RESEARCH SUMMARIES

Contracts and Grants Administered

July 1, 1996 - June 30, 1997

Frank W. Davis

California Department of Forestry, 6CA38584

06/15/94-06/30/97 $125,520

Imaging California: South Coast Pilot

The objective of this research is to map, model, and monitor land use and land cover, and provide a seamless image-base for the South Coast region of California. This proposal suggests a prototype for future cooperative efforts between NASA and state and local governments in applying Landsat data and new methods of image interpretation to assess statewide, regional, and local consequences of environmental change. Satellite imagery and "change detection" procedures offer the most cost-effective and frequent way to perform landscape or regional level mapping and monitoring. The 1990 statewide imagery is proposed to be used in conjunction with newly acquired 1993 satellite imagery to identify resource changes in a three-year period within the South Coast region. By relating this information to associated land cover (created from the multi-temporal 1993 image data set) and land use patterns, the magnitude of the change in resource conditions will be quantified and monitored. The image data sets built and integrated over time (e.g., multi-temporal imagery for successive years over entire regions) provide a foundation for related efforts to study short- and long-term change in the land cover resulting from human interactions and/or global climate alterations at a variety of spatial scales. This information also will be used to stratify, or focus, more intensive ground-based resource inventories. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) landscape analysis tools will be used to model resources conditions over time. The South Coast Region is proposed as a pilot area because of the need to map and monitor resources in this rapidly changing environment, in particular the coastal sage scrub habitat. This habitat type is important to monitor because it is home to many threatened species, including the recently listed California gnatcatcher. The conservation planning for this wildlife species is unique in that state and federal agencies and developers have agreed to preserve the coastal sage scrub habitat while also permitting limited urban development. An opportunity exists to demonstrate the applicability of satellite imagery within the conservation planning process at regional levels for statewide application.

Frank W. Davis

International Business Machines

01/01/93-09/30/97 $300,000

A Spatial Analysis and Decision Support System for Conservation of Biological Diversity

The Earth is experiencing a mass extinction of species that is unparalleled in its history. Installation of an effective reserve network to minimize future loss of biodiversity will require coordinated conservation assessments at international, national, regional, and local levels. Such assessments already rely heavily on advanced mapping technologies and computing systems for spatial data analysis and display. Unfortunately, progress in conservation assessment and planning is now severely and unnecessarily limited by hardware and software for such mapping and spatial analysis. Specifically: 1) Biogeographers and conservation biologists do not have adequate computing resources to analyze the large volumes of data involved in conservation assessments. 2) Data management systems in general use are poorly designed for manipulation of heterogeneous biogeographic data collected at several space and time scales. 3) There is practically no coupling among database management systems and analytical software used in biodiversity analyses. 4) It is exceedingly difficult to visualize biogeographical data sets and model outputs with existing display tools. 5) Spatial modeling and decision support is constrained by inadequate hardware and cumbersome protocols for conducting sensitivity and error propagation analyses. This project will design and test a prototype Spatial Modeling and Decision Support System for Conservation of Biological Diversity. The project is closely tied to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Gap Analysis Program, and to related efforts at multi-species conservation planning in southern California. Our objectives are to: 1. Design and enable a prototype "regional" computing facility for storage, analysis, and visualization of biodiversity data. 2. Program a set of specific software applications to support national (and potentially international) Gap Analysis. 3. Conduct a conservation Gap Analysis of the Intermountain Sagebrush Ecoregion over six western states. 4. Develop applications for monitoring wildlife habitats using multi-temporal satellite imagery. 5. Develop software to support reserve siting and reserve design and apply it to reserve design in southern California. The 4-year project will exploit recent developments in Distributed Computing Environments, Object-oriented DBMS, Data Visualization, and Spatial Data Analysis. In addition to advancing theory on the design and implementation of biodiversity databases, the project will supply much-needed tools to research scientists and conservation planners.

Frank W. Davis

The Nature Conservancy, WHTF-CRB-UCSB-01

5/15/95-12/31/97 $50,000

Bioenvironmental Analysis for the Columbia River Basin Project

Patterns in the distribution of environmental factors which are correlated with biotic responses (bioenvironments) will be defined and mapped as a means of assessing biotic variability over the Columbia River Basin (CRB) assessment area. Characterization of bioenvironments will be carried out at two scales (e.g. 500 m and 100 m) to determine hierarchical structuring of CRB landscapes. The modeling system developed by Danny Marks will be used to generate selected climatic and hydrologic biophysical variables. Biophysical variables will be chosen to approximate niche dimensions of plants, such as temperature, radiation, precipitation, snow pack, and soil moisture regimes. The entire CRB area will be modeled at the 500 m scale. One CRB section will be selected for modeling at the 100 m scale. Such sections must contain a relatively large number of CRB plots and have adequate weather station data and other required model input variables. At each scale, biophysical variables will be grouped into classes and the classes clustered. The resulting bioenvironments will be mapped over the entire CRB at the broadest scale and a section mapped at the finest scale. Bioenvironment maps at the two scales will be compared to determine scaling effects and the hierarchical structuring of bioenvironmental relationships.

Frank W. Davis

US Forest Service, UCSB 08960064

10/01/95-09/30/97 $10,000

Local and Regional Analysis of the Fire Regime for Research National Areas in the Los Padres National Forest

This project is a collaborative effort between the Los Padres National Forest (LPNF) and UCSB to analyze the fire regime of the RNA network of LPNF. The study will utilize the existing LPNF fire history GIS database and products from other joint LPNF-UCSB projects to examine the range of variation in fire regime that may exist for current and potential RNA sites. A quantitative description of fire regime will be developed at a range of spatial scales relevant to RNA sites. At the most local scale, analysis of fire regime will also be performed by vegetation type, using the vegetation classification from the "GIS-Based Review of the RNA Network" project. This will allow the examination of the range of variation in fire history for potential RNA sites, such as shrublands or fire dependent tree species. The issue of what the "natural" fire regime is for a vegetation class will also be examined by comparing fire regime descriptors for an entire class with those at a particular site (e.g., a current or potential RNA site).

Frank W. Davis

US Forest Service, UCSB 08960065

10/01/95-09/30/97 $10,000

GIS-Based Evaluation and Identification of Research Natural Areas in Los Padres National Forest: a Prototype Implementation of GAP Analysis

This project is a collaborative effort between the Los Padres National Forest (LPNF) and UCSB to identify additional RNA elements of LPNF. Potential elements will be evaluated within the context of other managed areas in the Central Western and Southwestern regions of California. The study will utilize the GIS database developed for the Gap Analysis of California to assess the protection of vegetation types in relation to existing and potential RNAS. Using data contained in the Gap GIS database a landscape-based characterization of vegetation will be performed to aggregate Gap polygons into vegetation classes based on plant species composition. These classes will then be mapped as a new GIS database layer. The relative representation of vegetation classes will be quantified to determine which classes may be rare in the region or of special interest in LPNF. Areas that would be high priorities for protection according to Gap GIS data will be compared to current and potential RNA sites based on established RNA selection criteria and additional RNA selection criteria will be investigated. This project will be closely linked with other joint LPNF-UCSB projects. For example, the vegetation classification performed here is one of the key inputs for the "Local and Regional Analysis of the Fire Regime for RNAs in LPNF" project, which will provide results that may feed back into RNA selection criteria for shrublands. This work will also be performed in close consultation with LPNF personnel to assure their understanding of the Gap GIS database and analyses performed. This collaboration is vital, as it may become a prototype for integration of the Gap Analysis process into the National Forest ecosystem management planning, and it will aid in the transfer of Gap GIS databases to individual Forests.

Frank W. Davis

University of Idaho, 8950539

03/01/95-09/30/97 $224,772

Gap Analysis of Biodiversity in California

The California Gap Analysis project has acquired digital geographical data sets on land ownership, topography, species ranges, and locations of rare, threatened, and endangered (RTE) species. An up-to-date statewide vegetation map is nearly completed that had been produced using digital Thematic Mapper (TM) satellite data. Upland types are being mapped with a minimum mapping unit (MMU) of 100 hectares (247 acres). Major wetland areas are mapped using a 40-hectare (99-acre) MMU, and smaller wetlands are encoded as attributes of larger upland polygons. The California Wildlife-Habitat Relationships System (WHR), in conjunction with digital species range maps, is applied to the vegetation map to predict the current distribution of potential habitat for each native terrestrial vertebrate species (570 species). Predicted vertebrate distributions are combined to map patterns of potential species richness in 7.5, quadrangles. As of 11/94, the status of database compilation and analysis is as follows: 1) land ownership/management completed statewide 2) vertebrate ranges and habitat models prepared statewide 3) Gap Analysis completed in Southwestern and Sonoran Regions. Draft vegetation maps have been completed for Mojave, Sierra Nevada, Central Western, Central Valley Regions, and Modoc Regions. Mapping is in progress in Northwestern, Cascades, and Sierra Nevada East. In summary, Gap Analysis is ~90% completed for the state. Our 1995-work plan is aimed toward implementation of the California Gap Analysis. This implementation will take the form of 1) concise summaries of regional and statewide findings aimed at planners, resource managers, and decision makers; 2) providing access to well documented, online data products; 3) Integration of California data with neighboring states to conduct ecoregional analyses, specifically for Bailey's Intermountain Sagebrush Province and for the American Desert Province.

Frank W. Davis

University of Colorado at Boulder, BS0055280

02/01/97-01/31/00 $210,000

Multi-scaled Ecological Assessment Method: Prototype Development within the Interior Columbia Basin

Four generic issues common to ecological assessments and of interest to EPA are addressed by this proposal: determination of the appropriate ecological units for analysis at various scales; characterization of the sustainability of ecological systems; definition of the types of ecological issues and function that must be addressed at each spatial scale; the problem of dealing with limited data; and extrapolation of knowledge from one place to another and from one time frame to another. To provide results addressing these four issues, research for the interior Columbia River Basin will be conducted along three major lines of work. Terrestrial and aquatic systems are studied together because (1) the procedures tested are similar for the two systems, and (2) the condition and resilience of aquatic systems are a function of the terrestrial systems within which they are embedded. The first research area involves the quantification of the effects of ecological assessments. The second research area develops of methods to reduce variability and uncertainty in ecological mapping used in regional/national ecological assessments. The third research area is concerned with the prediction of biotic distributions at regional/national scales by explicitly ordering ecological information within hierarchical ecological classifications/maps representing the relationships between successive levels of spatial resolution and ecological organization.

