One of the hubs for scientists studying Alabama’s coastal life is the Dauphin Island Sea Lab. Founded by several universities in 1971, the research facility sits on the east end of the island, just south and west of Mobile Bay. Known for its ecological research and educational programs – thousands of Alabama school children visit each year – there are aspects of the sea lab that perhaps don’t receive top billing.
Here’s three interesting facts about the Dauphin Island Sea Lab.
1. They research hurricanes
The sea lab isn’t just about microscopes and sea creatures. Scientists also work on hurricane forecasting.
To do that, sometimes it takes brute strength.
Four men work to delicately drop a 500 pound glider into a blue tank, about the size of an oversized bathtub. Named after the mascot of the University of South Alabama, Jaguar One resembles a torpedo. It’s being prepped for an underwater reconnaissance mission to DeSoto Canyon, where the continental shelf begins to drop off about 60 miles into the Gulf of Mexico.
“Its purpose is to be able to go into deep water and give us all sorts of oceanographic measurements while autonomously guiding itself through the water column,” said AJ Stewart, a technician at the Dauphin Island Sea Lab.
The glider will collect data on salinity, temperature, oxygen levels, and even the motion of waves and currents.
It’s part of an effort to better forecast tropical systems. Just like the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Hurricane Hunters fly into the eye of a storm, Jaguar One will make its own flight – 1000 feet below sea level.
“It's like a plane flying underwater,” said Brian Dzwonkowski, a professor at the University of South Alabama.
Dzwonkowski leads the research team and specializes in marine heat waves. He said the glider can help them analyze how warmer water can fuel more powerful storms.
“So these gliders can go out when people can't,” Dzwonkowski said. “The ability to monitor the subsurface ocean structure is fundamentally tied to hurricane intensification. And so this mission in particular is going to try to provide real-time data to forecasters.”
2. They have a forensic lab for marine mammals
Researchers can learn a lot about marine mammals who have died.
Any time a dolphin or manatee washed up on shore, scientists retrieve it to study in their Marine Mammal Research Center.
“It's like a CSI lab,” said center director Ruth Carmichael. “If you've ever seen the show Bones, we basically do that for marine mammals.”
They perform necropsies, which are the animal version of human autopsies.
“So we're trying to understand the pathology, understanding sort of the forensics behind what happened to the animal, so that then we can understand the cause of death,” Carmichael said. “That gives us information to potentially help support conservation of the animal and the habitat.”
The lab houses a walk-in freezer, which the staff affectionately calls “Christopher Walk-in.”
But scientists’ forensic work doesn’t just benefit marine mammals. Carmichael said it can provide answers for humans, too. Because we swim where they swim, and we eat the same fish.
“One of the really special things about marine mammals is that they are our closest human analog in coastal waters,” Carmichael said. “Which means that anything that potentially threatens them or affects their physiology, their growth, that can make them sick or even kill them, potentially can affect us.”
Though lugging around a manatee is its own struggle, the marine mammal team has careful procedures in place to make sure they’re staying safe – even from unseen threats.
After each necropsy, the scientists put their lab attire into a special washer and dryer. This step helps them determine how microplastics have an effect on marine mammal and human mortality.
“We are able to literally quantify how much microplastic is coming out of our clothes,” said Mackenzie Russell, the stranding program manager.
3. They connect the coast to the rest of Alabama
Dauphin Island may be off the coast, but scientists emphasize what happens there is connected to what happens inland because most of Alabama’s watershed drains into Mobile Bay.
“If you dump oil along a fence line in North Alabama to kill the grass, that oil ends up in a stream, the stream ends up into a river, and that oil is carried down to the coast,” said John Dindo, senior marine scientist at the sea lab.
Angela Levins, a spokesperson for the Dauphin Island Sea Lab, said that knowledge can benefit everyone. Plus, those lessons can’t be gleaned from a textbook alone.
“Science education is just as important at any age because if you don't understand what's in your backyard, then you don't know how to protect it,” Levins said. “And you don't make that connection as to why it's important to research it.”
