Search all stories: Home || Sections: Fieldwork | Research | Outreach | Meetings | Awards | Staff & Center News | Publications || Archives

Emmanuel Boss Speaks About Water-Column Optics in St. Petersburg, FL By Tonya Clayton May 2002 in this issue:  previous story | next story Emmanuel Boss (University of Maine) measuring inherent optical properties in the near-bottom waters of Lee Stocking Island, Bahamas. His dive buddy, Ron Zaneveld (Oregon State University), is visible in the background. Photograph courtesy of Emmanuel Boss. The USGS' Center for Coastal and Regional Marine Studies (CCRMS) and the University of South Florida (USF)'s College of Marine Science were pleased to welcome Emmanuel Boss to St. Petersburg for a series of April talks on water-column optics and their relation to benthic processes. Emmanuel, a professor of marine science at the University of Maine, is no stranger to the USGS; he collaborates with Brian Bergamaschi (USGS, Water Resources) on sediment-transport research in the Sacramento River. This was Emmanuel's first visit to the St. Petersburg center. Emmanuel's first talk addressed "Particulate and Dissolved Properties Inferred from in situ Optical Measurements." This presentation served as a general introduction to the utility of bulk optical measurements in elucidating processes and properties of interest to the USGS. Richly illustrated with data from Emmanuel's own research in a wide variety of environments, this talk was well attended by a diverse crowd from not only CCRMS but also the USF's College of Marine Science and the USGS' Water Resources office in Tampa. Emmanuel's second talk, hosted by Ken Carder of the USF's College of Marine Science, focused on "Effect of Bottom Substrate on Inherent Optical Properties: Evidence of Biogeochemical Processes." In this talk, Emmanuel presented his recent work with the U.S. Navy's Coastal Benthic Optical Properties field experiment at Lee Stocking Island in the Bahamas. There, Emmanuel and his colleagues found that inherent optical properties—measures of how the seawater and materials in it scatter and absorb light—can vary widely and depend on bottom type (for example, sea grass versus coral reef). This finding has important implications for USGS efforts to model the underwater light field and to interpret remotely sensed images of submerged bottoms. We look forward to more of Emmanuel's high-energy research! Emmanuel Boss School of Marine Sciences, University of Maine Center for Coastal & Regional Marine Studies U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), St. Petersburg, FL in this issue:  previous story | next story

May 2002 Mailing List: Sign up to receive monthly email updates: print this issue in this issue: cover story: Contaminants Sampling Cruise - San Francisco Ground-Truthing Coral Reef Maps Shorebird Migration CO2 in Saline Aquifers Early Earth Day in Florida Honduras Coral Reef Documentary Online Girl Scouts University Job Fair Sea-Level Rise Lecture Massachusetts Sea-level Rise Briefing New Directions Workshop Floating Support Facility Howell New Patuxent Director WHFC Runners Water-Column Optics Talks Special Emphasis Program New Employees Mendenhall Fellow Presents Talk May Publications List

U. S. Department of the Interior | U.S. Geological Survey
Sound Waves Monthly Newsletter

email Feedback | USGS privacy statement | Disclaimer | Accessibility

This page is http://soundwaves.usgs.gov/2002/05/staff4.html
Updated March 08, 2007 @ 10:50 AM (THF)