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49 records · Page 3

Where do the fish go in winter? A year of observing seasonal changes in Sequim Bay’s nearshore fish community

The use of environmental DNA (eDNA) sampling has been proposed as a complementary method to monitor fish species in marine environments. eDNA offers a non-invasive, cost-effective, and scalable way to detect aquatic species. It is appealing in environments where traditional methods are limited by access or visibility, especially in complex or sensitive habitats such as tidal channels and other marine energy sites. Before eDNA can be fully relied upon, we must verify its accuracy against established methods, like underwater photography. In this study, we collected eDNA samples and concurrently deployed a 360-degree camera near the floating dock of PNNL-Sequim in the tidal channel of Sequim Bay once a month for twelve consecutive months. During deployments, the camera remained on the seafloor for several hours overlapping slack tide and captured time-lapse photographs at ten second intervals. Counts and identifications of fish species observed in the images were used to calculate monthly Shannon diversity and Pielou evenness indices. These values were compared across the months using a Kruskal-Wallis test paired with a Conover-Iman post-hoc test. Cliff’s Delta was also calculated to quantify the effect size of the monthly differences. No fish were observed from December through April, likely due to seasonal behavior changes within the local fish community. Fish returned to the shoreline in May, with the greatest diversity and evenness recorded in September. These findings reveal substantial seasonal variation in nearshore fish communities. Many monthly comparisons were found to contain statistically significant differences within the diversity and evenness, and even more were found to have large effect sizes, signifying large ecological changes throughout the seasons. The absence of fish observed during the winter months is a key outcome of this survey that will hopefully be reflected in the eDNA results still to come, which would help validate the eDNA approach.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES

Building a Bilingual Google Earth Engine Dashboard to Increase Accessibility to Long-term Time Series Remote Sensing Data for Monitoring Saline System Changes in Chile’s Atacama Desert

Saline systems, consisting of salt flats, ponds, and marshes, provide vital water resources to wildlife and communities in northern Chile’s Atacama Desert, one of the driest regions in the world. Mining is extensive in the Atacama, which contains 30% of the world’s lithium reserves and is abundant in potassium and boron. The groundwater that feeds into salt marshes and ponds is extracted in large volumes for mining operations, limiting the availability of water for ecosystems. However, identifying long-term and large-scale environmental impacts from local lithium mining on the saline systems is limited by region inaccessibility and terrain variability. Open access satellite imagery and cloud computing technology has made studying Atacama saline systems feasible and allowed for collaboration across different agencies and countries. The NASA DEVELOP Program partnered with Chile’s la Universidad de La Serena and Servicio Nacional de Geología y Minería (SERNAGEOMIN) to create the Saline Analysis Tool (SalT) in Google Earth Engine (GEE). SalT is used to analyze the extent and distribution of remote saline systems in the Atacama from 1986 to the present day. The tool filters Landsat 5 Thematic Mapper (TM) and Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager (OLI) data from GEE’s data catalog and creates a single composite image per year for analysis. Additional output analyses include land cover classification, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI) raster images that can be displayed on the map interface or exported. The tool can also generate time-lapse videos and charts displaying NDVI, NDWI, and land cover over time. A key feature of the tool is the use of a bilingual graphical user interface to make analysis accessible and customizable to different users’ needs—SalT provides options to select an analysis area, analysis time period, and outputs to display or export. The tool also incorporates new Earth observations as they are added to GEE’s catalog. The ability to easily visualize and analyze long-term remote sensing imagery will enable SERNAGEOMIN and la Universidad de la Serena to continually monitor changes in these saline systems and inform future land management policy.

NASA DEVELOP

Geophysical Imaging of Flow and Transport (GIFT): FY24 Status Report

The GIFT (Geophysical Imaging of Flow and Transport) system will improve predictive capabilities as a platform for collecting multi-physical (MP) time-lapse datasets from well-controlled laboratory experiments. This will enable more accurate prediction of multi-phase fluid flow during delivery and transport of insitu remedial amendments as important components of the overall Hanford Site cleanup mission. Design and construction of the GIFT system, which consists of a meter-scale test cell and a network of custom gas circulation and analysis systems, was accomplished in fiscal year (FY) 2024, with plans to add liquid circulation to the system and use this new capability for multi-phase deep vadose experiments starting in FY25.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W

Exploiting the temporal coherence of repetitive satellite imagery

Imagery from ERTS or the Synchronous Meteorological Satellites, because of its precisely repetitive nature, is ideally suited both for subjective enhancement by time-lapse display and for objective measurements of changes with time. A hybrid system providing both viewing and image-processing functions is described. A representative application involves the measurement of changes in the aerial extent of snow cover within specified mountain watersheds. Subjective viewing of time-lapse sequences of the snow scenes provides valuable insight into the nature of numerous extraneous signals, permitting the interim implementation of operationally useful snow-measuring systems and hopefully leading toward the design of fully objective classifiers.