Frank W. Davis, Michael Goodchild

US Environmental Protection Agency, CR 823589-01-0

10/01/94-09/30/97 $180,441

Acquisition and Evaluation of Data Sets for Comparative Assessment of Risk to Biodiversity

The EPA's Scientific Advisory Board identified biological depletion and habitat modification among the four highest priority ecological risks in the United States. In recognition that the loss of biological diversity can only be effectively addressed through cooperation of vested interests, EPA formed the Biodiversity Research Consortium (BRC) to develop the technical information and databases needed to assess and manage risks to biodiversity. The BRC invokes a risk-based paradigm for identifying those areas having species assemblages which contribute the greatest genetic diversity to the biota of their biogeographic regions and then managing those areas to sustain biodiversity. The BRS is working on four aspects of the problem: vertebrate species richness as a metric of biological diversity, land use/land cover derived from remote sensing as a measure of environmental diversity, analysis of the species and land characterization data, and analysis of stressor data derived from existing sources for key anthropogenic stressors and natural environmental factors. Our research pertains to the fourth aspect. Although the general biophysical factors associated with species richness are known, quantitative relationships vary greatly between taxonomic groups, regions, types of data used, and scales of investigation. The project will need to establish the relationships with vertebrate richness at the resolution of EMAP hexagons in the United States. Stressor data will often only be available as crude surrogates of actual processes that impact colonization, coexistence, or extinction rates. We expect many of the stressor datasets to be poorly correlated with richness, but still predict that high levels of some stressors will be associated with large reductions in the number of species. The inferences may be weak in some cases because the species data are limited to a single "date" representing a period of years to decades. Therefore, we have little direct evidence of species losses at the resolution of EMAP hexagons upon which to build quantitative relationships. The expected benefits of the research proposed in this cooperative agreement will be a clearer understanding of the usefulness of existing national datasets for conducting a comparative risk assessment for biodiversity plus a set of standardized data processing protocols for developing a national scale database by the BRC in the future. Progress will be made in developing models of the interactions of human activities and ecosystem composition, structure, and functioning.

Frank W. Davis, John M. Melack

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, JPL 958468

04/19/89-09/30/97 $464,000

Biomass Modeling of the Ponderosa Pine Forests of Western North America with SIR-C x-SAR for Ecosystem Modeling

Current Status of SIR-C/X-SAR project: We have developed a microwave canopy backscatter model for continuous and discontinuous tree canopies. This model works at P-, L-, and C- bands. Model inputs are stand parameters (stand density, mean stand trunk diameter at breast height, etc.), tree parameters (numbers of branches per unit volume, branch size, etc.), and radar parameters (wavelength, polarization, etc.). Model outputs are the HH, HV, and VV backscatter coefficients, the VV-HH phase difference, and the HH and VV correlation coefficient. All five outputs correspond to five direct measurements of the JPL airborne SAR system. We have studied the L-band model sensitivity to stand data such as branch size and density, needle density, tree crown width and depth, tree size, and stand density. The comparison of the model outputs with JPL airborne SAR data at Mt. Shasta site (obtained in September, 1989) are very promising.

Frank W. Davis, David M. Stoms

The Nature Conservancy, WAFO-101796

10/21/96-06/30/97 $24,500

Preserve Selection Modeling in the Columbia Plateau

This project will assist The Nature Conservancy to identify portfolios of sites and strategies that will maintain viable vulnerable native species and representative viable plant communities. This will involve adapting preserve selection models already developed on related projects for the task of setting alternative conservation priorities in the Columbia Plateau. Specific tasks include: 1) providing maps of alliances and land management status for the ISD province from the individual state land cover maps, 2) Assist TNC in developing appropriate datasets to be compiled for the analysis and to be used as planning units, and 3) implementation of existing preserve siting models.

A. Scott Denning

National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NAS5-97146

05/23/97-05/16/98 $90,000

NASA EOS-IDS Atmosphere-Biosphere Interactions

This project proposes an analysis of current C0₂ budget of the atmosphere, using the Colorado State University (CSU) General Circulation Model (GCM), the Simple Biosphere Model (SiB2), and a combination of satellite data, atmospheric concentration and isotope data, and oceanographic observations. We have recently demonstrated that the exchange of C0₂between the atmosphere and a balanced terrestrial biosphere produces significant spatial structure in atmospheric C0₂ concentration as observed by the NOAA flask network. This effect arises because ecosystem carbon metabolism and vertical trace gas transport by the atmosphere are strongly correlated, with near-surface turbulence and cumulus convection over land being systematically stronger during times when photosynthesis exceeds ecosystem respiration and vice-versa. We have demonstrated the feasibility of using the GCM coupled to SiB2 to quantify this effect, and to estimate the global distribution of sources and sinks of atmospheric C0₂ by synthesis inversion of the observational data. The research proposed here is a further investigation of the carbon budget of the atmosphere by including the above-mentioned exchanges at the land surface in addition to the effects of industrial activity, land-use change, biomass burning, and air-sea gas exchange. The effects of each of these processes on the temporal and spatial distribution of atmospheric C0₂ will be simulated in the coupled model, and the results will be compared to the data collected by the global observational flask network.

Tommy D. Dickey

National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NASA NAGW-5222

04/01/96-03/31/98 $150,000

Optical Measurements from Moorings in Support of SeaWiFS

The Bermuda Atlantic Time Series (BATS) site is located about 80km south of Bermuda in waters of -4800m depth. The general region is characterized by occasional mesoscale variability (more prevalent in spring); however the dominant time scale is seasonal. The mixed layer depth and phytoplankton concentrations vary seasonally, but the respective timing and intensities vary interannually. Variability associated with episodic events and mesoscale features on time scales of less than a few weeks cannot be resolved with the current BATS shipboard sampling. The objectives of this project are to: 1) provide necessary links for interpretation of data from remotely sensed observations of ocean color (SeaWiFS) which will be used to estimate biomass and primary productivity globally. The optical data will be useful for groundtruthing of SeaWiFS sensors; 2) determine the importance of high frequency variability and less frequent episodic events for bio-optical properties using high frequency sampling from a long-term mooring near Bermuda; 3) rigorously relate indirect bio-optical signals to traditional biogeochemical measurements and to test models of productivity and carbon flux; and 4) determine the most appropriate suite of sensors for use on moorings (also drifters and autonomous underwater vehicles) for future applications.

Tommy D. Dickey

National Science Foundation, NSF OCE-9627281

01/01/96-01/31/98 $535,642

A Testbed Mooring Program for Interdisciplinary Measurements

The central objective of this program is to provide a testbed mooring program to be used for the development and testing of newly emerging interdisciplinary sensors and systems. The secondary objective is to provide high-frequency, long-term measurements relevant to the JGOFS time-series sampling program (Bermuda Atlantic Time-Series, BATS) near Bermuda. During the past decade, our group has developed interdisciplinary moored measurement systems which have been deployed in several oceanic regions (i.e., the equatorial Pacific, coastal California, the North Atlantic south of Iceland, the western Atlantic, the Mediterranean, and most recently the Arabian Sea). Results of the diverse set of studies have enabled us to examine dynamical biological processes such as those associated with Kelvin and Tropical instability waves at the equator, shoaling of mixed layers from greater than 500m to - 50m in a couple of days, and solitary waves in the coastal zone. The power of our measurements lies in the concurrent sampling of interdisciplinary variables at high frequencies for long periods. The growing capabilities for moored and drifter measurements are being appreciated by an increasing segment of the oceanographic community. The current and proposed projects promote community utilization of moorings for interdisciplinary measurements. Current objectives: 1) to relate indirect optical (and acoustical) signals to traditional biogeochemical (and biological) measurements; 2) to determine the most appropriate suite of sensors for use on moorings, drifters, and autonomous underwater vehicles for future JGOFS, GLOBEC, and global ocean observing systems applications; 3) to determine the relative importance of high frequency variability and less frequent episodic events for biogeochemical phenomena using a long-term mooring with high temporal resolution sensors; and 4) to facilitate development and testing of models of productivity and carbon flux.

Tommy D. Dickey

US Department of the Navy, N00014-96-1-0505

02/15/96-09/30/97 $375,000

High Resolution Time Series Observations of Bio-Optical and Physical Variability in the Arabian Sea

The Arabian Sea presents a very unique environment for us to study bio-optical and physical processes and their interactions. This region is attractive because of its regular and intense atmospheric forcing which causes extremely strong responses in both the physics and biology of the upper layer. Thus, dynamical ranges in measured properties are great, enabling us to apply and test time-dependent interdisciplinary models relevant to bio-optical properties and carbon fluxes. Improved understanding of temporal variation of the physical and optical properties of the upper ocean has resulted from our advanced sampling systems and analyses. The sources of temporal variables on time scales from minutes to seasons are being identified. Predictive modeling of interdisciplinary processes is being made possible through our research efforts. Our goals are to identify: 1) the dominant scales of coupling between atmospheric forcing and physical/bio-optical responses; 2) the roles of internal gravity and inertial waves, episodic wind events, monsoons, and seasonal insolation with respect to biological/physical processes and their couplings; 3) what degree physical/bio-optical/biological dynamics can be explained using local (one-dimensional) models and the responses of the mixed and euphotic layers to advective features such as eddies; 4) how horizontal information (e.g., satellite surface temperature, topography, and color data, ship-based underway and tow-yo data) can be synthesized with mooring data; 5) application of responses and couplings in terms of linear analysis or nonlinear methods; 6) affect of phytoplankton blooms on water column heating, stratification, and horizontal currents; 7) values of pigment biomass and rates of primary production as function of time; and 8) the acceptable temporal sampling regimen for explaining/modeling physical/bio-optical variability of the Arabian Sea on scales from days to seasons.

Tommy D. Dickey

US Department of the Navy, N00014-96-1-0669

03/01/96-09/30/97 $208,333

Moored Time Series Measurements of the Vertical Structure of Optical Properties in the Coastal Ocean

This study concerns the investigation of physical and particle relationships via optical properties. Our goals are: 1) to quantify the variability of optical and physical properties at time scales as short as a few minutes. Our data sets will allow us to compute: power spectra, coherence, and phase functions of time series as well as wavelet transforms of spectral beam attenuation coefficient, spectral scattering coefficient, and spectral absorption coefficient, estimated particle concentration, chlorophyll fluorescence, temperature, salinity, and horizontal currents; 2) to relate physical processes (e.g., wind forced inertial and surface wave breaking mixing activity, internal and inertial waves, solitary waves, tides, advection, etc.) to observed optical variability; 3) to determine the relationships between vertical fluxes of particles and optical properties with respect to physical environmental conditions such as shear, stratification, and gradient Richardson number; 4) to examine the importance of particulate matter for diurnal cycling of the mixed layer, especially through the modulation of the penetrative component of solar radiation; 5) to distinguish the difference between optical variability associated with waves opposed to mixing events; 6) to make general distinctions among particle types and to partition their origin (e.g., biogenic from euphotic layer versus resuspended sediment); 7) to relate optical and particle variability near the ocean bottom to physical processes affecting sediment resuspension; and 8) to provide time series (at several depths) of physical and optical properties to complement vertical microstructure measurements (optical and physical) to set the context for these observations and model development.

