MEASUREMENTS AND CHARACTERIZATION OF OPTICAL PROPERTIES IN THE CHESAPEAKE BAY'S ESTUARINE WATERS USING IN-SITU MEASUREMENTS, MODIS SATELLITE OBSERVATIONS, AND RADIATIVE TRANSFER MODELING

The core subject of this thesis is the development of coordinated atmospheric, in-water, and laboratory measurements leading to characterization of in-water optical properties in the estuarine environment of northern Chesapeake Bay, where natural and human-induced processes strongly interact. One of the main objectives is obtaining a sufficiently complete suite of measurements, combined with detailed radiative transfer calculations, so as to produce a closure experiment for the underwater inherent and apparent optical properties. The in-situ results are applied to the interpretation of satellite (MODIS) water leaving radiance data and their validation. The applicability of bio-optical models and parameterizations currently used in satellite algorithms are examined for the case of the optically complex Chesapeake Bay waters. Relationships between remotely sensed water leaving radiances and properties of optically active components in these waters are investigated. The resulting techniques and analysis should be broadly applicable to other coastal areas of the world. The results from this thesis, and other future work, will contribute to our ability to obtain more accurate information from remotely measured optical characteristics of estuarine and coastal regions. The combined use of in-situ measurements and detailed radiative transfer modeling enables the improvement of both the theoretical models and satellite remote sensing algorithms needed to a better understanding of biotic responses to environmental forcing

Developing a Community of Practice for Applied Uses of Future PACE Data to Address Marine Food Security Challenges

External interaction:The Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) mission will include a hyperspectral imaging radiometer to advance ecosystem monitoring beyond heritage retrievals of the concentration of surface chlorophyll and other traditional ocean color variables, offering potential for novel science and applications. PACE is the first NASA ocean color mission to occur under the agency's new and evolving effort to directly engage practical end users prior to satellite launch to increase adoption of this freely available data toward societal challenges. Here we describe early efforts to engage a community of practice around marine food-related resource management, business decisions, and policy analysis. Obviously one satellite cannot meet diverse end user needs at all scales and locations, but understanding downstream needs helps in the assessment of information gaps and planning how to optimize the unique strengths of PACE data in combination with the strengths of other satellite retrievals, in situ measurements, and models. Higher spectral resolution data from PACE can be fused with information from satellites with higher spatial or temporal resolution, plus other information, to enable identification and tracking of new marine biological indicators to guide sustainable management. Accounting for the needs of applied researchers as well as non-traditional users of satellite data early in the PACE mission process will ultimately serve to broaden the base of informed users and facilitate faster adoption of the most advanced science and technology toward the challenge of mitigating food insecurity

Coordinated Field Campaigns in Chesapeake Bay and Gulf of Mexico

NASA's GEOstationary Coastal and Air Pollution Events (GEO-CAPE) mission concept recommended by the U.S. National Research Council (2007) focuses on measurements of atmospheric trace gases and aerosols and aquatic coastal ecology and biogeochemistry from geostationary orbit (35,786 km altitude). Two GEO-CAPE-sponsored multi-investigator ship-based field campaigns were conducted to coincide with the NASA Earth Venture Suborbital project DISCOVER-AQ (Deriving Information on Surface conditions from Column and Vertically Resolved Observations Relevant to Air Quality) field campaigns: (1) Chesapeake Bay in July 2011 and (2) northwestern Gulf of Mexico in September 2013. Goal: to evaluate whether GEO-CAPE coastal mission measurement and instrument requirements are optimized to address science objectives while minimizing ocean color satellite sensor complexity, size and cost - critical mission risk reduction activities. NASA continues to support science studies related to the analysis of data collected as part of these coordinated field campaigns and smaller efforts

Chlorophyll Dynamics from Sentinel-3 Using an Optimized Algorithm for Enhanced Ecological Monitoring in Complex Urban Estuarine Waters

