Overview

One way of understanding the research that is done here at SoMAS is to look at the different SoMAS Divisions that our faculty came from. Clicking on any of these specific topics will provide a list of current SoMAS faculty that uses the knowledge from these broad disciplines. 

Atmospheric Sciences 

Research in the Division of Atmospheric Sciences is centered around the following themes: (1) atmospheric chemistry, aerosols and clouds, (2) climate dynamics and variability, (3) weather and extremes, (4) radar science and applications. To tackle these challenging topics faculty use a variety of exceptional infrastructural means such as SoMAS radar, computational, and instrument facilities. 

Marine Sciences 

Research in the Division of Marine Sciences broadly focuses on the topics of (1) marine biology, (2) biological oceanography,  (3) chemical oceanography, (4) geological oceanography and (5) physical oceanography.  Faculty use the unique location of SoMAS on Long Island to study local marine environments with a range of research vessels, as well as lead research on the ocean worldwide. 

Sustainability Studies

Research in the Division of Sustainability Studies is based on the topics of (1) climate change, resilience, and disasters, (2) urban and suburban planning, (3) environmental social sciences and humanities, (4) sustainable development, (5) systems interactions. To explore these topics faculty use research approaches that are problem driven and solution oriented.

Example Integrated Programs

There are several research areas that significant numbers of SoMAS faculty work on. These research themes do not cover every single research project that occurs at SoMAS but they do represent several specialty areas where SoMAS researchers have significant expertise.

• Environmental Modeling and Prediction

  Quantitative analysis of marine and atmospheric systems is an important part of SoMAS research. Our faculty are involved in a diversity of research efforts that employ modeling and other quantitative tools to better understand and predict oceanographic, atmospheric and ecological processes. By combining mathematical models and empirical data, SoMAS faculty gain insight into the causes and consequences of natural phenomena and human disturbances. Here are a few examples of current quantitative research at SoMAS:

  • Understanding the causes and consequences large-scale oceanographic phenomena
  • Role of oceanic processes on global carbon cycles
  • Evaluating mechanisms of climate change
  • Exploring the impact of physical circulation and oceanographic features on biological resources
  • Assessing anthropogenic impacts on food web dynamics
  • Predicting regional weather from meso-scale models

  Researchers:

  Bokuniewicz, Cerrato, Chang, Chen, Colle, Flagg, Fisher, Frisk, Hameed, Khairoutdinov, Lwiza, McSweeney, Peterson, Reed, Shepson, Wolfe, Zhang

• Patterns and Impacts of Climate Change

  Human activities have altered the Earth’s atmospheric composition and its land surface to a sufficient degree that world climates are likely changing as well. It is certainly no longer controversial that human activities have increased atmospheric greenhouse gases, pollutants, and aerosols; nor is it deniable the we have dramatically changed Earth’s vegetation and other landscape characteristics. Under these conditions, questions about how the world climate system and its natural variability interact with human forcings are major concerns to the society. Several scientists at SoMAS are carrying out research to quantify the human forcing of climate, to detect the signals and pattern of climate change, and to understand how the climate system works through numerical simulations. Other researchers are more focused on the impacts of climate change on Earth’s physical and biological regimes. Around the globe, shifting temperature, precipitation, and storm patterns are driving significant changes in continental runoff, coastal hydrology, and species abundance and distributions. Understanding the links between between natural variability, climate change, and human forcings are key to developing rational strategies for such environmental changes.

  Researchers:

  Allam, Black, Cerrato, Chang, Chen, Colle, Flagg, Gobler, Hameed, Knopf, Mak, McSweeney, Pales-Espinosa, Peterson, Reed, Shepson, Taylor, Volkenborn, Wolfe, Yager, Zhang

• Environmental Health and Contaminants

  The presence of chemicals and pathogens in the environment is of great concern to both ecosystem and human health, yet the source, fates, and effects of these contaminants are often not well known. In collaboration with each other and with colleagues in the Stony Brook Health Sciences Center, Brookhaven National Laboratory, and Cornell’s Veterinary School, SoMAS faculty are actively investigating these and other environmental health issues:

