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At least 73 records · Page 4

Exploiting the Free Landsat Archive for Operational Monitoring of Ecosystem Condition and Change Across the Chesapeake Bay Watershed

For the first time, all imagery acquired by the Landsat series of satellites is being made available by the USGS to users at no cost. This represents a key opportunity to use Landsat in a truly operational monitoring framework: large regions of the U.S. such as the Chesapeake Bay Watershed can now be analyzed using "wall-to-wall" imagery at timescales from approximately 1 month to several years. With the future launch of the Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM) and Decadal Survey missions such as the hyperspectral HyspIRI, it is imperative to develop robust processing systems to perform annual ecosystem assessments over large regions such as the Chesapeake Bay. We have been working at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) to develop an integrative framework for inserting 30m, annual, Landsat based data and derived products into the existing decision support system for the Bay, with a particular focus on ecosystem condition and changes over the entire watershed. The basic goal is to use a 'stack' of Landsat imagery with 40% or less cloud cover to produce multi-date (2005-2009 period), cloud/shadow/gap-free composited surface reflectance products that will support the creation of watershed scale land cover/ use products and the monitoring of ecosystem change across the Bay. Our scientific focus extends beyond the conventional definition of land cover (i.e. a classification of vegetation type) as we propose to monitor both changes in surface type (e.g. forest to urban), vegetation structure (e.g. forest disturbance due to logging or insect damage), as well as winter crop cover. These processes represent a continuum from large, interannual changes in land cover type, to subtler, intra-annual changes associated with short-term disturbance. The free Landsat data are being processed to surface reflectance and composited using the existing Landsat Ecosystem Disturbance Adaptive Processing System here at NASA/ GSFC, and land cover products (type, tree cover, impervious cover, winter cover) are being produced using well-established decision tree and regression tree algorithms. The goal of this session is to present the data products that we have been developing to the Bay science community and to discuss potential avenues for improvements and usage of the products for decision support.

BrowndeColstoun, Eric↗

NASA Ames DEVELOP Interns Collaborate with the South Bay Salt Pond Restoration Project to Monitor and Study Restoration Efforts using NASA's Satellites

In the past, natural tidal marshes in the south bay were segmented by levees and converted into ponds for use in salt production. In an effort to provide habitat for migratory birds and other native plants and animals, as well as to rebuild natural capital, the South Bay Salt Pond Restoration Project (SBSPRP) is focused on restoring a portion of the over 15,000 acres of wetlands in California's South San Francisco Bay. The process of restoration begins when a levee is breached; the bay water and sediment flow into the ponds and eventually restore natural tidal marshes. Since the spring of 2010 the NASA Ames Research Center (ARC) DEVELOP student internship program has collaborated with the South Bay Salt Pond Restoration Project (SBSPRP) to study the effects of these restoration efforts and to provide valuable information to assist in habitat management and ecological forecasting. All of the studies were based on remote sensing techniques -- NASA's area of expertise in the field of Earth Science, and used various analytical techniques such as predictive modeling, flora and fauna classification, and spectral detection, to name a few. Each study was conducted by a team of aspiring scientists as a part of the DEVELOP program at Ames.

Newcomer, Michelle E.↗

Using Remotely Sensed Data and Watershed and Hydrodynamic Models to Evaluate the Effects of Land Cover Land Use Change on Aquatic Ecosystems in Mobile Bay, AL

Alabama coastal systems have been subjected to increasing pressure from a variety of activities including urban and rural development, shoreline modifications, industrial activities, and dredging of shipping and navigation channels. The impacts on coastal ecosystems are often observed through the use of indicator species. One such indicator species for aquatic ecosystem health is submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV). Watershed and hydrodynamic modeling has been performed to evaluate the impact of land cover land use (LCLU) change in the two counties surrounding Mobile Bay (Mobile and Baldwin) on SAV stressors and controlling factors (temperature, salinity, and sediment) in the Mobile Bay estuary. Watershed modeling using the Loading Simulation Package in C++ (LSPC) was performed for all watersheds contiguous to Mobile Bay for LCLU scenarios in 1948, 1992, 2001, and 2030. Remotely sensed Landsat-derived National Land Cover Data (NLCD) were used in the 1992 and 2001 simulations after having been reclassified to a common classification scheme. The Prescott Spatial Growth Model was used to project the 2030 LCLU scenario based on current trends. The LSPC model simulations provided output on changes in flow, temperature, and sediment for 22 discharge points into the estuary. These results were inputted in the Environmental Fluid Dynamics Computer Code (EFDC) hydrodynamic model to generate data on changes in temperature, salinity, and sediment on a grid throughout Mobile Bay and adjacent estuaries. The changes in the aquatic ecosystem were used to perform an ecological analysis to evaluate the impact on SAV habitat suitability. This is the key product benefiting the Mobile Bay coastal environmental managers that integrates the influences of temperature, salinity, and sediment due to LCLU driven flow changes with the restoration potential of SAVs. Data products and results are being integrated into NOAA s EcoWatch and Gulf of Mexico Data Atlas online systems for dissemination to coastal resource managers and stakeholders.