Urban estuaries are dynamic environments that hold high ecological and economic value. Yet, their optical complexity hinders accurate satellite retrievals of important biogeochemical variables, such as chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) biomass. Approaches based on a limited number of satellite spectral bands often fail to capture seasonal transitions and sharp spatial gradients in estuarine Chl-a concentrations, inhibiting integration of satellite data into water quality monitoring and conservation programs. We propose a novel approach that utilizes the wide range of spectral information captured by the Ocean and Land Color Instrument (OLCI) to retrieve estuarine Chl-a. To validate our approach, we used measurements in Long Island Sound (LIS), a highly urbanized estuary increasingly susceptible to anthropogenic stressors and climate change. Hyperspectral remote sensing reflectance (Rrs) and Chl-a data representing the spatiotemporal diversity of LIS were used to assess the ideal atmospheric correction approach for OLCI and develop a multi-spectral multiple linear regression (MS-MLR) Chl-a algorithm. POLYMER derived Rrs proved to be the preferred atmospheric correction approach. Evaluation of MS-MLR performance in retrieving Chl-a with in situ Rrs showed good agreement with field measurements. Application to OLCI-retrieved Rrs showed significant improvement (20%-30%) in common error metrics relative to other algorithms assessed. The MS-MLR approach successfully captured seasonal cycles and spatial gradients in Chl-a concentration. Application of this method to urban estuaries and coasts enables accurate, high resolution Chl-a observations at the ecosystem scale and across a range of conditions, as needed for conservation and ecosystem management efforts

High Precision, Absolute Total Column Ozone Measurements from the Pandora Spectrometer System: Comparisons with Data from a Brewer Double Monochromator and Aura OMI

We present new, high precision, high temporal resolution measurements of total column ozone (TCO) amounts derived from ground-based direct-sun irradiance measurements using our recently deployed Pandora single-grating spectrometers. Pandora's small size and portability allow deployment at multiple sites within an urban air-shed and development of a ground-based monitoring network for studying small-scale atmospheric dynamics, spatial heterogeneities in trace gas distribution, local pollution conditions, photochemical processes and interdependencies of ozone and its major precursors. Results are shown for four mid- to high-latitude sites where different Pandora instruments were used. Comparisons with a well calibrated double-grating Brewer spectrometer over a period of more than a year in Greenbelt MD showed excellent agreement and a small bias of approximately 2 DU (or, 0.6%). This was constant with slant column ozone amount over the full range of observed solar zenith angles (15-80), indicating adequate Pandora stray light correction. A small (1-2%) seasonal difference was found, consistent with sensitivity studies showing that the Pandora spectral fitting TCO retrieval has a temperature dependence of 1% per 3K, with an underestimation in temperature (e.g., during summer) resulting in an underestimation of TCO. Pandora agreed well with Aura-OMI (Ozone Measuring Instrument) satellite data, with average residuals of <1% at the different sites when the OMI view was within 50 km from the Pandora location and OMI-measured cloud fraction was <0.2. The frequent and continuous measurements by Pandora revealed significant short-term (hourly) temporal changes in TCO, not possible to capture by sun-synchronous satellites, such as OMI, alone

Optical Classification of an Urbanized Estuary Using Hyperspectral Remote Sensing Reflectance

Optical water classification based on remote sensing reflectance (Rrs(.)) data can provide insight into water components driving optical variability and inform the development and application of bio-optical algorithms in complex aquatic systems. In this study, we use an in situ dataset consisting of hyperspectral Rrs(.) and other biogeochemical and optical parameters collected over nearly five years across a heavily urbanized estuary, the Long Island Sound (LIS), east of New York City, USA, to optically classify LIS waters based on Rrs(.) spectral shape. We investigate the similarities and differences of discrete groupings (k-means clustering) and continuous spectral indexing using the Apparent Visible Wavelength (AVW) in relation to system biogeochemistry and water properties. Our Rrs(.) dataset in LIS was best described by three spectral clusters, the first two accounting for the majority (89%) of Rrs(.) observations and primarily driven by phytoplankton dynamics, with the third confined to measurements in river and river plume waters. We found AVW effective at tracking subtle changes in Rrs(.) spectral shape and fine-scale water quality features along river-to-ocean gradients. The recently developed Quality Water Index Polynomial (QWIP) was applied to evaluate three different atmospheric correction approaches for satellite-derived Rrs(.) from the Sentinel-3 Ocean and Land Colour Instrument (OLCI) sensor in LIS, finding Polymer to be the preferred approach. Our results suggest that integrative, continuous indices such as AVW can be effective indicators to assess nearshore biogeochemical variability and evaluate the quality of both in situ and satellite bio-optical datasets, as needed for improved ecosystem and water resource management in LIS and similar regions

