deep Sea Res. II, in press for 2008.
• Kaltenberg, A.M., Biggs, D.C., and DiMarco, S.F. 2007. Deep scattering layers of the northern Gulf of Mexico observed with a ship-board 38-kHz acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP). Gulf Mex. Sci., 25: 97-108.
• Schmitz, W.J., Biggs, D.C., Lugo-Fernandez, A., Oey, L.E., and Sturges, W.F. 2005. A synopsis of the circulation in the Gulf of Mexico and on its continental margins. Circulation in the Gulf of Mexico: Observations and Models (W. Sturges and A. Lugo- Fernandez, Eds.) Amer. Geophys. Union Geophys. Monogr. Series. 161: 11-29
• Biggs, D.C., Jochens, A.E., Howard, M.K., DiMarco, S.F., Mullin, K.D., Leben, R.R., Muller- Karger, F.E., and Hu, C. 2005. Eddy forced variations in on- and off-margin summertime circulation along the 1000-m isobath of the northern Gulf of Mexico, 200-2003, and links with sperm whale distributions along the middle slope. Circulation in the Gulf of Mexico: Observations and Models (W. Sturges and A. Lugo-Fernandez, Eds.) Amer. Geophys. Union Geophys. Monogr. Series. 161: 71-85
• Sindlinger, L.R., Biggs, D.C., and DiMarco, S.F. 2005. Temporal and spatial variability of ADCP backscatter on a continental slope, Contl. Shelf Res., 25: 259-275.
• Full list of publications...

Links

• "Whale Tales" Geoconnections (College of Geosciences, TAMU) (Summer 2004)
• Whale Watch: GulfCet II focuses on sperm whale habitats (Spring 1998)
• "Thar she blows!" GulfCet Cruise News (Winter 1996).