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remote sensing
of water turbidity and sedimentation in florida bay and biscayne bay >
1998 proposal
Program: Fragile Environments Project Justification:
This project will address questions of the clarity of the two bays and provide an assessment of the spatial
and temporal variability, which can be used in interpreting data from field measurement programs. The
amount of material resuspended by high winds and the duration of these events will be estimated.
Improvements in the sensors and available algorithms for processing data will also allow new data to be
obtained, such as water color and the distribution of algal blooms. Tile study will also result in
validation of techniques for distinguishing material in the water from the bottom type in shallow water;
this may result in information on changes in the bottom type from the imagery in this study.
Project Objectives:
The objective is to understand the conditions causing turbidity in Florida Bay through integration of a
combination of satellite imagery with field observations. The project involves the development of a time
series of past and current conditions on water temperature and turbidity in Florida and Biscayne Bays to
identify changes in the Bay using AVHRR, Landsat TM, and ocean color sensors and coordination with
field measurements.
Overall Strategy, Study Design, and Planned Major Products:
During 1998, the effort will concentrate on evaluation of changes over the past twelve years, both in
turbidity and in benthic habitats, on assessment of current conditions as compared to previous conditions
in the Bay, and incorporation of new ocean color sensor data on water color and chlorophyll.
The major products will be CD's on the data set from 1985 to the present, and the inclusion of change
assessments and current status on our web page. One or more papers are expected as well
Begin analysis of OCTS and SeaWIFS data. These data sets will augment the AVHRR. OCTS will
require modifications of the atmospheric correction before it can be used to derive estimates of
chlorophyll. The SeaWiFS should be suitable for water color analyses immediately.
Complete processing of Landsat TM data set. This is being done jointly with Florida DEP to identify
variations in benthic cover, such as seagrass, that may have altered the water turbidity over the past 12
years. Areas, such as the far western Bay, that had not previously been investigated in any study will be
given particular emphasis.
Continue collection of light attenuation data in field for comparison with satellite time series.
Planned Deliverables/Products: Prepare this as a CDROM
(as compared to the current CDROM which includes the original 1989 to 1996 data).
Planned Outreach Activities:
Provide routine assessments of the current turbidity and changes in the Bay. These assessments will be
produced seasonally and presented on the Web. The interpretation will be made drawing on discussions
with NOAA-NMFS, FIU, and FDEP. We are also working with FDEP on benthic change mapping by
using satellite imagery purchased jointly with them.
Prior Accomplishments in Proposed Area of Work:
New Directions, Expansion of Continuing Project (if applicable):
none
Expanded the AVHRR data record back to 1985, providing information from before the seagrass dieoffs
to the present. We have completed processing of this data set and are beginning analysis. This includes
1038 usable afternoon scenes from over 2000 processed.
We are continuing to provide current imagery for south Florida on the Web. Since October 1, 1996, we
have had about 900 (as of June 1, 1997) different accesses to the site from outside the USGS.
We have established relationships to seston, attenuation, Secchi disk depth, and are working on NTU.
We have set up programs for processing of SeaWIFS ocean color data.
A M.S. Thesis on the Landsat MSS imagery should be completed by the end of the year.
Deliverables, Products Completed: Stumpf, R.P. and M.L. Frayer, 1996. Remote sensing of water turbidity and sedimentation and their
relationship to algal blooms. Florida Bay Science Conference, Key Largo Florida, Dec. 10-12 1996,
p.80 (invited plenary session speaker).
Stumpf, R.P. and M.L. Frayer, 1997. Temporal and spatial change in coastal ecosystems using remote
sensing: example with Florida Bay, USA, Emphasizing AVHRR imagery. Fourth International
Conference on Remote Sensing for Marine and Coastal Environments, ERIM, v. 1, p. 65-73.
Stumpf, R.P. and M.L. Frayer, (in press). Use of AVHRR imagery to examine long-term trends in water
clarity in coastal estuaries: example in Florida Bay. in Kahru, M. and C.W. Brown, Monitoring Algal
Blooms: New Techniques for Detecting Large-Scale Environmental Change. chapter 1.
Olson, D.M, M-E. Luther, R.P. Stumpf, J-D. Althausen, 1997. A timeline of environmental degradation
in Florida Bay from 1972 - 1992: change detection analysis of Landsat Multispectral Scanner data.
Fourth International Conference on Remote Sensing for Marine and Coastal Environments, ERIM, v. 1,
p. 416-423.
Names of Key Project Staff: all years: Stumpf, Frayer, Stanley
Major Equipment/Facility Needs: none
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U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey, Center for Coastal Geology This page is: http://sofia.usgs.gov/proposals/1998/sedturbp98.html Comments and suggestions? Contact: Heather Henkel - Webmaster Last updated: 11 October, 2002 @ 09:31 PM (KP) |
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