The data collected by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection will aid in assessing the effectiveness of restoration projects and promoting resilience along the coast. Woolpert has been commissioned by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to utilize lidar technologies for acquiring bathymetric survey data. This supports the Florida Seafloor Mapping Initiative (FSMI) and its goal of creating a detailed, accessible, and high-resolution model of Florida's coastal waters by 2026.

Bathymetric survey data appears as a digital map, with varying shades of blue and green representing the depths of Florida's coastal waters. The details are incredibly precise, with every nook and cranny of the seafloor mapped out.

The FSMI project is a continuation of the Florida Coastal Mapping Program (FCMaP), which involved collaboration from various federal and state agencies as well as community stakeholders to gather detailed seafloor data spanning 171,780 square kilometers along Florida's coastline. Once finished, the FSMI data will be integrated with the existing terrestrial lidar. This valuable information will assist federal and state agencies in comprehending the coastal vulnerability and effects of hurricanes in the region, assessing the success of restoration initiatives, and aiding in ongoing efforts to promote coastal resilience and map flood risks.

As part of this task order, Woolpert will be responsible for collecting bathymetric lidar data along Florida's southern coast, including the Florida Keys, and extending southwest to Dry Tortugas National Park. The data will cover a total area of 23,418 square kilometers.

According to Rick Householder, Program Director at Woolpert, the data collection will take place in two phases. Phase I will involve acquiring topographic and bathymetric lidar data up to a depth of 20 meters using aircraft. Phase II will include the use of marine vessels equipped with multibeam sonar to collect data beyond 20 meters up to 200 meters in depth.

Householder emphasized the significance of this project and its potential impact on various aspects such as assessing the health of marine habitats, disaster response, and resiliency efforts. He stated that the wealth of information gathered through this initiative will have long-term effects on the state of Florida. Additionally, Householder believes that this project can serve as a model for future seafloor mapping initiatives across the continental U.S.

The entire dataset is expected to be collected by May next year and delivered by summer 2024. The contract is currently in progress.

New data from ALICE sheds light on the behavior of charm and beauty particles in quark-gluon plasma. When lead ions collide at high energies in the LHC, they create a super-hot and dense state called quark-gluon plasma where quarks and gluons are no longer bound inside hadrons. This extreme environment is believed to have existed for a brief moment just after the Big Bang before quickly expanding and cooling down. As it cools, the quarks and gluons form back into hadrons which can be detected by particle detectors.

The study conducted by ALICE involved lead-lead collisions at non-direct angles. They compared the elliptic flow of "prompt" D mesons (produced immediately after the collision) to that of "non-prompt" D mesons (produced during the decay of B mesons). Charm quarks combine with light quarks to form D mesons while beauty quarks form B mesons. Previous studies have shown that the elliptic flow of "prompt" D mesons is nearly as strong as that of the lightest hadrons, and pions. However, it is expected that the elliptic flow of B mesons will be weaker than that of prompt D mesons due to the predicted longer thermalization time for beauty quarks compared to charm quarks.

In the recent analysis of off-center lead-lead collisions during Run 2 of the LHC, ALICE measured the elliptic flow of B mesons by examining the flow of "non-prompt" D mesons that originate from B meson decays. This was possible through the use of machine-learning techniques, which helped distinguish between products of non-prompt and prompt D meson decays and suppress background particle processes that imitate D meson production and decay.

The latest measurement reveals a significant difference in the elliptic flow of non-prompt D mesons compared to their prompt counterparts, confirming previous expectations. This discovery provides valuable insights into the thermalization process of beauty quarks within the quark-gluon plasma and sets the stage for future ALICE investigations using data from Run 3 of the LHC. The increased sample of lead-lead collisions obtained in 2023 will pave the way for a deeper analysis of charm and beauty particles, unraveling further mysteries surrounding their behavior within the quark-gluon plasma.