  • Pathology and parasitology of marine fish and shellfish
  • Sources and assessment of sediment toxicity
  • Fates and effects of endocrine disruptors, pharmaceuticals and personal care products in the environments
  • Impact of groundwater discharges on coastal water quality
  • Bioavailability, food chain transfer and effects of contaminants in marine invertebrates and fish

  Researchers:

  Allam, Aller J., Bokuniewicz, Fisher, Gobler, Knopf, Lwiza, Pales-Espinosa, Pochron, Taylor, Zhu

• Conservation and Management of Natural Resources

  Humans have widespread effects on marine environments, ranging from the indirect effects of land-use on coastal water quality, to the direct effects of exploitation. SoMAS faculty are interested in gaining a better understanding these effects and in trying to develop improved management policies. Research interests include identifying the causes and effects of brown tides, understanding shellfish dynamics, exploring causes of disease outbreaks, assessing how aquatic organisms interact with toxic chemicals in their environment, establishing marine wilderness areas, and identifying the evolutionary and ecological effects of fisheries. These efforts involve close collaboration with state and federal management agencies, such as the New York Department of Environmental Conservation and the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service.

  Researchers:

  Allam, Cerrato, Chen, Collier, Frisk, Gobler, Pales-Espinosa, Peterson, Thorne, Volkenborn, Warren

• Biogeochemical Transformation of Energy and Elements

  Anthropogenic alteration of biogeochemical processes such as carbon and nitrogen cycling is thought to be causing a variety of changes to Earth’s biosphere. Faculty at SoMAS are working both on projects designed to produce a mechanistic understanding of how energy and nutrients are transformed from one form to another as they pass through marine ecosystems, and on using that new information to discover approaches to mitigate the pressing environmental problems that result from human activities. These projects include studies of the sources, transformations, fates, and fluxes of various organic and inorganic compounds in both planktonic and benthic systems, as well as studies of the relationships between the genetic and physiological diversity of marine microorganisms and the physical and biological processes that structure their habitats, including food web interactions. These efforts are focused at scales ranging from the water quality of a local embayments over seasons and years, to changes in global climate over years and decades.

  Researchers:

  Aller J., Aller R., Beaupre, Black, Collier, Fisher, Taylor, Volkenborn, Wehrmann, Zhu

Regional Research

The New York Climate Exchange at Governor's Island

In 2023, Stony Brook University was named as the anchor institution for the New York Climate Exchange on Governors Island in New York City. This new facility, opening in 2028, will expand SoMAS research capabilities in the New York Harbor and urban coastlines in the coming decades.

Hudson River Biological Modeling Program

The Hudson River Biological Monitoring Program (HRBMP) is a fin fish survey program that completed its first river wide survey in 1974 and was created due to a large community effort to protect the rich diversity of the Hudson River from further development of the Indian Point power plant.

Shinnecock Bay Restoration Project

In response to deteriorating environmental conditions in Shinnecock Bay on Long Island, faculty at SoMAS founded the Shinnecock Bay Restoration Program (ShiRP) to restore the health of this vital ecosystem. The goal of ShiRP is to use science, outreach, and partnerships to restore the water quality and fisheries of Shinnecock Bay.

Great South Bay Ecosystem Study

Great South Bay is a shallow, well-mixed, lagoonal system on the south shore of Long Island, NY. Known in the past for its extensive finfish (menhaden, winter flounder, and many other species) and shellfish (hard clam, oyster) populations, along with its extensive eelgrass beds that served as spawning and nursery areas, production of commercial and recreational resources has been in decline for decades. 

LI Shore

This website maintains a database of meteorological and hydrological data, historical data, images, and written information generated by the system operator or received from other sources. In addition, this site provides in real time a selection of current weather and oceanic observations for use by the national and international community. In an effort to enhance science, experimental products are accessible on this server and care must be taken when using such products as they are intended for research use. Reasonable efforts are made to keep this site available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, but timely delivery of data and products from this site through the Internet is not guaranteed.

Stony Brook Storm Surge Research Group

The Stony Brook Storm Surge Research Group is developing a real-time weather and ocean storm surge prediction system which can be used for a variety of purposes. Such uses include hurricane and nor ‘easter flooding predictions and alerts, water quality and effluent dispersion, the feasibility of building storm surge barriers to protect the New York Metropolitan region from storm damage and coastal flooding in an era of global climate change and rising sea level.