Tommy D. Dickey

University of Southern California, UCSB 08960369

07/01/95-06/30/98 $86,965

AASERT: Moored Time Series Measurements of the Vertical Structure of Optical Properties in the Coastal Ocean

This research is directed toward the problem of vertical mixing and transport of particles, momentum, and heat. The study concerns the investigation of physical and particle relationships via optical properties. The approach is to collect time series of optical and physical data from several depths using a mid-shelf mooring. The choice of optical parameters will enable the interpretation of the data in terms of different optically important components of seawater (biogenic particles, non-biogenic particles, and dissolved organic matter (DOM)). Our observations will enable us to examine important processes that affect the vertical distributions of optical properties and particle concentrations. In fact, many exciting results have already been obtained by deployment of moored in situ sensors within the past few years. The overall objective of our research is to determine how particles and optical properties respond to physical forcing under various oceanic conditions. Specific objectives are: 1) To quantify the variability of optical and physical properties and time scales as short as a few minutes; 2) To relate physical processes (e.g., wind forced inertial and surface wave breaking mixing activity, internal and inertial waves, solitary waves, tides, advection, etc.) to observed optical variability; 3) To determine the relationships between vertical fluxes of particles and optical properties with respect to the physical environmental conditions; 4) To examine the importance of particular matter for diurnal cycling of the mixed layer, especially through the modulation of the penetrative component of solar radiation; 5) To distinguish the difference between optical variability associated with waves opposed to mixing events; 6) To make general distinctions among particle types and to partition their origin; 7) To relate optical and particle variability near the ocean bottom to physical processes affecting sediment resuspension; and 8) To provide time series (at several depths) of physical and optical properties to complement to vertical microstructure measurements to set the context for such observations and model development.

Tommy D. Dickey

University of Southern California, 013880

10/01/96-06/30/97 $31,000

AASERT: High Resolution Time Series Observations of Bio-optical and Physical Variability in the Arabian Sea

The AASERT trainee for this project will be working with Professor Dickey on the analysis and modeling of mooring data sets (please see Dickey N00014-96-1-0505). The time series data will be analyzed using a variety of statistical methods. Coupled physical-bio-optical models will be used to simulate the observations and to test several hypotheses. The graduate student will complete analysis, modeling, and preparation of papers.

Jeffrey C. Dozier

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, JPL 958473

04/10/89-09/30/97 $923,018

SIR-C Investigations of Snow Properties in Alpine Terrain

The most important result of this project will be an evaluation of the capability to continuously monitor and model processes in the earth's alpine snow cover, thus demonstrating the possibility of achieving an important objective in earth system science that could be supported by EOS, the Earth Observing System. SIR-C measurements of the snow cover would also be carefully calibrated with physical measurements of snow characteristics, thus providing excellent data for evaluation of models of the electromagnetic properties of snow.

Jeffrey C. Dozier

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 960930

04/01/97-09/30/98 $67,000

Monitoring Snow and Ice Properties in the Alpine Regions

The objectives of this investigation are to provide information to monitor and model snow and ice processes over alpine watersheds for hydrological investigation by using combined current operational microwave radar sensors and change detection techniques developed from the SIR-C/X-SAR experiment. The components of this investigation are: 1) Use of SIR-C/X-SAR data to map snow and ice properties of all SIR-C scenes that include snow or glaciers. Snow and ice properties obtainable from SIR-C/XSAR include: surface classification (snow, glacier ice, bare surface, short and tall vegetation; surface dielectric function and roughness; snow wetness; density, depth, and snow-water equivalence; 2) Use of SIR-C/X-SAR, ERS, JERS, and Radarstat interferometric data over mountainous regions to map topography and use these data for radar image processing; 3) Use ERS, JERS, and Radarstat to identify spatial and temporal distributions of snow and glacier ice properties. The single-polarization SARs provide less information than SIR-C/X-SAR. We will evaluate change detection and coherency as mapping techniques.

Jeffrey C. Dozier

National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NASA NAS5-31710

09/17/92-09/30/96 $138,850

Optical Properties of the Seasonal Snow Cover and Alpine Glaciers in the Earth's Mountain Ranges

The objective of this research is to use HIRIS data to analyze the spectral reflectance of the seasonal snow cover and of alpine glaciers in selected regions of the Earth's mountain ranges, the variation in the extent of the snow cover, and the progression of zones of melt on alpine glaciers. At the same time, we will examine the physical properties of the surface, through our own ground measurements and those of other ongoing investigations, so that we will establish the correct links between the spectral and angular distribution of reflectance and the physical properties of the surface that determine the reflectance. We will also examine MODIS data to assess the effect of spatial resolution, and we will use SAR data to correlate the reflectance measurements with those properties of snow that can be measured in the microwave part of the spectrum--snow-water equivalence and liquid water content. Over the duration of the mission of the Earth Observing System, we expect to monitor both the seasonal progression and the inter-annual variation of these properties of seasonal snow and glacier ice. In the optical wavelengths, we are particularly interested in the spectral reflectance corrected for atmospheric and terrain effects. Moreover, the characteristics that we can interpret from measurements in the visible and near-infrared wavelengths help in interpreting active and passive microwave data. The investigation will attempt to use HIRIS data to estimate the spatial and temporal variation in two snow properties that determine the spectral reflectance from 0.4 to 2.5 um--grain size, and contamination by absorbing impurities. Appropriate corrections for bidirectional reflectance, atmospheric attenuation, and topographic effects will be included. Over alpine glaciers we will estimate zones of bare ice, zones of saturated and wet snow, and zones that remain dry throughout the summer.

Jeffrey C. Dozier, John M. Melack

National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NAGW-5185

08/01/96-07/31/97 $720,000

Hydrology, Hydrochemical Modeling, and Remote Sensing in Seasonally Snow Covered Alpine Drainage Basins

Seasonally snow-covered areas of the Earth's mountain ranges are important components of the global hydrologic cycle, even though they do not cover a large portion of the Earth's surface area. They account for the major source of the water supply for runoff and ground water recharge over wide areas of the mid-latitudes and they are sensitive indicators of climatic change. The release of ions from the snowpack is an important component in the biogeochemistry of alpine areas. Hydrochemical processes in alpine basins, especially the physical/chemical interactions in the seasonal snowpack, are only partially understood and difficult to measure. Understanding the links between the physical processes at the scale of a sampling plot and these same processes on a regional scale are essential if we are to extend our understanding of hydrology and biogeochemistry to global scales. Some progress has been made in smaller-scale basins, a few square kilometers in area, but the next step to the regional scale is scientifically challenging and crucial to the Earth Science goal of understanding the hydrologic and hydrochemical consequences of a changing climate.

Jeffrey C. Dozier, John M. Melack

National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NASA NAGW-2602

01/01/91-09/30/97 $3,999,221

Hydrology, Hydrochemical Modeling, and Remote Sensing in Seasonally Snow-Covered Alpine Drainage Basins

Jeffrey C. Dozier, David A. Siegel

UC Berkeley, UCSB 08950762

01/01/94-06/30/97 $275,000

End-to-End EOSDIS Problems

The UCSB component of this work uses the models for interpretation of surface properties of the land and ocean developed at the Institute for Computational Earth System Science. These include ocean phytoplankton concentrations from CZCS and SeaWiFS data and snow properties from AVHRR, Landsat, AVIRIS, AIRSAR, and SIR-C. In addition, we will provide real-time data streams of the AVHRR and SeaWiFS data, along with copies of our data holdings of Landsat, AVIRIS, and AIRSAR images. We will use our models to test the functionality and performance of the end-to-end system. We will express the system requirements as a set of canonical scenarios that drive system functionality and are building blocks for benchmarks that measure system performance. Our aim is to design and carefully prepare a small menu of scenarios that exercise a wide range of system functionality. We will concentrate on scenarios that address how a range of users will try to function within EOSDIS, and will include both compute-intensive and data-intensive applications. Typically the scenarios will use data from multiple archives, including surface data stored locally.

Thomas Dunne

National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NASA NGT-30349

09/01/95-08/31/96 $22,000

Sediment Evacuation from North Central Andes and the Effects of Global Change on Mountain Range Erosion

Alteration of regional erosion rates and processes due to global-scale environmental change, such as tectonism and climate change, can produce landscape modifications that strongly impact ecological systems on timescales relevant to humans. Because worldwide erosion is concentrated in mountainous regions and because the resulting sedimentation is concentrated in densely populated lowlands, an understanding of how sediment is removed from mountain ranges is essential to predict these changes. The purpose of this study is to describe quantitatively the rate and style of sediment evacuation from the eastward-draining Andes of northern Ecuador and Southern Bolivia. The north central Andes are an excellent field area because erosional processes under markedly different climates within a similar tectonic regime can be investigated in a relatively small area. Through a combination of image interpretation, field work, and compilation of existing data, a quantitative picture of the spatial and temporal pattern of sediment erosion, transport, and storage in the region will be assembled. The sediment evacuation history will be simulated with a simple, physically based model to explain mechanistically how observed patterns were produced. To make this area-specific study generally applicable to mountain landscapes, and to examine the effects of global change on erosion, the patterns of sediment evacuation under a range of climatic and tectonic conditions by varying model input will be explored.

Thomas Dunne

National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NASA NAGW-5233

07/01/96-09/30/97 $181,537

The EOS Amazon Project

The EOS Amazon Project is an investigation of how large-scale environmental changes, such as climate variability and land use in the Amazon Basin, modify the routing of water and its chemical load from precipitation, through the drainage system, and back to the atmosphere and ocean. The project includes both empirical studies of change, measured at ground level and by satellite, and a modeling component that has been developed and applied to the Amazon Basin and river system a fully coupled hydrobio-geo-chemical model of the land surface and the valley-floor, channel/wetland system. The runoff and evaporation predictions of the hydrologic component of the model have been confirmed by field data. The model incorporates both ground-level and satellite data, and project scientists are devising methods for expanding the usefulness of satellite data to provide a higher resolution of inputs than have been available for continental-scale hydrobiogeochemical modeling in the past. The team has developed new image analysis techniques, still in an experimental state, to take advantage of EOS satellites for monitoring and interpreting environmental change at the continental scale. When combined with mathematical models, these techniques are expected to yield data with a sufficient spatial resolution for enhanced evaluation of environmental processes such as plant production, sedimentation in floodplains and epicontinental seas, and for predictions of such socially important processes as land-cover change and valley-wide flooding. The approach, models, and analytical techniques will be transferable to other continental-scale river basins once we have improved our strategy for problem identification, model adjustment, satellite-data interpretation, and data handling. We have also collaborated with computer scientists to produce more efficient schemes for the support of modeling and data-base management in order to prepare ourselves for the era of massive data acquisition in EOS.

