Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

The Vezo Communities And Fisheries Of The Coral Reef Ecosystem In The Bay Of Ranobe, Madagascar, Shane Abeare

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Madagascar, a country whose extraordinary levels of endemism and biodiversity are celebrated globally by scientists and laymen alike, yet historically has received surprisingly little research attention, is the setting of the present dissertation. Here, I contribute to the need for applied research by: 1) focusing on the most intensely fished section of the Toliara Barrier Reef, the Bay of Ranobe; 2) characterizing the marine environment, the human population, and the fisheries; and 3) collecting the longest known time-series of data on fisheries of Madagascar, thereby providing a useful baseline for future analyses. In Chapter 1, the bathymetry of the Bay …

Developing Multispectral Imaging Techniques To Determine Canopy Coverage And Carbon Storage Of Seagrasses In The Gulf Of Mexico, Ivy Michelle Hinson

Theses and Dissertations

Although seagrass beds provide global ecosystem services, coverage is in rapid decline, with the capacity of seagrasses to sequester carbon of special concern. Current seagrass monitoring methods are labor intensive and may not offer a complete picture of coverage. Remote sensing offers the ability to oversee landscapes but water in coastal environments presents challenges, as the commonly used near-infrared wavelength dissipates in water.

This project aimed to provide reliable methodology to assess seagrass coverage using multispectral imagery taken from an unmanned aerial vehicle and to provide evidence for the link between seagrass coverage and stored belowground carbon for common seagrasses …

Retrieving Aerosol Characteristics From The Pace Mission, Part 1: Ocean Color Instrument, Lorraine A. Remer, Anthony B. Davis, Shana Mattoo, Robert C. Levy, Olga V. Kalashnikova, Odele Coddington, Jacek Chowdhary, Kirk Knobelspiesse, Xiaoguang Xu, Ziauddin Ahmad, Emmanuel Boss, Brian Cairns, Heidi M. Dierssen, David J. Diner, Bryan Franz, Robert Frouin, Bo Cai Gao, Amir Ibrahim, J. Vanderlei Martins, Ali H. Omar, Omar Torres, Feng Xu, Peng Wang Zhai

Marine Sciences Faculty Scholarship

NASA’s Plankton, Aerosol, Clouds, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) satellite mission is scheduled to launch in 2022, with the Ocean Color Instrument (OCI) on board. For the first time reflected sunlight from the Earth across a broad spectrum from the ultraviolet (UV: 350 nm) to the short wave infrared (SWIR: 2260 nm) will be measured from a single instrument at 1 km spatial resolution. While seven discrete bands will represent the SWIR, the spectrum from 350 to 890 nm will be continuously covered with a spectral resolution of 5 nm. OCI will thus combine in a single instrument (and at an enhanced …

Determining Remote Sensing Spatial Resolution Requirements For The Monitoring Of Harmful Algal Blooms In The Great Lakes, John Lekki, Eric Deutsch, Michael Sayers, Karl Bosse, Robert Anderson, Roger Tokars, Reid W. Sawtell

Michigan Tech Publications

Harmful algal blooms (HABs) have become a major health and environmental concern in the Great Lakes. In 2014, severe HABs prompted the State of Ohio to request NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC) to assist with monitoring algal blooms in Lake Erie. The most notable species of HAB is Microcystis aeruginosa, a hepatotoxin producing cyanobacteria that is responsible for liver complications for humans and other fauna that come in contact with these blooms. NASA GRC conducts semiweekly flights in order to gather up-to-date imagery regarding the blooms' spatial extents and concentrations. Airborne hyperspectral imagery is collected using two hyperspectral imagers, HSI-2 …

High-Resolution Habitat And Bathymetry Maps For 65,000 Sq. Km Of Earth’S Remotest Coral Reefs, Samuel J. Purkis, Arthur C. R. Gleason, Charlotte R. Purkis, Alexandra C. Dempsey, Philip Renaud, Mohamed Faisal, Steven Saul, Jeremy M. Kerr

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

With compelling evidence that half the world’s coral reefs have been lost over the last four decades, there is urgent motivation to understand where reefs are located and their health. Without such basic baseline information, it is challenging to mount a response to the reef crisis on the global scale at which it is occurring. To combat this lack of baseline data, the Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation embarked on a 10-yr survey of a broad selection of Earth’s remotest reef sites—the Global Reef Expedition. This paper focuses on one output of this expedition, which is meter-resolution seafloor habitat …

Estimating Coastal Water Turbidity Using Viirs Nighttime Measurement, Chih-Wei Huang

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Coastal water turbidity is a key environmental factor that influences the relative clarity of the water, which therefore reduces sunlight penetration. The comprehensive spatial and temporal coverage of remote sensing allows mapping of water turbidity near the coast. Even in locations where time-consuming and expensive conventional turbidity monitoring programs exist, local technological limitations prevent complete coverage. Traditional optical satellite techniques using the visible band also have limitations in monitoring turbidity due to non-optimal observing conditions such as clouds, sun-glint, and thick aerosols. In this study, in order to complement the daytime satellite measurements, I used the data from Visible Infrared …