Al-Hamdan, Mohammad Z.↗

Hurricane Ike Deposits on the Bolivar Peninsula, Galveston Bay, Texas

In September 2008, Hurricane Ike made landfall on Galveston Bay, close to the NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC). The storm flooded much of the area with a storm surge ranging from 11 -20 feet. The Bolivar peninsula, the southeastern coast of Galveston Bay, experienced the brunt of the surge. Several agencies collected excellent imagery baselines before the storm and complementary data a few days afterward that helped define the impacts of the storm. In April of 2011, a team of scientists and astronauts from JSC conducted field mapping exercises along the Bolivar Peninsula, the section of the Galveston Bay coast most impacted by the storm. Astronauts routinely observe and document coastal changes from orbit aboard the International Space Station. As part of their basic Earth Science training, scientists at the Johnson Space Center take astronauts out for field mapping exercises so that they can better recognize and understand features and processes that they will later observe from the International Space Station. Using pre -storm baseline images of the Bolivar Peninsula near Rollover Pass and Gilchrist (NOAA/Google Earth Imagery and USGS aerial imagery and lidar data), the astronauts mapped current coastline positions at defined locations, and related their findings to specific coastal characteristics, including channel, jetties, and other developments. In addition to mapping, we dug trenches along both the Gulf of Mexico coast as well as the Galveston Bay coast of the Bolivar peninsula to determine the depth of the scouring from the storm on the Gulf side, and the amount of deposition of the storm surge deposits on the Bay side of the peninsula. The storm signature was easy to identify by sharp sediment transitions and, in the case of storm deposits, a layer of storm debris (roof shingles, PVC pipes, etc) and black, organic rich layers containing buried sea grasses in areas that were marshes before the storm. The amount of deposition was generally about 20 -25 cm; the local areas experiencing obvious deposition are readily obvious in post -Ike imagery of the region. We used a March 2010 aerial photograph from the NOAA -Google Earth collection because construction and vegetation recovery was minimal. Based on the before and after aerial imagery and the trenching data collected over two days, we can begin to characterize the material transported and deposited by Hurricane Ike along one stretch of the Bolivar peninsula. We summarize the results from our mapping and trenching data. The basic data collected 2.5 years after the storm are ephemeral as the storm deposits become reworked and overprinted by coastal processes, vegetation regrowth and reconstruction.

Evans, Cynthia A.↗

Estuarine Dissolved Organic Carbon Flux from Space: With Application to Chesapeake and Delaware Bays

This study uses a neural network model trained with in situ data, combined with satellite data and hydrodynamic model products, to compute the daily estuarine export of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) at the mouths of Chesapeake Bay (CB) and Delaware Bay (DB) from 2007 to 2011. Both bays show large flux variability with highest fluxes in spring and lowest in fall as well as interannual flux variability (0.18 and 0.27 Tg C/year in 2008 and 2010 for CB; 0.04 and 0.09 Tg C/year in 2008 and 2011 for DB). Based on previous estimates of total organic carbon (TOCexp) exported by all Mid-Atlantic Bight estuaries (1.2 Tg C/year), the DOC export (CB + DB) of 0.3 Tg C/year estimated here corresponds to 25% of the TOCexp. Spatial and temporal covariations of velocity and DOC concentration provide contributions to the flux, with larger spatial influence. Differences in the discharge of fresh water into the bays (74 billion m(exp3)/year for CB and 21 billion m9exp3)/year for DB) and their geomorphologies are major drivers of the differences in DOC fluxes for these two systems. Terrestrial DOC inputs are similar to the export of DOC at the bay mouths at annual and longer time scales but diverge significantly at shorter time scales (days to months). Future efforts will expand to the Mid-Atlantic Bight and Gulf of Maine, and its major rivers and estuaries, in combination with coupled terrestrial-estuarine-ocean biogeochemical models that include effects of climate change, such as warming and CO2 increase.

