Abstract
    Major tropical cyclones (hurricanes) consistently form above the ocean’s largest subsurface oxygen minimum zone (OMZ) in the eastern tropical North Pacific (ETNP). Globally and in the ETNP, most available information regarding biological effects of cyclones necessarily comes from satellites, with only a handful of subsurface studies.
    We report multiple effects of a Category 4 hurricane (Bud) that occurred during a research cruise in the ETNP OMZ. Profiles and samples collected beneath Bud’s wake captured storm-driven alteration of the upper water column, including elevated particulate organic carbon and chlorophyll concentrations indicative of an active phytoplankton bloom; additional data demonstrates that the OMZ shoaled by significant depths. Coincident with the bloom and OMZ shoaling, characterization of organic matter showed accumulation of phytoplankton-derived organic compounds, while 16S rRNA transcripts from active microbes further supporting these findings.
    Further analysis of subsurface sensors indicates a unique boundary effect at the permanent pycnocline correlated with net biological particles and fluorescence associated with the deep chlorophyll maximum. With cyclone induced near inertial waves as a likely mechanism.
    We explore additional tropical cyclones impacts in the ETNP using a subsurface array, and satellite forced models, and suggest their ecological significance. 
    Finally, unrelated to TC’s in the ETNP, results of a pilot study using above water radiometric sensing of bioluminescence will be presented.

Biography
   Brandon Genco is a PhD Candidate in the Environmental Systems
   program at UC Merced. He has a B.A. in Biology with a specialization in Marine science from Boston University and a M.A. in Geography from the University of Hawai’i at Manoa. Prior to joining the Environmental Systems program he has worked at several ecological consulting firms, as a fisheries observer for NOAA, at an autonomous vehicle routing company, and was an administrator at a non-profit.

Zoom Link
   https://ucmerced.zoom.us/j/84762503247