Evans, W. E.

Human Settlements in the South-Central U.S., Viewed at Night from the International Space Station

A recent innovation of astronauts observing Earth from the International Space Station (ISS) is documenting human footprints by photographing city lights at night time. One of the earliest night-time images from the ISS was the US-Mexico border at El Paso-Ciudad Juarez. The colors, patterns and density of city lights document the differences in the cultural settlement patterns across the border region, as well as within the urban areas themselves. City lights help outline the most populated areas in settlements around the world, and can be used to explore relative population densities, changing patterns of urban/suburban development, transportation networks, spatial relationship to geographic features, and more. The data also provides insight into parameters such as surface roughness for input into local and regional climate modeling and studies of light pollution. The ground resolution of night-time astronaut photography from the ISS is typically an order of magnitude greater than current Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) data, and therefore can serve as a "zoom lens" for selected urban areas. Current handheld digital cameras in use on the ISS, optimized for greater light sensitivity, provide opportunities to obtain new detailed imagery of atmospheric phenomena such as airglow, aurora, and noctilucent clouds in addition to documenting urban patterns. ISS astronauts have taken advantage of increasingly sensitive digital cameras to document the world at night in unprecedented detail. In addition, the capability to obtain time-lapse imagery from fixed cameras has been exploited to produce dynamic videos of both changing surface patterns around the world and atmospheric phenomena. We will profile some spectacular images of human settlements over the South-Central U.S., and contrast with other images from around the world. More data can be viewed at http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/Videos/CrewEarthObservationsVideos/. US-Mexico border is obvious by the different lighting pattern. Not surprisingly, the densely illuminated city of Juarez indicates a higher population; El Paso's smaller population is spread out over a larger area.

Dawson, Melissa

Plume development in Long Island Sound observed by remote sensing (ERTS-1)

As the Connecticut River flows into Long Island Sound, large plumes are developed during the mixing of ocean and estuarine waters. Plumes were delineated for July 28, October 8, October 27, and December 2, 1972, by analyzing ERTS-1 imagery with the SRI electronic satellite image analysis console (ESIAC). Insertion of MSS band 5 into the ESIAC produced the best result in this analysis. The four plumes that have been delineated provide the first input to a time-lapse analysis of circulation patterns at the eastern end of Long Island Sound.

Ruggles, F. H., Jr.

Temporal variations of loop structures in the solar atmosphere

The temporal characteristics of coronal loops are described using a number of unique time-lapse sequences of Ne VII 465 A, Mg IX 368 A, and Fe XV 284 A spectroheliograms. These sequences were obtained with the NRL Skylab/ATM slitless spectrograph during the final Skylab mission (November 1973-February 1974). In the first sequence, Ne VII and Mg IX images were obtained simultaneously at 1.5-mm intervals for a 27-min duration on Nov. 28, 1973. In the second sequence, simultaneous Ne VII-Mg IX pairs were obtained at approximately 3-hr intervals (on alternate satellite orbits) for a 36-hr duration on Jan. 19-20, 1974. The intervening orbits were used to obtain a third sequence which consisted of Fe XV images at 3-hr intervals for the same 36-hr duration. The results place severe constraints on theoretical models of coronal heating and mass flow.

Sheeley, N. R., Jr.

Demo of three ways to use a computer to assist in lab

The objective is to help the slow learner and students with a language problem, or to challenge the advanced student. Technology has advanced to the point where images generated on a computer can easily be recorded on a VCR and used as a video tutorial. This transfer can be as simple as pointing a video camera at the screen and recording the image. For more clarity and professional results, a board may be inserted into a computer which will convert the signals directly to the TV standard. Using a computer program that generates movies one can animate various principles which would normally be impossible to show or would require time-lapse photography. For example, you might show the change in shape of grains as a piece of metal is cold worked and then show the recrystallization and grain growth as heat is applied. More imaginative titles and graphics are also possible using this technique. Remedial help may also be offered via computer to those who find a specific concept difficult. A printout of specific data, details of the theory or equipment set-up can be offered. Programs are now available that will help as well as test the student in specific areas so that a Keller type approach can be used with each student to insure each knows the subject before going on to the next topic. A computer can serve as an information source and contain the microstructures, physical data and availability of each material tested in the lab. With this source present unknowns can be evaluated and various tests simulated to create a simple or complex case study lab assignment.