Thomas Dunne

National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NASA NGT-30357

09/01/96-08/31/97 $22,000

Sediment Evacuation from the North Central Andes and the Effects of Global Change on Mountain Range Erosion

Thomas Dunne

National Science Foundation, EAR-9628737

09/01/96-08/31/98 $96,196

Distribution and Evolution of Geomorphic Process Zones in Large Mountain Ranges

The purpose of this study is to document and explain the evolution of major regional patterns of morphology and geomorphic processes, such as deep-seated bedrock mass-wasting versus colluvium mantled-hillslopes, or incision versus deposition and valley-widening by rivers, within a large, important mountain range: the Eastern Cordillera and Subandes of Bolivia (hereafter referred to collectively as the Eastern Cordillera). We hypothesize that these patterns are dominantly controlled by fluvial incision history. Therefore, we will use a simple stream power-based model, constrained by field data, to delineate the general pattern of incision over the last ten years within two large, morphologically distinct drainage basins (Beni and Pilcomayo) in the Eastern Cordillera, combining this information with calculations to delimit the expected range of conditions over key morphometric characteristics of each basin through time. We will test our incision-based landscape evolution model and our predictions of the modern pattern of geomorphic regions against field data and observations. The successful reproduction of important features and trends would identify our methodology as an effective tool for exploring - by varying input parameters appropriately - the effects of climatic and tectonic changes on the rate and style of erosion in this and other large mountain ranges.

Thomas Dunne

US National Committee for Scientific Hydrology, 1434-CR-96-SA-01283

09/30/96-09/29/97 $9,000

Publication of LBA Hydrological Sciences Workshop Document

In the period 1992-1995, four workshops were held in Washington DC, Brazil (2), and Paris to plan hydrological activities within the Large-scale Amazon Biosphere Project (LBA). A document was produced during these meetings and through later additions supplied by participants. A rough draft of this document now exists, entitled "The Hydrological Component of the Amazon Experiment, LBA, BAHC/IHP Workshop, Piracicaba, Brazil, November 1994/UNESCO Paris, June 1995". This project will allow the final editing, illustration, bibliographic research, and rounding out of some text. Once completed, this report could provide a vehicle for the involvement of many hydrologists from the six Amazonian countries in the use of sophisticated hydrological research methods that can be transferred to their home countries through the disbursement of hardware, software, data, and the less-tangible processes of idea-sharing and organization.

Thomas Dunne, Leal A. Mertes, John M. Melack, Dar A. Roberts

University of Washington, 215437

01/01/95-12/31/96 $160,343

Patterns and Processes of Change in the Amazon River Basin: The EOS Amazon Project

The project is an investigation of how large-scale environmental changes, such as climate variability and land use in the Amazon Basin modify the routing of water and its chemical load from precipitation, through the drainage system, and back to the atmosphere and ocean. The project includes both empirical studies of change, measured at ground level and by satellite, and a modeling component that has developed and applied to the Amazon Basin and river system a fully coupled hydrobiogeochemical model of the land surface and the valley-floor, channel/wetland system. The runoff and evaporation predictions of the hydrologic component of the model have been confirmed by field data. The model incorporates both ground-level and satellite data, and project scientists are devising methods for expanding the usefulness of satellite data to provide a higher resolution of inputs than have been available for continental-scale hydrobiogeochemical modeling in the past. The team has developed new image analysis techniques to take advantage of EOS satellites for monitoring and interpreting environmental change at the continental scale. When combined with mathematical models, these techniques are expected to yield data with a sufficient spatial resolution for enhanced evaluation of environmental processes such as plant production, sedimentation in floodplains and epicontinental seas, and for predictions of such socially important processes as land-cover change and valley-wide flooding. We have also collaborated with computer scientists to produce more efficient schemes for the support of modeling and data-base management in order to prepare ourselves for the era of massive data acquisition in EOS.

Catherine H. Gautier

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, JPL (NASA) 959177

09/09/91-12/31/96 $225,840

The Role of Air-Sea Exchange and Ocean Circulation in Climate Variability: Surface Radiation Fluxes

The purpose of this project is to estimate surface radiation fluxes over the ocean from a combination of EOS observations. This multidisciplinary investigation addresses the role of air-sea interactions and global ocean on climate from an observational, diagnostic, and modeling perspective. Our contribution will be to investigate the role of clouds on the atmosphere-ocean coupling through radiative and hydrological coupling. This will involve using satellite observations from EOS platforms for diagnosing the surface radiation and fresh water budget over the global oceans.

Catherine H. Gautier

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, JPL 960928

01/01/97-12/31/97 $50,000

The Roll of Air-Sea Exchange and Ocean Circulation in Climate Variability: Surface Radiation Fluxes (Continuation of JPL 959177)

Catherine H. Gautier

National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NASA NAS5-31374

03/04/92-09/30/97 $970,000

Atmospheric Infrared Sounder AIRS: Calibration and Global Surface Solar Irradiance Computations

Surface Solar Irradiance algorithms for processing AIRS data will be designed and refined until the most reliable and accurate one is selected for operational use. During this period, the algorithms, as well as the validation results against in situ measurements, will be supplied to the AIRS CDHF.

Catherine H. Gautier

National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NASA NAGW-3180

08/01/92-01/31/97 $330,000

Global Surface Solar Irradiance Estimations for Satellite Data

An accurate knowledge of the global surface radiation budget has become increasingly important to better understand Earth climate system mechanisms since the Earth's climate is largely determined by the vertical redistribution (in the atmosphere and at the surface) of net radiant energy available at the top of the atmosphere. Global surface radiation budget data also serve as input to numerical climate system models that are now being developed and refined. The surface radiation budget's importance to heat exchanges between the surface (ocean, land, snow and ice) and the atmosphere varies regionally and seasonally. Over the tropical oceans, where most of the heat is acquired by the planet, the heat gained by the upper ocean can be stored, released to the atmosphere in the form of turbulent heat fluxes and terrestrial (or longwave) radiation, or redistributed through oceanic circulation. In tropical oceanic regions, where seasonal changes are minimal, the solar radiation flux is the dominant term in the overall heat budget and its variability is primarily governed by cloud variability. The net terrestrial radiation is relatively small and varies little with clouds owing to the lower atmosphere's large and relatively constant moisture content. Latent heating dominates sensible heating. In mid-latitudes, seasonal variations of the net heat flux and the surface radiation, in particular, are large; the solar radiation component dominates the net surface radiation budget during the summer, while in winter when the incoming radiation at the top of the atmosphere is reduced and the atmosphere is relatively dry, stable and often cloudy, the longwave radiation at the surface offsets in part the solar radiation. At high latitudes, seasonal variations are even much larger, resulting from solar radiation changes, while clouds vary relatively little. During high latitude summers the daily integral of the downward surface solar irradiance is as large as in higher lower latitudes because of the 24-hour sunshine. When snow and ice are present, large amounts of surface solar radiation are reflected and consequently only little is absorbed by the surface. Because of this large spatial and temporal variability of the global surface radiation budget, which results from the variability of several factors, the production of accurate global radiation fields from satellite observations is not a straightforward task. Different physical processes must be emphasized and carefully handled in different regions. Over oceanic regions, for instance, surface properties have a limited effect, whereas over snow and ice regions they may become a dominant factor.

Catherine H. Gautier

National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NASA NAG5-4963

06/15/97-06/30/98 $75,000

UCSB Earth System Science Undergraduate Summer Research Program

We propose to organize a 10-week Earth System Science Undergraduate Summer Research Program. The ICESL Summer Research Program will bring to the Santa Barbara campus in the summer 12 quality undergraduate students from a variety of backgrounds and offer them an array of research experiences and a broad exposure to Earth System Science. The depth of scientific exposure will come through one-to-one mentoring by an ICESS faculty mentor, while the breadth will come through a comprehensive series of interdisciplinary lectures. Additional cross-fertilization will happen through social interactions promoted by daily lectures and on-campus student living arrangements. A multi-pronged strategy will be used to ensure participation by the highest quality students from a diverse ethnic population. The competitive selection will be based on students, academic records, as will as recognized potential and motivation to learn and achieve at the highest level. Other sources of support will be provided through different mechanisms in order to extend from six to ten weeks the length of the Program, thereby enhancing the student,s experience. Extending the mentoring period will provide a richer and more fruitful experience to both students and faculty participants. Our team of faculty is strongly committed to the demanding participation in both the mentoring activities and the lecture series that our Program requires. As a result, we expect that the proposed summer program will provide a memorable and formative intellectual experience for the participating students through their engagement in the scientific enterprise and the discussions generated by the lecture series.

Catherine H. Gautier

National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NASA NAG5-4629

06/01/97-05/31/98 $100,000

Parameterization of Cloud 3-D Effects on Surface Shortwave Radiation Budget Estimated from Satellite Measurements

An accurate knowledge of the global surface radiation budget has become increasingly important to better understand earth climate system mechanisms since the earth's climate is largely determined by the vertical redistribution (in the atmosphere and at the surface) of net radiant energy available at the top of the atmosphere. Global surface radiation budget data also serve as input to numerical climate system models that are now being developed and refined. We have developed techniques to derive the surface solar flux from satellite data. While the products coming out of the SRB project and other groups such as ours have reached rms errors of 10-20 WM-2 over scales of 100's km2 and temporal averaging of the order of months, the accuracy for daily averages at single points decreases dramatically with rms errors as large as 100 WM-2. These errors are especially evident in the tropical regions where deep convective clouds produce highly complex radiative fields that reduce the efficacy of algorithms that use satellite radiance to produce surface irradiance. To accurately estimate surface solar radiative fluxes it is imperative to understand the role clouds have on the radiative field not only at the surface but also at the top of the atmosphere (TOA) for satellite radiance-surface irradiance models and within the intervening atmosphere to account for the absorption of solar radiation in the presence of clouds. Algorithms used to compute the surface radiative flux have generally treated clouds as one-dimensional entities due to the complexities of solving radiative transfer in three dimensions. Using a Monte-Carlo based radiative transfer model we propose to investigate cloud 3-D effect on surface solar radiative flux estimates derived from satellite data. The 3-D radiative transfer model we have developed represents an essential tool for this investigation, in that it can simultaneously produce surface broadband downwelling irradiance and narrowband satellite upwelling radiance fields. Specifically, we will examine the 3-D effects on the system's reflectance as viewed by a satellite, the variability on the surface downwelling flux, and the reduction in the total surface flux due to enhanced atmospheric absorption. Through this investigation, we will develop parameterizations needed to add to existing simple surface radiation models.