Tidal Marsh Outwelling of Dissolved Organic Matter and Resulting Temporal Variability in Coastal Water Optical and Biogeochemical Properties

Coastal wetlands are highly dynamic environments at the land-ocean interface where human activities, short-term physical forcings and intense episodic events result in high biological and chemical variability. Long being recognized as among the most productive ecosystems in the world, tidally-influenced coastal marshes are hot spots of biogeochemical transformation and exchange. High temporal resolution observations that we performed in several marsh-estuarine systems of the Chesapeake Bay revealed significant variability in water optical and biogeochemical characteristics at hourly time scales, associated with tidally-driven hydrology. Water in the tidal creek draining each marsh was sampled every hour during several semi-diurnal tidal cycles using ISCO automated samplers. Measurements showed that water leaving the marsh during ebbing tide was consistently enriched in dissolved organic carbon (DOC), frequently by more than a factor of two, compared to water entering the marsh during flooding tide. Estimates of DOC fluxes showed a net DOC export from the marsh to the estuary during seasons of both low and high biomass of marsh vegetation. Chlorophyll amounts were typically lower in the water draining the marsh, compared to that entering the marsh during flooding tide, suggesting that marshes act as transformers of particulate to dissolved organic matter. Moreover, detailed optical and compositional analyses demonstrated that marshes are important sources of optically and chemically distinctive, relatively complex, high molecular weight, aromatic-rich and highly colored dissolved organic compounds. Compared to adjacent estuarine waters, marsh-exported colored dissolved organic matter (CDOM) was characterized by considerably stronger absorption (more than a factor of three in some cases), larger DOC-specific absorption, lower exponential spectral slope, larger fluorescence signal, lower fluorescence per unit absorbance, and higher fluorescence at visible wavelengths. Observed patterns in water optical and biogeochemical variables were very consistent among different marsh systems and throughout the year, despite continued tidal exchange, implying rapid transformation of marsh DOM in the estuary through both photochemical and microbial processes. These findings illustrate the importance of tidal marsh ecosystems as sources, sinks and/or transformers of biologically important nutrients, carbon and colored dissolved organic compounds, and their influence on short-term biological, optical and biogeochemical variability in coastal waters

Improved Hypoxia Modeling for Nutrient Control Decisions in the Gulf of Mexico

The Gulf of Mexico Modeling Framework is a suite of coupled models linking the deposition and transport of sediment and nutrients to subsequent bio-geo chemical processes and the resulting effect on concentrations of dissolved oxygen in the coastal waters of Louisiana and Texas. Here, we examine the potential benefits of using multiple NASA remote sensing data products within this Modeling Framework for increasing the accuracy of the models and their utility for nutrient control decisions in the Gulf of Mexico. Our approach is divided into three components: evaluation and improvement of (a) the precipitation input data (b) atmospheric constituent concentrations in EPA's air quality/deposition model and (c) the calculation of algal biomass, organic carbon and suspended solids within the water quality/eutrophication models of the framework

Evaluation of Approaches for Mapping Tidal Wetlands of the Chesapeake and Delaware Bays

The spatial extent and vegetation characteristics of tidal wetlands and their change are among the biggest unknowns and largest sources of uncertainty in modeling ecosystem processes and services at the land-ocean interface. Using a combination of moderate-high spatial resolution