Neville, J. P.

Image reproduction with interactive graphics

Software application or development in optical image digital data processing requires a fast, good quality, yet inexpensive hard copy of processed images. To achieve this, a Cambo camera with an f 2.8/150-mm Xenotar lens in a Copal shutter having a Graflok back for 4 x 5 Polaroid type 57 pack-film has been interfaced to an existing Adage, AGT-30/Electro-Mechanical Research, EMR 6050 graphic computer system. Time-lapse photography in conjunction with a log to linear voltage transformation has resulted in an interactive system capable of producing a hard copy in 54 sec. The interactive aspect of the system lies in a Tektronix 4002 graphic computer terminal and its associated hard copy unit.

Buckner, J. D.

Multi-slit spectrograph and H alpha Doppler system

Description of the design and operation of a multiple-entrance-slit spectrograph, built for time-lapse photography of the spectra of flares and other transient solar phenomena. This spectrograph employs narrow-band filters to limit the wavelength range of the spectrograph to a few angstroms centered at H-alpha or other spectral lines. A polarizing beamsplitter, prior to the slits, provides a prefiltered second solar image to a narrow band H-alpha Doppler filter for simultaneous photography in the wings of the H-alpha line. The spectrograph and the H-alpha Doppler system constitute a flexible instrument in which components may be substituted to achieve different passband widths, image scales, dispersions, and corresponding numbers and spacings of adjacent spectra at a selected wavelength.

Martin, S. F.

Time-lapse imagery in 2017 and 2018 at the Lower Montane site in the East River Watershed, Colorado

Time-lapse imagery was collected using an automated RGB camera mounted on a pole at the base of the northeast-facing hillslope at the Lower Montane site in the East River Watershed, Colorado. The imagery was intended to support a better understanding of plant dynamics and their controls during the growing season. The dataset includes RGB images archived in four zip files (containing imagery in JPEG format), corresponding to photos taken from the hillslope and the adjacent floodplain during 2017 and 2018. A fifth zip file contains a few AVI movies that compare imagery between the two years. The AVI files can be read with most media players applications. The archive contains a total of five *.zip files and three csv metadata files (flmd.csv, dd.csv, and locations.csv).This work was supported by the Watershed Function Science Focus Area at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory funded by the US Department of Energy, Office of Science, Biological and Environmental Research under Contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES

Process thresholds: Report of Working Group Number 3

The Process Thresholds Working Group concerned itself with whether a geomorphic process to be monitored on satellite imagery must be global, regional, or local in its effect on the landscape. It was pointed out that major changes in types and magnitudes of processes operating in an area are needed to be detectable on a global scale. It was concluded from a review of geomorphic studies which used satellite images that they do record change in landscape over time (on a time-lapse basis) as a result of one or more processes. In fact, this may be one of the most important attributes of space imagery, in that one can document land form changes in the form of a permanent historical record. The group also discussed the important subject of the acquisition of basic data sets by different satellite imaging systems. Geomorphologists already have available one near-global basis data set resulting from the early LANDSAT program, especially images acquired by LANDSATs 1 and 2. Such historic basic data sets can serve as a benchmark for comparison with landscape changes that take place in the future. They can also serve as a benchmark for comparison with landscape changes that have occurred in the past (as recorded) by images, photography and maps.

Williams, R. S., Jr.

Pancam multispectral imaging results from the Opportunity Rover at Meridiani Planum

Panoramic Camera (Pancam) images from Meridiani Planum reveal a low-albedo, generally flat, and relatively rock-free surface. Within and around impact craters and fractures, laminated outcrop rocks with higher albedo are observed. Fine-grained materials include dark sand, bright ferric iron-rich dust, angular rock clasts, and millimeter-size spheroidal granules that are eroding out of the laminated rocks. Spectra of sand, clasts, and one dark plains rock are consistent with mafic silicates such as pyroxene and olivine. Spectra of both the spherules and the laminated outcrop materials indicate the presence of crystalline ferric oxides or oxyhydroxides. Atmospheric observations show a steady decline in dust opacity during the mission. Astronomical observations captured solar transits by Phobos and Deimos and time-lapse observations of sunsets.

Mars