Catherine H. Gautier

National Science Foundation, NSF OPP93-17120

06/15/94-05/31/98 $447,414

Surface UV Irradiance and PAR Variability Over Antarctica

Our satellite methodology is now sufficiently well developed to investigate the budget of Antarctic surface UV and PAR over a variety of spatial and temporal scales. We will continue our Antarctic UV mapping to characterize the spatial variability of surface irradiance over large geographical areas. The largest scale maps will cover the entire Antarctic coastline and Southern Ocean and will be done with 50 km spatial resolution. Higher spatial resolution (1.1 km at nadir using AVHRR) will be available for areas where extensive biological research is conducted, and for areas where polar vortex dynamics suggest interesting radiative phenomena. We will augment and refine our satellite mapping capability by incorporating microwave satellite data for ice edge determination and by utilizing Monte Carlo radiative transfer methods to enable a greater variety of cloud simulations. Our refinements will also include field work. We propose to install and operate at Palmer Station during austral spring, 1994, a network of UV and GTR sensors to supplement the NSF UV-monitor there. This network is intended to directly measure both the downwelling and upwelling surface radiation in order to study the spatial variability in surface UV irradiance as governed by spatial variability in ozone, cloud cover and surface reflectance. Whereas most information about polar surface albedo is limited to wavelengths longer than 400 nanometers (nm), our field program will be the first to study the albedo of Antarctic peninsular snow, sea ice, and ocean surfaces in the ultraviolet. This will also include surface BRDF measurement. Data from these sensors will be used in conjunction with satellite observations to estimate the surface radiation budget.

Catherine H. Gautier

National Science Foundation, NSF ATM93-19483

09/01/94-12/31/97 $69,519

Relationship Between Clouds, SST and Surface Fluxes on Seasonal and Interannual Time Scales Over the Western Pacific

The goal of this proposal is to contribute to the clarification of the role of clouds on the surface radiation and latent heat flux in the western Pacific over climatologically significant space and time scales. The data available until recently have not allowed us to estimate unambiguously the magnitude and variability of the dominant mechanisms at work in air-sea interactions in the tropical regions. There are, for instance, competing theories regarding the mechanism responsible for the maintenance of tropical sea surface temperatures at their observed temperature in the western Pacific. Our objectives are to: 1) compute cloud and surface (shortwave radiation and latent heat) fluxes from satellite observations using techniques we have developed or adapted from other investigators, 2) intercompare our satellite results with surface and aircraft observations to ensure the quality of the satellite-derived surface fluxes, and 3) investigate the effect of clouds on surface fluxes (including SST) over climatologically significant space and time scales. Our approach uses satellite data extensively to provide the large scale framework, and it also builds upon the availability of TOGA-COARE data to validate our satellite data and perform some process-oriented studies. The investigation will, however, extend the results from the TOGA-COARE IOP to longer time periods in order to explore seasonal and interannual variability. Results from this research are expected to lead to a better understanding of some of the mechanisms controlling air-sea interactions and, thus, should help in the development of new parameterizations for a hierarchy of numerical models aimed at simulating the coupled atmosphere-ocean system over seasonal to interannual time scales in the tropical regions.

Catherine H. Gautier

US Department of Energy DOE 90ER61062

09/15/90-10/31/97 $1,128,073

Effect of Cloudiness Heterogeneity on the Radiative Budget at the Top of the Atmosphere and at the Surface: Modeling, Verification, and Analysis

This project proposes to study cloudiness heterogeneity and its effects on the surface radiation budget at the top of the atmosphere and at the surface by means of modeling, verification, and analysis. The primary difficulty in quantifying cloud-radiation interactions within the atmosphere results from the extreme variability in both the cloud and radiation fields. This variability is not presently taken into account in existing general circulation models (GCM's) despite the fact that cloud heterogeneity has been shown to lead to large differences in atmospheric radiative heating computations. The work proposed here has for its goals to improve the performance of GCM cloud-radiation computations.

Catherine H. Gautier
US Department of Energy, DOE 95ER61986

02/01/95-01/31/98 $482,581

Clouds and Satellite Instrument Calibration from UAVs

We propose to use the high spatial and spectral resolution data from instruments on the UAV to perform studies of cloud (and surface) properties relevant to climate investigations. There are three objectives to this effort: (1) to develop techniques to calibrate operational satellite sensors (VISSR and AVHRR) using MPIR and other UAV instruments, (2) to perform bidirectional reflectance studies of clouds and surface and (3) to investigate causes of cloud radiative and microphysical property variations. While MIPR is the central instrument of the proposal, we propose to perform preliminary studies with the hemispheric flux and nadir viewing radiometers to learn how to best utilize high resolutions UAV measurements for our research applications and provide preliminary satellite sensor calibrations. Therefore we are proposing flights for the first three UIF missions, but with some emphasis on the UIF 3 mission in the Tropical Western Pacific (TWP) during the maritime continent thunderstorm experiment (MCTEX). Our studies will rely on two radiative transfer models we have developed (or modified): the Discrete Ordinate (DISORT) radiative transfer model of Stamns et al., 1988, and our recently developed Monte Carlo model. These two models will allow us to investigate cloud/radiation interactions in both one and three dimensions.

Charles D. Kolstad

US Department of Energy, DE-FG03-96ER62277

09/15/96-12/14/97 $224,573

Climate-Variability, Stochasticity, and Learning in Integrated Assessment Models

The focus of this work is on climate variability and learning within integrated assessment models. The object is to enhance capabilities for integrated-assessment modeling in two major areas: incorporating learning about climate change within integrated assessment models; and better representing in integrated assessment models measures of climate change other than average temperature change (such as temperature variability). A particular focus will be on how technical change, which tends to increase output, but in an uncertain way, is interrelated with climate damage, which decreases output, but also in an uncertain way. The key factor that makes Teaming about the climate significant is the stochastic elements in climate change--temperature variability from year to year as well as the occurrence of extreme climate events. For this reason, a secondary objective is to represent climate variability and other summary statistics of climate change within an integrated assessment framework.

Charles D. Kolstad

US Department of Agriculture, 43-3AEL-6-80050

09/01/96-12/31/97 $25,000

Testing Models of Learning and Adaptation for Agriculture in Responding to Climate and other Shocks

The objective of this project is to better understand how the agricultural sector might respond to a changed climate, given that it may take some time for producers (farmers) to realize that a climate change has occurred. In particular, we are interested in quantifying the process whereby farmers learn about climate change. Does Teaming follow a simple Bayesian process based on observed climate and yields? Or is learning more rapid, utilizing other information sources? Can we statistically distinguish between several models of learning? This project seeks to answer these questions by empirically examining shocks that have occurred in agriculture. Such shocks may be climatic although other types of shocks will yield equally important information on learning in agriculture.

Sally MacIntyre

University of Michigan, DEB-9318085

02/15/94-01/31/98 $57,745

Lake Victoria: Structure Function of a Tropical Ecosystem

The Lake Victoria ecosystem has undergone drastic changes in the last decade with resulting losses of endemic fish species, reduced income for fisherman, and reduced food supply. This project will address whether climate change or changing land use has led to the altered physical and chemical dynamics. We have been collecting historical data as well as present day data on the meteorology and thermal structure of the lake and are using this data to assess rates of vertical mixing, the potential for upwelling, changes of thermal structure over time, and light climate of phytoplankton.

Bruce E. Mahall, Frank W. Davis

County of Santa Barbara, BC94368

07/01/96-06/30/97 $52,000

Santa Barbara County Oak Restoration Project

We are conducting a long term oak regeneration program to improve our understanding of the role of cattle and other ecological factors in limiting or promoting recruitment by valley oak (Quercus lobata), blue oak (Q. douglasii), and coast live oak (Q. agrifolia). More than 75% of oak woodland and savanna ecosystems in California is grazed by cattle, making cattle grazing the most pervasive anthropogenic influence on these ecosystems and on their oak populations. For this reason, a careful examination of the effects of cattle grazing must be a central theme of a comprehensive investigation of oak regeneration and restoration. The specific goals of this research are to 1) conduct large-scale grazing and related experiments that will determine the factors affecting the establishment of valley, live, and blue oaks in ecosystems represented on Sedgwick Ranch; 2) develop a prescription for actively promoting oak regeneration in such ecosystems; 3) disseminate our findings in the form of presentations, onsite demonstration projects, and literature that is directed toward local landowners and resource managers interested in the management and restoration of oak woodlands.

John M. Melack

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, JPL 958469

04/07/89-09/30/97 $706,800

Determining the Extent of Inundation on Subtropical and Tropical River Floodplains Beneath Vegetation of Varying Types and Densities (Flow-through funds from NASA)

Wetlands are a key element in understanding global hydrologic and biogeochemical cycles. Mapping of floodwater extent and recession rate for major tropical rivers will be one of the most important uses of spaceborne imaging radar in the coming decade. Significant scientific problems for which this information is required include quantifying the contribution of river-flood plain systems to the global hydrologic cycle on a seasonal basis and determining their role in methane, nitrous oxide, and carbon dioxide production, in carbon and nitrogen fixation, and in other important biogeochemical processes.

John M. Melack

National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NASA NAGW-4352

02/01/95-01/31/98 $141,815

Floodplain and River Dynamics in Three Large South American Rivers: An Integration of Remote Sensing, Regional Climatic Data and Modeling

The purpose of this research is to expand the scope of two projects previously funded by NASA that have successfully demonstrated the use of passive microwave satellite sensors in the study of regional-scale surface hydrology. These two projects are brought together to extend the analysis to the continental scale in South America and to build a foundation of eventual global application to large river systems. We will combine passive microwave remote sensing data with regional climatic data, hydrological modeling, and extensive experience in the field to quantify both water balance and river-floodplain hydrology in the three largest drainage basins in South America: the Amazon, Orinoco, and Paraguay/Paraná river systems. A key focus will be the determination of surface moisture balances, runoff and flow routing through river systems, and the distribution and seasonal dynamics of inundated areas. These serve as key parameters for defining the status of land surface hydrology and biogeochemical processing, both prerequisites for the development of integrated Earth system models of the continental landscape. Furthermore, remote sensing of inland water dynamics is important in light of the recent decline in hydrometeorological monitoring stations and the development of appropriate methodologies for the use of EOS-generation microwave remote sensing instruments such as MIMR (Multifrequency Imaging Microwave Radiometer).