Signorini, Sergio↗

Using NASA Earth Observations to Identify Trends in Harmful Algal Blooms in Narragansett Bay

Narragansett Bay in Rhode Island is known for its quahog, or hard-shell clam, shellfisheries. However, increased levels in harmful algal blooms (HABs) have posed threats to quahog populations and raised public health concerns due to shellfishery closures resulting from contamination with neurotoxins released by phytoplankton. NASA DEVELOP partnered with the Environmental Protection Agency’s National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory and Rhode Island’s Department of Environmental Management to use Earth observations and the partners’ in-situ data to visualize phytoplankton bloom events within the bay. The team used Sentinel-3 Ocean and Land Color Instrument (OLCI), Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager (OLI), and Landsat 9 OLI-2 to track proposed proxies for phytoplankton from June 2016 to October 2023. Multiple sensors and datasets were employed for more accurate results due to the small spatial extent of Narragansett Bay. Chlorophyll-a and total suspended solids were determined to be accurate parameters to monitor HAB events. Although complications could arise due to the relatively small size of the bay and small-scale of the bloom events, which may be difficult to visualize via remote sensing, Earth observations have proven to help strengthen HAB research, monitoring, and prediction and will complement the extensive in-situ data in Narragansett Bay.

Isabella Giordano↗

Observed Variability in Convective Cell Characteristics and Near-Storm Environments across the Sea- and Bay-Breeze Fronts in Southeast Texas

Abstract During the DOE Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Tracking Aerosol Convection Interactions Experiment (TRACER) IOP spanning June–September 2022, two fixed ARM sites and a mobile team concurrently sampled the airmass heterogeneity across sea- and bay-breeze fronts around the greater Houston metropolitan region. Here, we quantify the spatiotemporal variability between maritime (coastal/bay side of breeze fronts) and continental (inland side of breeze fronts) air masses over 15 IOP days characterized by strong sea-breeze forcing. We analyze environmental profile data from 177 radiosondes and use S- and C-band radar data to track and quantify the variability in attributes of more than 2300 shallow and transitioning cells across different air masses. The composite analysis of environmental profiles indicates that during the early afternoon, the sea-breeze maritime air mass exhibits lower convective available potential energy (CAPE) than the bay-breeze maritime air mass. As the sea breeze advances inland with time, CAPE within the maritime air mass exceeds that of the continental air mass to the north of the breeze fronts. In general, maritime cells have a larger mean composite reflectivity and cell widths than continental cells; however, the response varies between shallow and transitioning cells. Mean composite 20-dB Z echo-top heights, however, are similar across air masses for both shallow and transitioning cells. The continental and maritime inflow air mass for transitioning cells has significantly different mean values for mixed-layer entrainment CAPE, lifted condensation level, level of free condensation, boundary layer depth, and diluted equilibrium level. For shallow cells, only total precipitable water shows a significant difference. Significance Statement The greater Houston metropolitan area is a natural laboratory for understanding the individual impacts of background meteorology and aerosols on convective clouds. Due to its proximity to the Gulf Coast and Galveston Bay, the Houston region experiences a diurnal precipitation cycle in the summer, driven by convection triggered from sea- and bay-breeze fronts. These fronts act as a boundary between air masses with distinct thermodynamic and environmental characteristics. Convergence along these fronts and interactions between storm outflow and the fronts facilitate convection initiation in different mesoscale air masses. This study quantifies the heterogeneity among these air masses while investigating their influence on cloud microphysics. We find that the effect of airmass heterogeneity is more pronounced for the bulk microphysical properties in shallow clouds.

Sharma, Milind↗

Transportation Fuel Resiliency: Case Study of Tampa Bay

Here, this case study presents findings from an analysis of the emergency preparation and response for Hurricane Irma, the most recent hurricane impacting the Tampa Bay region. The Tampa Bay region, in particular, is considered one of the most vulnerable areas in the United States to hurricanes and severe tropical weather. A particular vulnerability stems from how all petroleum fuel comes to the area by marine transport through Port Tampa Bay, which can be (and has been in the past) impacted by hurricanes and tropical storms. The case study discussed in this paper covers previous fuel challenges, vulnerabilities, and lessons learned by key Tampa Bay public agency fleets during the past 10 years (mainly as a result of the most recent 2017 Hurricane Irma) to explore ways to improve the area’s resilience to natural disasters. Some of the strategies for fuel-supply resiliency include maintaining emergency fuel supply, prioritizing fuel use, strategically placing the assets around the region to help with recovery, investing in backup generators (including generators powered by alternative fuels), planning for redundancies in fuel supply networks, developing more efficient communication procedures between public fleets, hurricane preparedness-planning, and upgrading street drainage systems to reduce the threat of local flooding.

