Ocean Productivity Studies

We are using data collected by ocean color sensors aboard satellites to monitor and understand variability in phytoplankton abundance and primary productivity throughout the Northeast U.S. Continental Shelf Ecosystem, and understand how this variability is related to natural environmental variability and to fishery productivity. Satellites carrying ocean color sensors, such as the Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS), have been providing high resolution (1km) daily coverage of the ecosystem since September, 1997. To understand long-term trends we are comparing contemporary SeaWiFS data with similar historical data collected from 1978 through 1986 by the Coastal Zone Color Scanner (CZCS). Much of this effort in analyses of remotely sensed data involves close collaboration and the sharing of resources between the Narragansett National Marine Fisheries Service lab and scientists at the University of Rhode Island Graduate School of Oceanography.