John M. Melack

National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NASA NAGW-5115

05/01/96-09/30/97 $121,092

JERS Amazon Multi-Season Mapping Study (JAMMS)

In collaboration with personnel from Brazil's institutes for Space Research (INPE) and Amazonian Research (INPA), we will be responsible for field surveys throughout the Amazon basin to provide the information necessary to calibrate, evaluate, and validate the JERS-1 data products. This work will entail extensive surveys of extent and depth of flooding, phenological condition of vegetation, and mapping of distinctive land cover types including anthropogenic modifications. To complete this task will require field teams to travel to remote regions of the Amazon about the same time that the JERS images are being acquired. Videographic and photographic records at sites precisely located with GPS receives will be obtained. Co-analysis of the field data and classified JERS radar images will be done in conjunction with CO-Is and other personnel at INPE, INPA, and JPL to evaluate the veracity of the algorithms used to generate the land cover products. Alternative algorithms and synergistic applications of multi-sensor data will be tested for selected sites in the Amazon basin. Current research at UCSB is employing multi-frequency, polarimetric SAR data obtained during the SIR-C/X-SAR missions, single-frequency SAR data from ERS-2 and Radarsat as well as Landsat TM and passive microwave data to examine inundation and vegetative cover along the floodplain of the Amazon River. Algorithms and classification strategies derived from this research will be combined with the JERS-1 data.

John M. Melack

TRW Space and Electronics Group, 12410BOS6A

09/06/96-10/31/96 $8,285

Analysis of Rice Spectra

This project involves classification of rice variety from reflectance spectra of whole-field averages. The classification consists of defining end-members and mapping the image as a percent mix of those end-members.

John M. Melack

University of Washington, 546316

12/01/94-12/31/96 $24,995

Basin-Scale Inundation Determined with Passive and Active

Satellite-born passive microwave sensors present an unprecedented view of spatial and temporal patterns of inundation in large tropical wetlands. The passive microwave observations reveal the presence of surface water beneath cloud cover and dense vegetation in extensive remote areas, thereby providing a significant advantage over other available technologies. In previous studies, we have demonstrated that the SMMR 37 GHz polarization difference can be used to derive a temporal series of variation in inundation area in the central Amazon floodplain and the Pantanal wetland. The approach of these studies has been to identify the microwave end-members of the major landscape units that comprise the pixels of selected test sites. The end-members are then applied to linear mixing models to solve for the fractional area of inundated land throughout the area represented by the test site. In the first stage of the planned work, we will extend the study of Sippel et al. (1994) across the fringing floodplain of the entire Amazon River and the lower reaches of its major tributaries. This analysis will reveal seasonal and interannual variation in the spatial extent of inundation. In the second stage of the project we will examine the other major inundable areas found in the Amazon basin, most of which are savanna floodplains which differ significantly in their hydrology and vegetation from fringing floodplain of the Amazon. These occupy a total area of 200,000 to 250,000 km2 and include the Ilha do Bananal (Arguaia River, Brazil), Llanos de Mojos (Guapore River, Bolivia), and the savannas of Roraima state (Negro River basin, Brazil). The passive microwave data are useful for defining the extent of these areas and determining whether their flooding is controlled by overbank flow from rivers or by local rainfall. The microwave end-members that we are determining for the various ecosystem types of the Pantanal will aid our analysis of the savanna floodplains of the Amazon basin.

Leal A. Mertes

Dartmouth College, 5-36090 (flow-through from NASA EOS)

11/15/96-08/31/97 $54,400

River Flooding in Response to Global Environmental Change: A Multi-Sensor Approach

This research will test the joint hypotheses that the zone of river-water influence significantly influences the geomorphology and biogeochemistry of river floodplains, and that the average extent of this zone is changing with global climate change, requires monitoring of floods for different rivers on a global basis. Comparisons among rivers with similar regional hydrology, but different local hydrology, will be one of many tests that are critical to determining the factors influencing inundation hydrology. Analysis of optical data to track the different water types will be the primary focus of the remote sensing research.

Leal A. Mertes

UC California Space Institute, NGT-4005

02/01/96-01/31/97 $10,000

National Space Grant College and Fellowship Program

This fellowship was split between two Graduate Students, Heidi Dierssen and Sara Garver. Dierssen: The Southern Ocean not only defines one of the largest marine ecosystems in the world, it also is an important component in many large-scale oceanographic processes and plays a critical role in the global carbon cycle. The goal of this proposed work will be to develop a bio-optical algorithm specifically for the Southern Ocean, so as to better utilize both ocean color satellite data and in situ shipboard data for the estimation of pigment biomass and phytoplankton biomass. We will carry out this research making use of the bio-optical data obtained at Palmer Station, Antarctica, during the past five years as part of the Long-Term Ecological Research program (LTER). In addition to its global significance, we expect this work to be specifically relevant to all high latitude marine ecosystems. Garver: For this study, in situ remote sensing reflectance observations from the Sargasso Sea will be used to obtain estimates of inherent optical properties (IOP's) such as phytoplankton absorption, dissolved and detrital absorption, and particle backscatter. In this region, seasonal variations in ocean biogeochemistry are closely linked with air-sea forcing and upper ocean density stratification to produce spring blooms of phytoplankton (e.g., Menzel and Ryther 1960; 1961; Siegel et al. 1990; 1994; Lohrenz et al. 1992; Michaels et al. 1994). These strong seasonal variations in ocean biogeochemical cycles makes the Sargasso Sea an excellent location to investigate biogeochemical processes and develop robust physical and biological models of seasonal and interannual variability.

Leal Mertes

UC California Space Institute, NGT5-40007

02/01/97-01/31/98 $10,000

National Space Grant College and Fellowship Program

These funds are used each year to fund a variety of graduate students projects based on a yearly UCSB competition. The research topics all relate to space science and have involved research on astronomical instruments and data as well as analyses of remote sensing instruments to examine the Earth's atmosphere, landscape, and oceanscape.

Leal A. Mertes

University of Washington, 463037

04/15/94-12/31/96 $24,331

Amazon River Systems

The hydrologic and material transfer properties of a wetland and floodplain determine the type of and degree to which biogenic materials and gases are transferred or produced. At the most basic level, the hydrology of different water types as they enter the wetland either directly from rainfall, over land from surrounding slopes, flooding from local tributaries, groundwater, or exchange with a river channel, is primarily a result of the timing of the supply with respect to the other sources and the topography and soils of the wetland. From storage computations based on Muskingum routing calculations it can be shown that the pattern of inundation of the mainstem floodplain of the Amazon and the degree to which the different water types intermingle on the floodplain and create the annual inundation varies with position along the channel. The patterns of mixing water on the floodplain change significantly in a downstream direction along the mainstem. This upstream to downstream transition can be characterized by looking at three representative floodplain types: a scroll-bar topography with long, narrow lakes in the Japura section; a narrow floodplain with fewer more diverse lakes in the central section; and a more uniform floodplain with huge, multi-input, shallow lakes near Obidos. As an example of a specific pattern of material transfer, the zone of incursion of sediment-laden river water is the most restricted in the Japura and Manaus reaches where high levees protect the floodplain from direct overbank flow and the primary access is through paranas. In the Obidos section water and particulates from the main channel appear to travel a greater distance across the inundated floodplain and lakes because the scroll levees on the floodplain in this region are less continuous. Along the mainstream of the river we use the patterns of inundation on the floodplain to estimate the potential rates of transfer and residence time of water derived from groundwater, rainwater, local upland sources, and main channel exchange. The major tributary sources each have a floodplain which imparts a signature on materials as the pass through floodplain storage. As along the mainstream of the river, the different flow and sediment transport regimes of the tributaries play a significant role in the degree to which the floodplain buffers the outflow of water and materials to the channel and atmosphere. Knowledge regarding the extend of the floodplains and details on the topographic variation are key ingredients to determining the attenuation and diffusion of the floodwave and the pattern of storage of water during inundation. The mapping of these tributary floodplains will require the techniques we developed for mapping the mainstem floodplain, and will particularly require the use of remotely sensed images.

Karen W. Patterson, Raymond C. Smith

US Environmental Protection Agency, U-914954-01-0

10/01/96-09/30/97 $9,920

Graduate Education Fellowship

This project is a fellowship through the Environmental Protection Agency. The focus of study is the distributions and variations of UV radiation and PAR in ocean waters and how they affect other ocean processes. There have been many studies on the effects of increased UV radiation, due to ozone depletion, on various marine organisms. Most of these studies take place with the organisms being studied in containers in optical environments representative of fixed depths in the water column of a specific area. The results of these studies provide insight into the adaptability of the studied organism to changes in the experimental variable in a relatively static environment. However, we still have little insight into the adaptive capabilities of the organisms to variations of the same experimental variable in their natural dynamic environment where other possible stress factors vary as well, making the impact of an increase in UV radiation relatively stronger or weaker.

Dar A. Roberts, Jeffrey C. Dozier

UC Los Alamos National Laboratory, STB/UC:97-50

01/01/97-12/31/97 $69,373

Detection and Mapping with Imaging Spectrometry. A Proposal to LANL Science and Tech Base (STB) Program for UCDRD Funding to plant the seed for a strategic collaboration between LANL and UCSB.

This project proposes to address many of the research questions associated with the use of imaging spectrometry for detection and mapping. Broad objectives of that proposal are: 1) to gain experience using real and developmental imaging spectrometry data; 2) to characterize and model spectral signatures of interest in non-proliferation and environmental assessment; 3) to develop new analysis tools for imaging spectrometry, and 4) to evaluate the performance of new and existing algorithms. Specific near-term objectives include: 1) the use of spectral mixing methods for identification of surface materials and gaseous constituents in atmospheric plumes; 2) atmospheric correction methods; 3) inversion of imaging spectrometry data for quantitative assessment of atmospheric constituents; and 4) linear and non-linear fitting techniques.

David A. Siegel

National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NASA NCC 5-49

08/01/92-08/31/96 $235,000

Augmentation of the Bermuda Bio-Optics Program In Support of the SeaWiFS Satellite Mission

The purpose of this proposal is to bring the instrumentation and calibration procedures of Bermuda Bio-Optics Program (BBOP) up to newly established SeaWiFS in situ ocean optics protocol standards. The NASA SeaWiFS Project Office for purposes of ground truthing the upcoming SeaWiFS satellite ocean color mission established these protocols. BBOP, as part of its NSF-sponsored JGOFS support, will be collecting in situ optical profiles at a site -75 km southeast of Bermuda. These optical data are taken concurrently with complete ocean biogeochemical data sets (including pigments, primary production, and sinking flux) making the BBOP observations a natural data set for supporting SeaWiFS satellite bio-optical model development as well as providing in situ the satellite's calibration. Unfortunately, the BBOP was funded and observations were initiated long before the SeaWiFS optics protocol standards were established. Thus, a series of tasks must be accomplished in order to bring the BBOP up to these newly developed standards. These tasks include: modifying the BBOP spectroradiometer to sample the recently altered SeaWiFS wavebands; increasing the frequency of the BBOP radiometer calibrations participating in SeaWiFs round-robin laboratory interaction exercises; complete characterization of the BBOP radiometer; and providing near-real time controlled ocean optical data to the SeaWiFS project office for their use in assessing the SeaWiFS satellite signal. It is envisioned that with the cooperation of the SeaWiFS project office the reliability, accuracy, and use of the BBOP data set will be greatly improved.