33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS↗

The 1990 San Francisco Bay Area Metropolitan Transportation Commission Household Survey

The San Francisco Bay Area's Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) and the regional transportation planning agency for the nine-county Bay Area conducted the survey. The basic purpose for the survey was for the development of travel demand models to simulate the various components of travel behavior: auto ownership, trip frequency (trip generation), and the distribution of trips between origins and destinations by travel mode. Planners at MTC envisioned the 1990 survey as the first wave of a multi-wave household panel survey designed to capture both short- and long-term changes in regional travel behavior. The 1990 survey collected single-weekday travel data from nearly 9,900 Bay Area households and multiple-weekday travel data from nearly 1,500 households. The 1990 survey effort also included a separate sub-project, funded by the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) District, to collect multiple-weekday travel data from 1,000 BART-using households. The BART survey and the MTC multiple-weekday survey were completed in the spring of 1990; the MTC single-weekday survey was continued and completed during the autumn of 1990.

1Hz data↗

1996 Bay Area Travel Study Wave 2

The 1996 Bay Area Travel Study, conducted by the Metropolitan Transportation Commssion, collected demographic, socioeconomic, and travel data for 3,618 households in California's nine-county Bay Area: Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano, and Sonoma counties. The goal of the study was to collect information on activities for all people in each household, regardless of age or relationship. Respondents were asked to record all activities, including trips, over a two-day period. The data gathered during the survey will be used for the area's long-term transportation and air quality planning needs. The survey collected both weekday and weekend multi-day data and was the first activity-based survey conducted in the Bay Area. It also included separate sub-projects. A stated preference congestion pricing survey was administered to 150 of the respondents with a follow-up survey conducted with 110 participants. A follow-up survey was also completed by over half of the 3,618 respondent households to update contact and demographic information. These participants were then used as a panel sample for the 2000 Bay Area Travel Survey (NuStats Research and Consulting 1999).

1Hz data↗

2000 Bay Area Travel Survey

In 2000, the San Fransisco Bay Area Metropolitan Transportation Commission launched its fifth travel survey effort in the nine-county Bay Area. More than 15,000 households participated. The survey was an activity-based travel survey that collected information on all in-home and out-of-home activities over a two-day period, including weekday and weekend pursuits. Like the 1990 survey, the 2000 Bay Area Travel Survey also included an additional sample of 3,000 households using Bay Area Rapid Transit. Respondents were asked to report detailed information regarding their travel, including trip locations, mode of transportation, trip start and end times, trip purpose, and trip activities. Demographic variables include gender, age, employment status, occupation, income, education level, ethnicity, as well as whether a respondent held a valid driver's license, was a student, and had a disability.

1Hz data↗

REopt ® Lite Overview - Resilience Analysis: Clear Sky Tampa Bay [Slides]

Through the Solar Energy Innovation Network (SEIN), the Clear Sky Tampa Bay team, led by the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council (TBRPC), developed a toolkit to help local governments prioritize sites for solar photovoltaics (PV) and battery energy storage in the context of resilience and emergency management. At a high level, the Clear Sky Tampa Bay process involves: (1) Identifying sites based on community resilience needs and priorities ("Where do we need a resilient energy solution?"); (2) Screening and prioritizing sites for solar PV and storage suitability based on site conditions and other factors; and (3) Using REopt Lite to screen down-selected facilities to prioritize sites based on resilience project economics. This slide deck focuses on Step 3 above, and provides a general overview of REopt Lite and suggestions and examples tailored to the Clear Sky Tampa Bay team about how to use REopt Lite for additional analysis.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

Satellite studies of suspended matter and aquatic interfaces in Delaware Bay

The author has identified the following significant results. Three successful ERTS-1 satellite passes have produced synoptic imagery showing distribution of suspended matter and aquatic interfaces over Delaware Bay and adjacent Atlantic coastal regions. The interfaces are a major hydrographic feature in Delaware Bay and frequently include regions of high convergence. In the upper and middle bay the interfaces tend to align along the flow axis of the river and parallel to the shoreline. A correlation has been found between the concentration of sand particles in suspension and the depth, suggesting that most of the heavier particles are lifted into temporary suspension over shoals and shallow areas by currents and waves. The second type of interface is primarily a tidal intrusion of shelf water into the bay during incipient flood tide, with associated discontinuities in salinity and temperature. The convergence properties of such fronts attract heavy accumulations of foam which were found to contain strong concentrations of heavy metals and other toxic substances.

