Anthony (Tony) F. Amos 

Research Associate, Marine Science Institute Home page

Physical Oceanography

Tony Amos has been with The University of Texas Marine Science Institute in Port Aransas for the past 23 years. His oceanographic career has spanned 36 years with research expeditions to all the world's oceans and many of its seas, including 35 cruises to the Antarctic and five to the Arctic. He is a holder of the US Antarctic Service Medal. In Texas he has studied several aspects of near-shore and bay and estuarine processes (circulation, currents, hydrography, and tides) and has conducted a long-term study of the barrier island beaches which is now in its 21st year. To date 2,950 separate surveys have been conducted, counting birds, people, marine debris, and measuring beach widths, dune erosion/accretion, sea temperature and salinity. In addition, over 500 separate surveys have been made specifically to assess the marine debris problem. Amos has served on a National Academy of Sciences/National Research Council Marine Board Committee on Shipborne Waste, and various EPA, MMS, and other committees on the marine debris problem. He is a member of the New York Academy of Science, Sigma Xi, the American Geophysical Union, The American Ornithological Union, the Texas Marine Mammal Stranding Network, the Sea Turtle Stranding and Salvage Network, an Honorary Lifetime Member of the Texas Marine Educators Association, and Vice-chair of NSF's Research Vessel Technical Enhancement Committee (RVTEC). He is the Port Aransas Cooperative Weather Observer for the National Weather Service, and writes for the Port Aransas South Jetty, The Corpus Christi Caller-Times, and the South Texas Fishing News papers. Recently he was selected as one of the "Texas Twenty" by Texas Monthly magazine for his work on the environment. Tony is also the founder of the ARK (Animal Rehabilitation Keep), a facility for helping injured sea turtles and marine and aquatic birds.

Research Interests

Current research interests include the US Antarctic Marine Living Resources (AMLR) program, now entering its eighth year of field study. Amos' contribution to AMLR is a survey of the physical oceanography of the Elephant Island region, which is a major area of krill (Euphausia superba) concentration, and supports a krill fishery with potential to expand and target other species. Because krill supports numerous predators (seals, whales, penguins, and flying seabirds), the multidisciplinary AMLR project seeks to understand the relationship between krill and its predators and the physical, chemical, and biological environment. Work on the Texas beaches continues and now includes a weekly survey of a remote barrier island to search for nesting and stranded sea turtles and a study of the standing stock of marine debris on an undisturbed beach. . 

Selected Publications

Amos, A.F. (Submitted). AMLR Program: Physical Oceanography of the northern South Shetland Island and Bransfield Strait area; summer 1999. Antarctic Journal of the U.S. 34(5).

Amos, A.F., (in press). An interactive shipboard scientific log for research vessels. Proceedings of the INMARTECH Conference, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, October 27-29, 1998.

Amos, A.F., (in press). AMLR Program: an unusual South Shetlands weather event. Ant. J. U.S. 33(5).

Amos, A.F., (in press). AMLR Program: Physical Oceanography of the Elephant Island area, summer 1998. Ant. J. U.S. 33(5).

Amos, A.F., A.R. Wickham, and C.C. Rowe. 1997. AMLR Program: Midsummer 1997 in the Elephant Island area - a month of warm surface waters and calm winds. Ant. J. U.S. 32(5), 135-136. 

Amos, A.F., A.R. Wickham, and C.C. Rowe. 1996. AMLR Program: The 7-year hitch - a meander in the circulation near Elephant Island. Ant. J. U.S. 31(5), 153-154. 

Amos, A.F., A.R. Wickham, and C.C. Rowe. 1995. AMLR Program: Physical Oceanography of the Elephant Island area; summer 1995. Ant. J. U.S. 30(5), 234-237. 

Amos, A.F. (In prep). Late summer ocean stratification and circulation near Elephant Island, Antarctica.

Silva, N., E.W. Helbling, V. Villafane, A.F. Amos and O. Holm-Hansen. 1995. Variability in nutrient concentration around Elephant Island, Antarctica, during 1991-1993. Polar Res. 14(1), 69-82. 

Amos, A.F. 1994. AMLR Program: The underway data acquisition system. Ant. J. U.S. 29(5), 201-204. 

Amos, A.F. 1994. AMLR Program: The mean summer windfield in the Elephant Island area. Ant. J. U.S. 29(5), 204-206. 

Amos, A.F. 1993. AMLR Program: Interannual variability in the Elephant Island surface waters in summer. Ant. J. U.S. 28(5), 201-204. 

Amos, A.F. 1993. The tides at Palmer Station. Ant. J. U.S. 28(5), 162-164.

Niiler, P.P., A.F. Amos and J.-H. Hu. 1991. Water masses and 200-db relative geostrophic circulation in the western Bransfield Strait. Deep-Sea Research 38(8/9A):943-959.

Created: Wed Dec 13 13:59:29 CST 2000