Dubravko Justic headshotDubravko Justic

Position: Texaco Distinguished Professor, Department of Oceanography & Coastal Sciences

Phone: 225-578-6394

Fax: 225-578-6326

E-mail: [email protected] 

Office: 2221 Energy, Coast and Environment Building

Bachelor's Degree(s): B.S. University of Zagreb, 1981

Master's Degrees(s): M.S. University of Zagreb, 1984

Ph.D.(s): Ph.D. University of Zagreb, 1989

Research Interests

Ecosystem modeling, biological oceanography, coastal eutrophication, hypoxia, impacts of climate change on coastal ecosystems

Classes Taught

OCS 4410 Ecosystem Modeling and Analysis
OCS 7029 Case Studies in Coastal Ecosystem Modeling

Awards & Honors

2014 – Dean’s Outstanding Service Award

2012 – Texaco Distinguished Professor in Oceanography

2012 – School of the Coast and Environment Outstanding Faculty Teaching Award

2010 – Marine Pollution Bulletin – “Top 50 most cited articles” 2005-2009

2009 – Environmental Science and Technology – Top Environmental Science Paper of 2008

2007 – School of the Coast and Environment Outstanding Faculty Research Award

2005 – 2009 – E.L. Abraham Distinguished Professorship in Louisiana Environmental Studies

2002 – School of the Coast and Environment Outstanding Faculty Teaching Award

1991 – 1992 – Fulbright Fellowship

Recent Publications

Google Scholar Profile

(* indicates a paper led by one of Justic's students)

*Quiñones-Rivera, Z.J., Wissel, B., Turner, R.E., Rabalais, N.N., Justic, D., Finlay, K.P., Milan, C.S. 2022. Divergent effects of biological and physical processes on dissolved oxygen and dissolved inorganic carbon dynamics on a eutrophied and hypoxic continental shelf. Limnology and Oceanography 9999, 1-14.

Mariotti, G., Ceccherini, G., McDonell, M., Justic, D. 2022. A comprehensive assessment of sediment dynamics in the Barataria Basin (LA, USA) distinguishes riverine advection from wave resuspension and identifies the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway as a major sediment source. Estuaries and Coasts 45: 78-95. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-021-00957-8

Sorourian, S., Huang, H., Xu, K., Justic, D., D'Sa, E.J. 2022. A modeling study of water and sediment flux partitioning through the major passes of Mississippi Birdfoot Delta and their plume structures. Geomorphology 401, 108109. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2022.108109

*Payandeh, A.R., Justic, D., Huang, H., Mariotti, G., Hagen, S.C. 2022. Tidal change in response to the relative sea level rise and marsh accretion in a tidally choked estuary. Continental Shelf Research 234, 104643. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.csr.2021.104642

He, S., Maiti, K., Swarzenski, C.M., Elsey-Quirk, T., Groseclose, G.N., Justic, D. 2022. Porewater chemistry of Louisiana marshes with contrasting salinities and its implications for coastal acidification. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 268, 107801.

*LaBone, E.D., Justic, D., Huang, H., Wang, L. 2021. Effects of spatial variability on the exposure of fish to hypoxia: a modeling analysis for the Gulf of Mexico. Biogeosciences 18, 487–507. https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-487-2021

Payandeh, A.R., Justic, D., Mariotti, G., Huang, H., Valentine, K., Walker, N.D. 2021. Suspended sediment dynamics in a deltaic estuary controlled by subtidal motion and offshore river plumes. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 250, 107137. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecss.2020.107137

Liang, J.H., Liu, J.L., Benfield, M., Justic, D., Holstein, D., Liu, B.Q., Hetland, R., Kobashi, D., Dong, C.M., Dong, W.Y. 2021. Including the effects of subsurface currents on buoyant particles in Lagrangian particle tracking models: Model development and its application to the study of riverborne plastics over the Louisiana/Texas shelf. Ocean Modelling 167, 101879. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ocemod.2021.101879

Ainsworth, C.H., Chassignet, E.P., French-McCay, D., Beegle-Krause, C.J., Berenshtein, I., Englehardt, J., Fiddaman, T., Huang, H., Huettel, M., Justic, D., Kourafalou, V.H., Liu, Y., Mauritzen, C., Murawski, S., Morey, S., Ozgokmen, T., Paris, C.B., Ruzicka, J., Saul, S., Shepherd, J., Socolofsky, S., Gabriele, H.S., Sutton, T., Weisberg, R.H., Wilson, C., Zheng, L., Zheng, Y. 2021. Ten years of modeling the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Environmental Modeling & Software 142, 105070. https://doi10.1016/j.envsoft.2021.105070

Justic, D., Kourafalou, V., Mariotti, G., He, S., Weisberg, R., Androulidakis, Y., Barker, C., Bracco, A., Dzwonkowski, B., Hu, C., Huang, H., Jacobs, G., Le Hénaff, M., Liu, Y., Morey, S., Nittrouer, J., Overton, E., Paris, C.B., Roberts, B.J., Rose, K., Valle-Levinson, A., Wiggert, J. 2022. Transport Processes in the Gulf of Mexico Along the River-Estuary-Shelf-Ocean Continuum: a Review of Research from the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative. Estuaries and Coasts 45, 621-657. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-021-01005-1

*LaBone, E.D., Rose, K.A., Justic, D., Wang, L., Huang, H. (2020). Effects of spatial variability on the exposure of fish to hypoxia: a modeling analysis for the Gulf of Mexico. Biogeosciences (in press).

