Cara Manning

Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology/Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Assistant Professor of Marine Sciences

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I’m an Assistant Professor in the UConn Department of Marine Sciences. My research focuses on developing and applying methods to measure gases and other biogeochemical tracers (e.g., stable isotopes) in the environment. Much of my research involves applying mobile, in situ, and/or high throughput methods to study systems with high spatiotemporal variability. I have experience conducting research on topics ranging from marine productivity, to Arctic greenhouse gas emissions, to the environmental impacts of resource development and nutrient pollution. Check out my website and our lab Instagram for more info on what we are working on!

If you are interested in research opportunities with my lab, please consult the Join Us page of my website.

Funded research
Improved Mechanistic Understanding of Hypoxia Drivers in Western Long Island Sound Enabled with Data from a Wire-Following Profiler and Coupled Biogeochemical-Hydrodynamic Modeling
Funded by EPA/Connecticut Sea Grant (Long Island Sound Study)
PI: Cara Manning; Co-PIs: Leonel Romero, Samantha Siedlecki

Unlocking the noble gas toolbox to quantify rates of denitrification and nitrogen fixation in marine systems
Funded by NSF OCE Chemical Oceanography program; award 2318985
PI: Cara Manning; Co-PI: Craig Tobias

Collaborative Research: Exploring the dynamics of nitrous oxide in the Southern Benguela Upwelling System
Funded by NSF OCE Chemical Oceanography program; award 2241432
PI: Julie Granger; Co-PIs: Cara Manning, Samantha Siedlecki

 

Publications
My Google Scholar profile and the publications page of my website contain a complete, up-to-date publication list, including preprints.

Lateral and air-water inorganic carbon and methane fluxes in a small Arctic river: Seasonal variations and the connections with local hydrology
SF Jones, PJ Duke, CCM Manning, A Alexander, SF Gonski, and BGT Else (2025)
Science of the Total Environment, 1002
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2025.180556

Dissolved Nitrogen Cycling in The Eastern Canadian Arctic Archipelago and Baffin Bay from Stable Isotopic Data
HC Westbrook, A Bourbonnais, CCM Manning, J-E Tremblay, M Ahmed, BGT Else, and J Granger
Global Biogeochemical Cycles (2024)
https://doi.org/10.1029/2023GB007926

A model for community-driven development of best practices: the Ocean Observatories Initiative Biogeochemical Sensor Data Best Practices and User Guide
HI Palevsky, S Clayton, H Benway, M Maheigan, D Atamanchuk, RBattisti, J Batryn, A Bourbonnais, EM Briggs, F Carvalho, AP Chase, R Eveleth, R Fatland, KE Fogaren, JP Fram, SE Hartman, I Le Bras, CCM Manning, JA Needoba, MB Neely, H Oliver, AC Reed, JE Rheuban, C Schallenberg, I Walsh, C Wingard, K Bauer, B Chen, J Cuevas, S Flecha, M Horwith, M Melendez, TMenz, S Rivero-Calle, NP Roden, T Steinhoff, PN Trucco-Pignata, MF Vardaro, and M Yoder
Frontiers in Marine Science (2024)
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2024.1358591 (open access)

OOI Biogeochemical Sensor Data Best Practices and User Guide. Version 1.1.1. [GOOS ENDORSED PRACTICE]
Hilary I. Palevsky, Sophie Clayton, Dariia Atamanchuk, Roman Battisti, Jennifer Batryn, Annie Bourbonnais, Ellen M. Briggs, Filipa Carvalho, Alison P. Chase, Rachel Eveleth, Rob Fatland, Kristen E. Fogaren, Jonathan Peter Fram, Susan E. Hartman, Isabela Le Bras, Cara C. M. Manning, Joseph A. Needoba, Merrie Beth Neely, Hilde Oliver, Andrew C. Reed, Jennie E. Rheuban, Christina Schallenberg, Michael F. Vardaro, Ian Walsh, Christopher Wingard (2023)
Ocean Best Practices System
https://doi.org/10.25607/OBP-1865.2

Pyisotopomer: A Python package for obtaining intramolecular isotope ratio differences from mass spectrometric analysis of nitrous oxide isotopocules
Colette L. Kelly, Cara Manning, Claudia Frey, Jan Kaiser, Noah Gluschankoff, and Karen L. Casciotti (2023)
Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry
Manuscript: https://doi.org/10.1002/rcm.9513
Software: https://pypi.org/project/pyisotopomer/