David A. Siegel

National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NASA NAGW-3145

08/01/92-07/31/97 $811,300

Inherent Optical Property Inversion of SeaWiFS Ocean Color Imagery

We propose to investigate new methodologies by which SeaWiFS ocean color imagery may be used to study upper ocean ecosystem dynamics. The approach will be to invert both SeaWiFS and in situ ocean color observations to obtain spectral estimates of biogeochemically relevant inherent optical properties (IOPs), such as coefficients for phytoplankton and detrital absorption and particulate backscatter. We also propose to compare the inversion results with detailed in situ IOP observations. The proposed work will be made in conjunction with on-going ocean optics profiling investigations made at the U.S. JGOFS Bermuda Atlantic Time-series Station (BATS). The coupling of the inherent seasonal and interannual variability of the BATS site and the high quality biogeochemical and optical observations presently made at BATS with the specific IOP determinations proposed here will produce a spectacularly rich data set for the analysis and modeling of ocean color variability. The IOP inversion method will allow a variety of biogeochemical processes to be directly assessed from SeaWiFS data that are presently unobtainable. For example, the amount of photosynthetically usable radiation (PUR) may be directly determined using the IOP inversion procedure as can the relative concentration of viable algal biomass. Changes in algal community composition, as well as algal photoadaptation processes, may also be assessed by examining changes in spectral absorption or backscattering estimates. In some sense, we are proposing to look at ocean color remote sensing backwards. That is, it is not our goal to determine chlorophyll a concentrations from SeaWiFS imagery. Instead, our aim is to determine ecologically-relevant inherent optical properties from the SeaWiFS data. The subsequent comparison of our results with the standard SeaWiFS data products (cf., chlorophyll a) should prove to be very fruitful.

David A. Siegel

National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NASA S-72048-Z

04/01/96-10/01/96 $15,050

Augmentation of the Bermuda Bio-Optics Program in Support of the SeaWiFS Satellite Mission

David A. Siegel

National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NASA S-89431-Z

01/01/97-06/30/97 $15,000

Augmentation of the Bermuda Bi6-Optics Program in Support of the SeaWiFS Satellite Mission

This project is in support of a SeaWiFs Bio-Optical Algorithm Evaluation Workshop. The purpose of this round-robin workshop is to compare and evaluate various proposed chlorophyll-a and CZCS-pigment algorithms using independent data sets to be provided by the attendees. The results and recommendations from the workshop will be published in the SeaWiFs technical memorandum series.

David A. Siegel

National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NASA S-97648-Z

06/15/97-11/30/98 $52,000

Emergency Funding-SIMBIOS start-up RFQ #970-31647-0000/902

This funding allows advance computer equipment acquisition and software implementation in preparation for the award of "Spectrial Data Assimilation for Merging Satellite Ocean Color Imagery" which was selected under the SIMBIOS NRA to be awarded in July, 1997.

David A. Siegel

US Department of the Navy, N00014-96-1-0007

10/01/95-09/30/97 $87,855

Evaluation of In-Situ Absorption/Beam Attenuation Meters

We propose to develop a set of laboratory, field, and data analysis procedures by which we can evaluate the accuracy and precision of a spectral reflective tube absorption and beam attenuation meter (the WETLabs ac-9) in very clear natural waters off the island of Bermuda. The advantage of performing this study in a blue water environment is that the magnitude of the IOP signal that we are attempting to determine is quite small (almost always less than 0.05 m-1 for a(l)- aw (l)). This will make the detection and evaluation of anomalous signals a straightforward task. In turbid, green (or worse yet, brown) waters, it may be a very difficult to detect and interpret these, often subtle, anomalous signals from the large environmental signals. In addition, a nearly complete set of apparent and inherent optical and biogeochemical properties are measured in support of the U.S. JGOFS Bermuda Atlantic Time Series station (BATS) and the Bermuda BioOptics Project (BBOP). These ancillary data will prove useful in our verification of the consistency of the derived IOP signals and our procedures.

David A. Siegel

US Department of the Navy, N00014-97-1-0028

10/01/96-09/30/97 $75,000

MSX Ocean Color Science: Bermuda and Santa Barbara Channel

This study will validate, model, and interpret hyperspectral satellite ocean color imagery from the MidSpace EXperiment (MSX) mission using data collected from clear natural waters off the island of Bermuda and the Case II waters of the Santa Barbara Channel. The projects links to current in situ sampling programs in the Sargasso Sea, the Bermuda BioOptics Program (BBOP), and in the Santa Barbara Channel, the "Plumes and Blooms study". This project augments each sampling program to provide required data for MSX ocean color cal/val activities and to interpret MSX hyperspectral imagery. We will 1) make and analyze hyperspectral determinations of R (L) at BBOP, 2) determine in vivo absorption spectra for total particulate, dissolved, and detrital particulate materials in the Plumes and Blooms study, 3) deploy and analyze data from an in situ spectral transmissometer-reflective tube absorption meter in the Santa Barbara Channel, and 4) interpret and model MSX hyperspectral ocean color observations.

David A. Siegel, Raymond C. Smith, Libe Washburn, Tommy D. Dickey

US Department of the Navy, N00014-96-1-1068

06/01/96-11/30/97 $219,945

Oceanographic Field Equipment for UCSB Scientists

This project funds new oceanographic field equipment for four UCSB marine scientists. The equipment will provide new data streams for the three on-going ONR grants: 1) the "Blooms and Plumes" Case II ocean color program in the Santa Barbara Channel (Smith, lead-PI; Siegel and Washburn, Co-1), 2) the evaluation of in-situ absorption/beam attenuation meters (Siegel, PI), and 3) the moored bio-optics program of the ONR Coastal Mixing and Optics Accelerated Research Initiative (Dickey, PI). All three grants are aimed at the in-situ determination of the inherent optical properties (IOPS) of the water column in a variety of regions from the blue Sargasso Sea to the murky Santa Barbara Channel.

David A. Siegel, Libe Washburn, Raymond C. Smith, Mark Brzezinski, Leal Mertes

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NA66GPO340

07/01/96-06/30/97 $207,621

Ocean Color Assessment of Plumes and Blooms in the Santa Barbara Channel and its Surrounding Waters

This project will coordinate a time series program of field observations, optical modeling, and satellite ocean color image analysis to assess the spatial and temporal structure of sediment plumes and phytoplankton blooms in the Santa Barbara Channel and its surrounding waters. Toward this goal, we will focus upon the development and in situ verification of state-of-the-art tools for quantifying concentrations of suspended sediments, phytoplankton pigments, and dissolved organic materials using satellite ocean color imagery for this Case II environment. Twice monthly we will collect transect observations across the Santa Barbara Channel. At each station, we will sample water-leaving radiance spectra at high spectral resolution and will collect a verification data set which includes CTD/bio-optics profiling, phytoplankton pigment, total suspended material, and biogenic and lithogenic silica concentrations. Using this in situ data set, we will develop and verify Case Il ocean color algorithms for detecting and evaluating plumes and blooms within the Santa Barbara Channel. We will apply these ocean color algorithms to satellite ocean color imagery from the Sea Viewing Wide Field of View Sensor (SeaWiFS; local area coverage [LAC] data collected and processed) and the Ocean Color Thermal Sensor (OCTS).

David A. Siegel, Libe Washburn

National Science Foundation, NSF OCE91-10556

09/01/91-08/31/96 $704,467

Radiant Heating and WaterMass Variability

This proposal seeks to obtain high quality optical and physical oceanographic time-series measurements as part of the Couples Ocean Atmosphere Response Experiment (COARE) of the Tropical Ocean Global Atmosphere (TOGA) program. Specifically, we are proposing to investigate the influence of solar radiative fluxes on the heat budget of the Warm Water Pool (WWP) of the Western Equatorial Pacific Ocean.

David A. Siegel, Libe Washburn
National Science Foundation, NSF OCE-9525856

11/15/95-10/31/97 $220,000

Solar Radiation Penetration and Upper Ocean Heating in TOGA/COARE

This project will investigate the links among solar radiation penetration, near-surface radiant heating and the thermal structure of the western Pacific warm pool mixed layer. Our initial TOGA/COARE funding focused upon determining the flux of heat out of the mixed layer of the western Pacific warm pool through field observations. We have made solid estimates of this flux using both our in situ TOGA/COARE data set and climatological data. Calculation of the penetrative solar flux out from the bottom of warm pool mixed layer (10m) requires the characterization of the radiant flux only within the near-ultraviolet to green spectral regions (3430 to 550 nm) as the longer wavelengths (600 nm) of light are absorbed within typical mixed layer depths. However, these longer wavelengths have an important role in regulating sea surface temperature (i.e., the warm layer). We propose to evaluate several new aspects of solar radiation penetration and radiant heating. The ultimate goal of our work is to develop accurate parameterizations of solar-radiation penetration and heating for the range of atmospheric and oceanic conditions found in the western Pacific warm pool. In order to achieve this goal, we propose to: quantify the role of clouds in enhancing the fraction of solar radiation that can penetrate within the water column (the cloud color effect); evaluate variability in the net flux of solar radiation at typical mixed layer depths focusing upon changes in solar geometry, clouds, and the optically-relevant materials of the water column; assess seasonal and interannual changes in solar radiation penetration using several recent optical data sets taken from the western equatorial Pacific and satellite ocean color imagery; model the penetration of solar radiation within the upper 5m of the water column by applying a detailed Monte-Carlo optical model and by an inverse analysis of moored near-surface temperature array data; and use the above data model results to develop an accurate all-condition parameterization for solar radiation penetration for the western equatorial Pacific warm pool.