Tian, H., Xu, R., Pan, S., Yao, Y., Bian, Z., Cai, W-J., Hopkinson, C.S., Justic, D., Lohrenz, S., Lu, C., Ren, W., Yang, J. (2020). Long-term trajectory of nitrogen loading and delivery from Mississippi/Atchafalaya River Basin to the Gulf of Mexico. Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 34(5), e2019GB006475, https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GB006475.

*Sorourian, S., Huang, H., Li, C., Justic, D., Payandeh, A. (2020). Wave dynamics near Barataria Bay tidal inlets during spring–summer time. Ocean Modelling 147, 101553.

*Payandeh, A.R, Justic, D., Mariotti, G., Huang, H, Sorourian, S. (2019). Subtidal Water Level and Current Variability in a Bar‐Built Estuary during Cold Front Season: Barataria Bay, Gulf of Mexico. Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans 124: 7226-7246, doi: https://doi.org/10.1029/2019JC015081S.

*LaBone, E.D., Justic, D., Rose, K., Wang, L., Huang, H. 2019. Modeling fish movement in 3-D in the Gulf of Mexico hypoxic zone. Estuaries and Coasts, 42(6):1662–1685.

White, R.R., DeLaune, R.D., Justic, D., Day, J.W., Pahl, J., Lane, R.R., Boynton, W.R., Twilley, R.R. 2019. Consequences of Mississippi River diversions on nutrient dynamics of coastal wetland soils and estuarine sediments: A review. Estuarine Coastal and Shelf Science 224: 209-2016, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecss.2019.02.020.

Scavia, D., Justic, D., Obenour, D., Craig, K.J., Wang, L. (2019). Hypoxic volume is more responsive than hypoxic area to nutrient load reductions in the northern Gulf of Mexico—and it matters to fish and fisheries. Environmental Research Letters, 14. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aaf938

Bargu, S., Justic, D., White, J.R., Lane, R., Day, J., Paerl, H., Raymie, R. (2019). Mississippi River diversions and phytoplankton dynamics in deltaic Gulf of Mexico estuaries: A review. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecss.2019.02.020

Mariotti, G., Huang, H., Xue, Z., Li, B., Justic, D., Zang, Z. (2018). Biased wind measurements in estuarine waters. Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 123, 3577-3587. https://doi.org/10.1029/2017JC013748

*Cui, L., Huang, H., Li, C., Justic, D. (2018). Lateral circulation in a partially stratified tidal inlet. Journal of Marine Science and Engineering, 6. doi:10.3390/jmse6040159

Rose, K. A., Creekmore, S., Justic, D., Thomas, P., Craig, J. K., Miller-Neilan, R., Wang, L., Rahman, M. S., Kidwell, D. (2018). Modeling the population effects of hypoxia on Atlantic croaker (Micropogonias undulatus) in the northwestern Gulf of Mexico: Part 2 – Realistic hypoxia and eutrophication. Estuaries and Coasts, 41, 255-279.

Kolker, A., Dausman, M. S., Alison, M. A., Brown, G. L., Chu, P. Y., De Mutsert, K., Fitzpatrick, C. E., Henkel, J. R., Justic, D. (2018). New research approaches for managing the river-dominated coastal zone: Insights from the Mississippi River, its delta and plume. EOS. doi: 10.1029/2018EO101169

Peyronnin, N. S., Caffey, R. H., Cowan, Jr., J. H., Justic, D., Kolker, A. S., Laska, S. B., McCorquodale, A., Melancon, Jr., E., Nyman, J. A., Twilley, R. R., Visser, J. M., White, J. R., Wilkins, J. G. (2017). Optimizing Sediment Diversion Operations: Working Group Recommendations for Integrating Complex Ecological and Social Landscape Interactions. Water, 9.

Turner, R. E., Rabalais, N., Justic, D. (2017). Trends in the summer bottom-water temperatures on the northern Gulf of Mexico continental shelf from 1985 to 2015. PLOS ONE, 12.

Justic, D., Rose, K., Hetland, R., Fennel, K. (Eds.) (2017). Modeling Coastal Hypoxia: Numerical Simulations of Patterns, Controls and Effects of Dissolved Oxygen Dynamics. Springer.

Fennel, K., Justic, D., Laurent, A., Hetland, R., Ko, D. S., Lehrter, J., Murrell, M., Wang, L., Yu, L., Zhang, W. (2016). Effects of model physics on hypoxia simulations for the northern Gulf of Mexico: A model inter-comparison. Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 121.

Fry, B., Justic, D., Riekenberg, P., Swenson, E. M., Turner, R. E., Wang, L., Pride, L., Rabalais, N., Kurtz, J., Lehrter, J. C., Murrel, M. C., Shadwick, E. H., Boyd, B. (2015). Carbon dynamics on the Louisiana continental shelf and cross-shelf feeding of hypoxia. Estuaries and Coasts, 38, 703-721.

*Lane, R., Huang, H., Day, J. W., Justic, D., Delaune, R. D. (2015). Water quality of a coastal Louisiana swamp and how dredging is undermining restoration. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, 152, 23-32.

Justic, D., Wang, L. (2014). Assessing temporal and spatial variability of hypoxia over the inner Louisiana-upper Texas shelf: Application of an unstructured-grid three-dimensional coupled hydrodynamic-water quality model. Continental Shelf Research, 72, 163-179.

Rose, K., Huang, H., Justic, D., DeMutsert, K. (2014). Simulating fish movement responses and potential salinity stress from large-scale river diversions. Marine and Coastal Fisheries: Dynamics, Management and Ecosystem Science, 6, 43-61.