Interannual variability in methane and nitrous oxide concentrations and sea-air fluxes across the North American Arctic Ocean (2015–2019)
CCM Manning, Z Zheng, L Fenwick, RD McCulloch, E Damm, RW Izett, WJ Williams, S Zimmermann, S Vagle, and PD Tortell (2022)
Global Biogeochemical Cycles, e2021GB007185
https://doi.org/10.1029/2021GB007185
Dataset: https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.941201

ΔO₂/N₂′ as a new tracer of marine net community production: Application and evaluation in the Subarctic Northeast Pacific and Canadian Arctic Ocean
RW Izett, RC Hamme, C McNeil, CCM Manning, A Bourbonnais, and PD Tortell
Frontiers in Marine Sciences, 8:718625
https://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.718625

Rapid advances in mobile mass spectrometry enhance tracer hydrology and water management
AL Popp*, CCM Manning*, and JLA Knapp* (2021)
*All authors contributed equally
Water Resources Research, 57(6), e2021WR029890
https://doi.org/10.1029/2021WR029890

First estimation of the diffusive methane flux and concentrations from Lake Winnipeg, a large, shallow and eutrophic lake
R Mandryk, DW Capelle, CCM Manning, P Tortell, RD McCulloch, and T Papakyriakou (2021)
Journal of Great Lakes Research, 47(3), 741-750
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jglr.2021.03.011

River inflow dominates methane emissions in an Arctic coastal system
CC Manning, VL Preston, SF Jones, APM Michel, DP Nicholson, PJ Duke, M Ahmed, K Manganini, BGT Else, and PD Tortell (2020)
Geophysical Research Letters, 47, e2020GL087669
https://doi.org/10.1002/2017GB005792

A new in situ method for tracing denitrification in riparian groundwater
AL Popp, CC Manning, MS Brennwald, R Kipfer (2020)
Environmental Science & Technology  54(3), 1562-1572
https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.9b05393

Changes in gross oxygen production, net oxygen production, and air-water gas exchange during seasonal ice melt in Whyococmagh Bay, a Canadian estuary in the Bras d’Or Lake system
CC Manning, RHR Stanley, DP Nicholson, B Loose, A Lovely, P Schlosser, and BG Hatcher (2019)
Biogeosciences, 17, 3351-3376
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-16-3351-2019

Refined estimates of net community production in the Subarctic Northeast Pacific derived from ΔO₂/Ar measurements with N₂O-based corrections for vertical mixing
RW Izett, CC Manning, RC Hamme, and PD Tortell (2018)
Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 32, 326–350
https://doi.org/10.1002/2017GB005792

Revising estimates of aquatic gross oxygen production by the triple oxygen isotope method to incorporate the local isotopic composition of water
CC Manning, EM Howard, DP Nicholson, B Ji, ZO Sandwith, and RHR Stanley (2017)
Geophysical Research Letters, 44, 10,511–10,519
Paper: https://doi.org/10.1002/2017GL074375
Software: http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.376786

Impact of recently upwelled water on productivity investigated using in situ and incubation-based methods
CC Manning, RHR Stanley, DP Nicholson, JM Smith, JT Pennington, MR Fewings, ME Squibb, and FP Chavez (2017)
Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 122
https://doi.org/10.1002/2016JC012306

Quantifying air-sea gas exchange using noble gases in a coastal upwelling zone
CC Manning, RHR Stanley, DP Nicholson, and ME Squibb (2016)
IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science. 35, 012017, 13 pages.
Paper: http://doi.org/10.1002/2017GL074375
Software: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.594531 

Continuous measurements of dissolved Ne, Ar, Kr, and Xe with a field-deployable gas equilibration mass spectrometer
CC Manning, RHR Stanley, and DE Lott (2016)
Analytical Chemistry. 88, 3040–3048
https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.analchem.5b03102

Impact of deep-water renewal events on fixed nitrogen loss from seasonally-anoxic Saanich Inlet
CC Manning, RC Hamme, and A Bourbonnais (2010)
Marine Chemistry 122(1-4), 1-10
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marchem.2010.08.002