Raymond C. Smith

National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NASA NAGW 290-3

10/1/83-1/31/98 $3,814,434

Ship and Satellite in the California Bight

An important component of the recent plans to understand the earth as a system [EOS Reports, 1988] includes the Joint Global Ocean Flux Study UGOFS) which has as its long-term goals: "l) To evaluate and understand on a global scale the processes controlling time-varying fluxes of carbon and associated biogenic elements in the ocean, and 2) To develop a capability to predict the response of oceanic biogeochemical processes to climate change." As has been frequently noted, the "G" in GOFS/JGOFS requires linked satellite and surface observations in order to accurately and continuously achieve GLOBAL coverage. The work proposed herein would extend and complement three interdisciplinary process-oriented studies, in different ocean locations, by making use of untended moored optical sensors to provide proxy estimations of pigment biomass and phytoplankton production. High quality optical surface data, obtained simultaneously with SeaWiFS imagery, will provide these proxy estimates across a range of space/time scales and with higher accuracy than would otherwise be available without multiplatform sampling. The common theme of these studies is to investigate and understand factors responsible for production, transport, and fate of biogenic material. This work is expected to enhance the usefulness of SeaWiFS data and, in particular, to lead to improved methodologies for the regional and global estimation of pigment biomass and primary production using combined untended mooring and ocean color satellite data.

Raymond C. Smith

National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NASA NAGW-4921

01/01/96-06/30/97 $22,214

Spatial and Temporal Variability in Sea Ice Coverage

We propose to use RADARSAT data within the context of the ongoing Palmer Long-Term Ecological Research (Palmer LTER) program. The study area for this program is centered on Palmer Station on Anvers Island west of the Antarctic Peninsula and encompasses a sampling area approximately 900km along the west coast of the Peninsula and extending 200km from nearshore to offshore. The central hypothesis of the Palmer LTER is that annual variability in sea ice coverage is a major physical determinant of spatial and temporal changes in the structure and function of polar biota at all levels of the food web, from total annual primary production to the breeding success in the seabirds. The Palmer LTER program is multidisciplinary, with ten PIs from several universities studying the various environmental and biological components of the Antarctic marine ecosystem. Our group at UCSB is responsible for the remote sensing research associated with the Palmer LTER, and we have thus far utilized passive microwave satellite data (SMMR and SSM/1) to historically document ice coverage in the Palmer LTER region from 1978 to 1994. In addition, we have utilized visible and infrared satellite data (AVHRR) to estimate ice coverage at higher spatial resolution when cloud-free conditions prevailed, as well as provide a validation for the lower resolution passive microwave derived ice concentrations. From our work with low-resolution passive microwave data and the often cloud-contaminated AVHRR data, it has become obvious that high resolution all-weather sea ice data would be of fundamental importance for the detection of leads, polynyas, and ice motion in the LTER region. We propose to use SAR data, in conjunction with presently available SSM/I and AVHRR data, along with intensive surface observations, to document the space/time variability of sea ice, both in relation to observed changes in climatic forcing and in the abundance and distribution of phytoplankton, krill, and sea birds.

Raymond C. Smith

National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NAG5-4126

01/01/97-12/31/97 $25,068

Spatial and Temporal Variability in Sea Ice Coverage West of the Antarctic Peninsula

We propose to use RADARSAT data within the context of the ongoing Palmer Long-Term Ecological Research (Palmer LTER) program. The study area for this program is centered on Palmer Station on Anvers Island west of the Antarctic Peninsula and encompasses a sampling area approximately 900 km along the west coast of the Peninsula and extending 200km from nearshore to offshore. The central hypothesis of the Palmer LTER is that annual variability in sea ice coverage is a major physical determinant of spatial and temporal changes in the structure and function of polar biota at all levels of the food web, from total annual primary production to the breeding success in the seabirds. The Palmer LTER program is multidisciplinary, with ten Pls from several universities studying the various environmental and biological components of the Antarctic marine ecosystem. Our group at UCSB is responsible for the remote sensing research associated with the Palmer LTER, and we have thus far utilized passive microwave satellite data (SMMR and SSM/1) to historically document ice coverage in the Palmer LTER region from 1978 to 1994. In addition, we have utilized visible and infrared satellite data (AVHRR) to estimate ice coverage at higher spatial resolution when cloud-free conditions prevailed, as well as provide a validation for the lower resolution data and the often cloud-contaminated AVHRR data, it has become obvious that high resolution all-weather sea ice data would be of fundamental importance for the detection of leads, polynyas, and ice motion in the LTER region. We propose to use SAR data, in conjunction with presently available SSM/I and AVHRR data, along with intensive surface observations, to document the space/time variability of sea ice, both in relation to observed changes in climatic forcing and in the abundance and distribution of phytoplankton, krill, and sea birds.

Raymond C. Smith, Mark Brzezinski, David A. Siegel, Libe Washburn, Leal Mertes

US Department of the Navy, N00014-96-1-0309

01/01/96-12/30/97 $122,675

Coastal Ocean Optical Properties in the Santa Barbara Basin

We propose to accurately model Case II waters, where the determinants of optical-active components are composed of both biogenic and terrigenous material. Santa Barbara Basin provides a unique laboratory for a rigorous interdisciplinary investigation of Case II water types. The waters of SBB are intermittently influenced by phytoplankton blooms and/or plumes of terrigenous material providing a full range of Case 11 water types driven by both seasonal and episodic phenomena. We have assembled an interdisciplinary "blooms and plumes" team of researchers to thoroughly investigate the optical properties of these diverse waters. We will leverage ongoing research to make use of physical and bio-optical time series data, continuous monitoring from a surface to bottom mooring located within the basin, plus twice-monthly small boat transects across SBB to Santa Cruz Island and beyond for the research proposed herein. These surface data will cover an unusually wide range of Case 11 waters for the development and refinement of bio-optical models. In addition we will utilize locally captured AVHRR and SeaWiFS and selected Landsat satellite data to obtain full surface estimation of sea surface temperature (SST), pigment biomass (chl-a concentrations), and suspended terrigenous material (STM). These time series data plus satellite coverage will allow for unprecedented space/time coverage and optical documentation of SBB and the range of Case II optical waters therein providing unique data for the development and refinement of optical models. The layered sediments of SBB contain one of the most unique high resolution climatic records in the world, a record which permits biannual resolution and therefore provides the opportunity to directly link this sediment record with sediment-producing processes in the waters above. Biological productivity, and the accompanying biogeochemical processes that transport carbon and other important elements to the sea floor, are spatially and temporally variable. The space/time coverage in the work will provide the data and modeling necessary to quantitatively link surface processes with the sediment record.

Raymond C. Smith, Barbara Prezelin

National Science Foundation, NSF OPP92-20962

02/15/93-07/31/96 $840,933

Ozone Diminution, Ultraviolet Radiation and Phytoplankton Biology in Antarctic Waters

During Icecolors '90, we directly measured the increase in and penetration of UVB radiation into Antarctic waters and provided the first conclusive evidence of a direct ozone-related effect on natural phytoplankton communities. We estimated that ozone-related damage to phytoplankton resulted in, at minimum, a 6% to 12% reduction in primary productivity within the marginal ice zone (MIZ) of the Southern Ocean. Using proven instrumentation and experimental approaches, we propose to return during the 1993 austral spring to (1) further develop a space and time climatology of incident and penetrating spectral irradiance (including 03-related UVB radiation) for the Southern Ocean; (2) repeat previous work in the MIZ to validate our photoinhibition parameters and check for interannual variability; (3) quantify the magnitude and inetics of UV dependent production of organic carbon; (4) quantify UV photodamage and photoprotective responses in diverse communities; and (5) further the development of a UV-sensitive component in our bio-optical model of primary productivity. Results will contribute significantly to abilities to predict changes within phytoplankton communities experiencing enhanced UVB radiation and provide an empirical basis for developing models attempting to assess the consequences for higher tropodynamic levels in the Antarctic food web.

Zhengming Wan

National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NASA NAS5-31370

01/15/92-10/15/97 $2,219,402

Land Surface Temperature Measurements from EOS MODIS Data

Under this project algorithms have been developed for retrieving land-surface temperature and emissivities from MODIS data through comprehensive atmospheric radiative transfer simulations. Thermal infrared instrumentation and methodology have also been developed to measure spectral emissivities of terrestrial materials in the laboratory and in the field. The land-surface temperature algorithms are being validated by using airborne and field measurement data acquired in three field campaigns during 7/l/96 - 6/30/97.

Zhengming Wan

National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NASA NAG5-2485

02/15/94-02/14/97 $90,000

Development of a General-Purpose Accurate Radiative Transfer Model on Parallel Computing Architectures

The goals of this project are to develop a general purpose multiple scattering radiative transfer model at an accuracy in the 0.1% - 2% range for spectral ranges from thermal infrared to UV on parallel computing architectures; to evaluate the first and second generations of HPCC Program testbed computer systems and the software environments at JPL and AMES with the proposed model; and to deliver well documented software of the proposed radiative transfer model to the High Performance Computing Software Exchange.

Libe Washburn

US Department of the Navy, N000149311089

09/01/93-02/28/97 $126,740

AASERT - Water Mass Structure and Biological-Physical Coupling Mechanisms in the North Atlantic

This project involves a graduate student and an undergraduate student working with investigators on the analysis and synthesis of a large set of physical, biological, and optical oceanographic data obtained as a part of the Marine Light Mixed Layer (MLML) Program. Data were collected during two research cruises in May and August, 1991, to obtain representative data for late winter and late summer conditions in the high latitude North Atlantic in the vicinity of Iceland. These observations, in combination with other MLML investigations, will allow a very comprehensive analysis of the interaction of physical processes in a mid-ocean eddy field with the biological and chemical processes regulating primary production and bioluminescence. From an educational and training perspective, the AASERT funding will give the graduate student involved an opportunity to obtain an advanced degree while studying physical and biological oceanography as part of an active research group.

Libe Washburn

University of Southern California, EP-3

10/01/95-09/30/97 $47,267

Bio-Optical Characterization of Particle Fields from Storm Water Runoff into Santa Monica Bay

The Southern California Bight (SCB) has multiple sources of nutrients, particulates, and contaminants that discharge into the coastal ocean, including submerged outfalls, rivers, creeks, storm drains, atmospheric inputs, ocean dumping, and advection (Anderson et al., 1993). Most of this discharge enters the SCB as buoyant freshwater plumes which either spread out over the ocean's surface, such as from river runoff, or rise upward from near the sea floor after being discharged from submerged outfalls. These plumes have significant impact on the coastal areas of the SCB because they transport high levels of suspended particulate material (SPM), contaminants like heavy metals and organic compounds, and nutrients into the coastal ocean. We propose to examine the buoyant plume that results from discharge of Ballona Creek into Santa Monica Bay during times of strong runoff from winter storms. Our research will examine the spatial and temporal evolution of the plume as it disperses into the Bay under the influence of ambient ocean currents and mixing processes. Our field program will employ newly developed optical instruments that will allow observation of plume structure with much higher resolution than has been possible before and allow differentiation of particulate components based on scattering and absorption properties.

Libe Washburn

University of Southern California, 012135

10/01/96-09/30/97 $24,233

Bio-Optical-Characterization of Particle Fields from Storm Water Runoff into Santa Monica Bay

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