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Ocean Color Remote Sensing in Long Island Sound
http://colors.uconn.edu
 For over 30 years, satellite ocean
color imagers have contributed to our knowledge and understanding of the world’s
oceans. Empirical algorithms yield global climatologies of primary production
which are linked to particulate flux in the water column, thereby tracing the
fate of the anthropogenically derived CO2 in the environment to its
primary sink in the oceans. Some estimates suggest that twenty percent of the
oceanic uptake of anthropogenic CO2 occurs in coastal and marginal
seas, where traditional empirical methods are stymied by optical complexity and
a lack of data. The ability of current remote sensing approaches to accurately
measure bio-optical pigments and primary productivity in the coastal zone will
help not only to improve carbon budgets there, but also will contribute to the
parameterization of ecological models used in the investigation of estuarine eutrophication-induced
hypoxia. Satellite ocean color retrieval of even the most basic bio-optical
property, chlorophyll concentration, has remained elusive in LIS, which is
characterized by water masses containing high chromophoric dissolved material
concentrations and a bi-annual phytoplankton bloom, as well as annual
eutrophication-induced hypoxia at its western end. This research uses in situ optical
measurements from LIS to optimize algorithms for remote sensing of surface
chlorophyll, spectral phytoplankton and dissolved absorption, and diffuse
attenuation from ocean color satellite imagery.
Long Island Sound Cross-Sound Ferry Project
Web site: www.po.gso.uri.edu/~codiga/foster/howitworks.htm
Codiga, D., Aurin, D., Residual circulation in eastern Long Island Sound: Observed transverse-vertical structure and exchange transport, Continental Shelf Research, v. 27, iss. 1, p. 103-116
 This research focuses on current dynamics, residual circulation and exchange transport at the ocean boundary of Long Island Sound (LIS). It is my goal to one day link Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) data from an ongoing ferry-based survey at the mouth of LIS to coupled physical-optical-biological models by examining the specifics of dissolved and particulate organic material transport across the estuary/coastal ocean interface. For the past five years, I have worked with my former advisor Dr. Dan Codiga, now at the URI Graduate School of Oceanography, assisting him in the most ambitious ADCP survey conducted in LIS. These data currently comprise over five years of transects across the mouth of LIS conducted eight times daily from a ferry-based instrument aboard the M/V John H. Salinity, temperature and in vivo chlorophyll fluorescence data are also collected with a flow-through YSI platform on the ferry simultaneously. After my dissertation work is complete (see above), I hope to combine satellite retrievals of optical and bio-optical constituents with vertically integrated productivity models and residual water volume transports to contribute to our understanding of the flux of biogenic material from LIS to the continental shelf.
 Working with NOAA scientists at the Center for Coastal Environmental Health and Biomolecular Research in an effort to provide coastal resource managers, research scientists and the public access to information about Harmful Algal Bloom research in the St. Johns River, Florida, I developed an interactive Web site with near real-time data and database archive access. An autonomous remote platform I coined "MARVIN" (MERHAB Autonomous Research Vessel for IN situ data) is anchored on a tributary of the Lower St. Johns River. My task was to facilitate the GOES satellite data up- and download, archival in a dedicated database, near real-time publication on the Web of selected platform data, and Web access to the database. I also organized and produced the outreach component of the site with information about the project which I gathered and consolodated from numerous partners and collaborators, as well as our own team in Charleston which included Dr. Jeff Hyland, Cynthia Cooksey, and Dr. Len Balthis. This work was completed in about six months and presented at the American Society of Limnology and Oceanography 2002 Summer meeting in Victoria, British Columbia. (See Selected Publications).
 In conjunction with the NOAA Coastal Services Center (CSC) Estuarine Habitat Project (Dr. Dave Eslinger) and the NASA Langley Research Center (Dr. Steve Katzberg), I researched the viability of utilizing reflected GPS signals for measuring the salinity of estuarine and riverine waters. By comparing the theory which states that the Brewster's angle of total internal reflection is dependent upon the conductivity of the reflecting medium (the surface of the estuary) with measurements from a specialized, inverted GPS receivers atop buildings and towers in Charleston, SC and Newport News, VA, it was determined that although more research is needed, salinity could probably be remotely mapped using this inexpensive, passive technology. Further GPS reflection research was not pursued within NOAA CSC, which is not a fundamentally research oriented facility, but continues along with other applications of GPS reflection remote sensing at NASA Langley and elsewhere. This research was presented at the 2000 ERIM Remote Sensing for Marine and Coastal Environments conference in Charleston, SC. (See Selected Publications).
 I managed a project that developed, produced, and distributed a Coastal Services Center (CSC) CD-ROM product entitled "Topographic LIDAR: Exploring the Cape Hatteras National Seashore" with GIS data layers and tutorials to demonstrate to the National Park Service the versatility, accuracy and utility of this active remote sensing technology. I created complete ArcView demonstrations for distribution to NPS staff and others on the CD-ROM, as well as a considerable number of LIDAR topographic maps and other data layers from the past few years. A CSC LIDAR tutorial was also included to teach NPS employees how to use LIDAR for calculating erosion and accretion change mapping on the low-lying barrier islands of the park. For a copy of this CD-ROM, write to me or contact Angela Mattison, administrative assistant for the NOAA/CSC Coastal Remote Sensing team. (See Selected Publications).
 I managed a project that researched, developed, and produced an internal NOAA Coastal Services Center (CSC) Web site to provide information to the staff of the CSC about a variety of remote sensing platforms with data streams available and useful to those working in GIS, resource management, and the coastal and ocean sciences. The major objectives put forth were to provide staff with a synopsis of the platform and instrument, technical specifications, an example of the data, and contact information for further investigations. Although this product was only made available internally to CSC staff, a limited copy is provided here, without much of the original functionality such as database glossary access or raw data examples. Therefore, many links will not function as designed.
 Working with Drs. Mary Culver (Harmful Algal Bloom Forecasting) and Dave Eslinger (Estuarine Habitat Project) of the NOAA Coastal Services Center, and with partners at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and Wallops Flight Facility, I provided technical expertise and support in researching new passive aircraft instrumentation for mapping ocean color at higher resolutions than those attainable from the SeaWiFS satellite instrument. Missions were flown over coastal regions of the Eastern United States and Gulf of Mexico from 1997 to 2001 aboard a NOAA Twin Otter aircraft. On board were active (AOL) and passive ocean color sensors. The latter were tuned to ocean color frequencies equivalent to those used by SeaWiFS for the detection of chlorophyll concentration. I managed the data from these mission, and developed numerous programs and a software suite to process, calibrate and provide QA/QC for these data. I also produced Estuarine Habitat Project Web site, including the graphical data sets distributed therein. The Measurements from the passive sensors were then compared with the AOL and ground truthing in situ levels from simultaneous ship sampling to develop more accurate calibration factors for the new instruments, and these were then incorporated in my processing software for future missions. Results were published and the investigation of findings is still underway within CSC. (See Selected Publications).
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