Klemas, V.↗

Investigations on classification categories for wetlands of Chesapeake Bay using remotely sensed data

The use of remote sensors to determine the characteristics of the wetlands of the Chesapeake Bay and surrounding areas is discussed. The objectives of the program are stated as follows: (1) to use data and remote sensing techniques developed from studies of Rhode River, West River, and South River salt marshes to develop a wetland classification scheme useful in other regions of the Chesapeake Bay and to evaluate the classification system with respect to vegetation types, marsh physiography, man-induced perturbation, and salinity; and (2) to develop a program using remote sensing techniques, for the extension of the classification to Chesapeake Bay salt marshes and to coordinate this program with the goals of the Chesapeake Research Consortium and the states of Maryland and Virginia. Maps of the Chesapeake Bay areas are developed from aerial photographs to display the wetland structure and vegetation.

Williamson, F. S. L.↗

The Chesapeake Bay Program: An opportunity to use an innovative monitoring technique

The goal of this program is to develop a management system that will protect and preserve the water quality of the Chesapeake Bay by effectively managing its uses and resources. To achieve this goal, three major objectives must be accomplished: (1) Determine what units of government have management responsibility for the environmental quality of the Chesapeake Bay, also to define how such management responsibility can best be structured so that communications and coordination can be improved between the respective units of government, research, educational institutions, concerned groups, and individuals. (2) Assess the principal factors having an adverse impact on the environmental quality of the Chesapeake Bay. Following this assessment and review of ongoing research, direct and coordinate research and abatement programs that will most effectively address these factors, and (3) analyze all environmental sampling data now being collected on the Chesapeake Bay and suggest and undertake methods for improving this data collection, and to establish a continuing capability for collecting storing, analyzing, and disseminating these data.

Mangiaracina, L.↗

Contribution of remote sensing to understand the Bay as a system

The natural resource management information system concept designed specifically for use with remote sensing is discussed in terms of understanding and studying the Chesapeake Bay as a total system. The Bay is defined as a system comprising the lithosphere, the hydrosphere, and the biosphere, that is the vertical profile encompassed by the systems and a two dimensional plane defining the total watershed of the Bay from the headwaters of its tributaries to a distance in the ocean defined by ten tidal cycles. The Chesapeake Bay system is assumed to be the ecosystem in the largest sense. Ecological partitioning, a methodology resulting from studies of land systems for partitioning the land into geobotanical landscape units, is included along with a breakdown of LANDSAT investigations according to subject area.

Park, A. B.↗

Role of remote sensing in Bay measurements

Remote measurements of a number of surface or near surface parameters for baseline definition and specialized studies, remote measurements of episodic events, and remote measurements of the Bay lithosphere are considered in terms of characterizing and understanding the ecology of the Chesapeake Bay. Geologic processes and features best suited for information enhancement by remote sensing methods are identified. These include: (1) rates of sedimentation in the Bay; (2) rates of erosion of Bay shorelines; (3) spatial distribution and geometry of aquifers; (4) mapping of Karst terrain (sinkholes); and (5) mapping of fracture patterns. Recommendations for studying problem areas identified are given.

Mugler, J. P., Jr.↗

Multiple-satellite studies of magnetospheric substorms - Distinction between polar magnetic substorms and convection-driven negative bays

Two types of prolonged auroral zone magnetic bay activity are studied. The first manifests frequent substorm expansions and the second (a convection bay) shows weak and infrequent substorm onset signatures during intense auroral zone bays. Data are obtained by multiple satellite recordings during a 5-hour interval of persistent auroral zone activity. The results are discussed in terms of: magnetic activity on the ground, solar wind and tail lobe conditions, onset and recovery of the 1122 UT substorm, plasma sheet variations during the convection bay, reappearance of substorm signatures in the tail of about 1613 UT, and magnetic field observations at synchronous orbit.

Pytte, T.↗