NASA’s Eyes in the Skies Keep Watch Over Critical Coral Ecosystems

StennisDEVELOP Virtual Poster Session, Original

Divers at the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary. Photo credit: NOAA.

September 2005 chlorophyll anomaly generated by subtracting the seven-year September mean from the 2005 September mean. Units shown are in mg / m3. Positive values indicate higher than average chlorophyll; whereas negative values indicate lower than average. Input data were provided by the Institute for Marine Remote Sensing and were processed in SeaDAS by the DEVELOP team.

September 2005 chlorophyll anomaly generated by subtracting the seven-year September mean from the 2005 September mean. Units shown are in mg / m3. Positive values indicate higher than average chlorophyll; whereas negative values indicate lower than average. Input data were provided by the Institute for Marine Remote Sensing and were processed in SeaDAS by the DEVELOP team.

Team Location: NASA John C. Stennis Space Center
Authors: Jason Jones, Renane Burbank, Mollie Nunez, Cody Dockens.
Advisors/Mentors: Joe Spruce, Dr. Frank Muller-Karger.
Other acknowledgements: Steve Gittings, Dr. William Kiene, Emma Hickerson, Dr. Robert Chen, Dr. Kenton Ross, Cheri Miller, Brandie Mitchell, and Matt Batina.
Abstract: In partnership with NOAA’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries (Southeast Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, and Caribbean Region) and the University of South Florida’s Institute for Marine Remote Sensing (IMaRS), DEVELOP students at Stennis Space Center will use chlorophyll, fluorescence line height (FLH), diffuse attenuation coefficient at 490 nm (K490), and ocean color data products from MODIS to characterize water quality conditions from 2003-2011 in the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary (FGBNMS). The analysis will focus on detecting anomalies in chlorophyll and explaining the probable causes and impacts of those anomalies. The other datasets described above will aid in explaining the causes and effects of the anomalies. Project results will be transferred to science coordinators and reef monitoring staff at the FGBNMS. The project holds great potential for augmenting and improving NOAA’s existing coral reef decision support systems. For example, NOAA’s Coral Reef Conservation Program (CRCP) operates the Integrated Coral Observing Network (ICON)/Coral Reef Early Warning System (CREWS). Although this initiative employs a large suite of in situ meteorological and oceanographic sensors at important U.S. reef locations, it does not make use of satellite-derived oceanographic measurements like chlorophyll and ocean color. Additionally, the CRCP’s Coral Reef Watch (CRW) Program does not currently integrate ocean color or chlorophyll measurements into its predictive modeling system.

Video transcript available here.