Impact Of Deadly Dust Storms (May 2018) On Air Quality, Meteorological, And Atmospheric Parameters Over The Northern Parts Of India, Sudipta Sarkar, Akshansa Chauhan, Rajesh Kumar, Ramesh P. Singh

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

The northern part of India, adjoining the Himalaya, is considered as one of the global hot spots of pollution because of various natural and anthropogenic factors. Throughout the year, the region is affected by pollution from various sources like dust, biomass burning, industrial and vehicular pollution, and myriad other anthropogenic emissions. These sources affect the air quality and health of millions of people who live in the Indo‐Gangetic Plains. The dust storms that occur during the premonsoon months of March–June every year are one of the principal sources of pollution and originate from the source region of Arabian Peninsula and …

Uas Flight Operations In Complex Terrain: Assessing The Agricultural Impact From Hurricane Maria In The Central Mountainous Region Of Puerto Rico, Kevin Adkins

Publications

Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico in September 2017 as a Category 4 storm causing major damage to infrastructure, agriculture and natural ecosystems, as well as the loss of many lives. Among the crops hardest hit was coffee, one of the most important crops in Puerto Rico. As a perennial system, coffee takes various production forms along a gradient from high shade/biodiversity coffee farms to low shade coffee monocultures and therefore offers an ideal means for the study of resistance and resilience of an agroecosystem to weather and climate disturbance. During the summer of 2018, 14 impacted farms across the production …

Global Perspectives On Observing Ocean Boundary Current Systems, Robert E. Todd, Francisco P. Chavez, Sophie Clayton, Sophie Cravatte, Marlos Goes, Michelle Graco, Xiaopei Lin, Janet Sprintall, Nathalie V. Zilberman, Matthew Archer, Javier Arístegui, Magdalena Balmaseda, John M. Bane, Molly O. Baringer, John A. Barth, Lisa M. Beal, Peter Brandt, Paulo H.R. Calil, Edmo Campos, Luca R. Centurioni, Maria Paz Chidichimo, Mauro Cirano, Meghan F. Cronin, Enrique N. Curchitser, Russ E. Davis, Marcus Dengler, Brad Deyoung, Shenfu Dong, Ruben Escribano, Andrea J. Fassbender, Sarah E. Fawcett, Ming Feng, Gustavo J. Goni, Alison R. Gray, Dimitri Gutiérrez, Dave Hebert, Rebecca Hummels, Shin-Ichi Ito, Marjorlaine Krug, François Lacan, Lucas Laurindo, Alban Lazar, Craig M. Lee, Matthieu Lengaigne, Naomi M. Levine, John Middleton, Ivonne Montes, Mike Muglia, Takeyoshi Nagai, Hilary I. Palevsky, Jaine B. Palter, Helen E. Phillips, Alberto Piola, Albert J. Plueddemann, Bo Qiu, Regina R. Rodrigues, Moninya Roughan, Daniel L. Rudnick, Ryan R. Rykaczewski, Martin Saraceno, Harvey Seim, Alex Sen Gupta, Lynne Shannon, Bernadette M. Sloyan, Adrienne J. Sutton, Luanne Thompson, Anja K. Van Der Plas, Denis Volkov, John Wilkin, Dongxiao Zhang, Linlin Zhang

OES Faculty Publications

Ocean boundary current systems are key components of the climate system, are home to highly productive ecosystems, and have numerous societal impacts. Establishment of a global network of boundary current observing systems is a critical part of ongoing development of the Global Ocean Observing System. The characteristics of boundary current systems are reviewed, focusing on scientific and societal motivations for sustained observing. Techniques currently used to observe boundary current systems are reviewed, followed by a census of the current state of boundary current observing systems globally. Next steps in the development of boundary current observing systems are considered, leading to …

Automatic Detection And Analysis Of Rip Currents At Haeundae Beach Using X-Band Marine Radar, Chanyeong Oh, Kyungmo Ahn, Se-Hyeon Cheon

OES Faculty Publications

The observation system has been developed to investigate the rip currents at Haeundae beach using Xband marine radar. X-band radar system can observe shape, size, and velocity of rip currents, which is difficult to obtain through field observation by conventional device. Algorithms which automatically detect locations, shapes, and magnitudes of rip currents were developed using time averaged X-band radar sea clutter images. X-band sea clutter images are transformed through 3D FFT into 2D wave number spectrum and frequency spectrum. Rip current velocities were estimated using differences in wave-number spectra and wave frequency spectra due to Doppler shift. The algorithm was …

Remote Sensing Of Planetary Boundary Layer Height And Particulate Matter 2.5 In New York State Mesonet Network, Bhupal Shrestha

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Abstract: