Faculty
of the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric
Science at the University of Miami [http://www.rsmas.miami.edu/], as stated in their commitment
letter, will utilize the Instrument for research and education efforts in Coastal
Studies, Marine Life, Marine Physics, and Disaster Resiliency.
Coastal research by the team of Nelson Melo
[http://CAKE.fiu.edu/Melo] at FIU and their extramural colleagues
will utilize the instrument research in the fields of oceanography and marine
remote sensing. In particular, it will provide new ways to study oceanic
surface and sub-surface phenomena.
One
of the challenges in airborne remote sensing of the water and coastal
environment is the interference of the atmosphere [I. Levin; Chuanmin Hu; M. Zhang]. Because water targets are typically
dark, an accurate atmospheric correction is required. Such a correction,
however, is often difficult because of the unknown thickness of altitude of
aerosol. These unknowns are often assumed "known", based on historical values
but the errors involved on those "corrections" often mask the data needed aerosols
[Gordon, H.; Mao, Z. (2013), Mao, Z. (2014)]. The Instrument's low flight
heights (less than 500 ft) and no-vibration,
slow-flight speeds will minimize such interference and reduce
blurring of the high-spatial resolution (1-10 cm) pixels needed to obtain
mutli-temporal aerial photography (color,
panchromatic and multispectral) and integrate this data with up to 12 ancillary
sensors.
Seagrass
and coral reefs are important coastal biomass. Because of their high biological
productivity and spatial extent, they play an important role in both local and
global carbon and nutrient cycles. These communities process, trap, and bury
river-borne nutrients and sediments. They also protect shorelines from erosion
and tropical cyclones, and serve as reservoirs of biodiversity [Orth et al 2006].
In
spite of their importance, the survival of many seagrass
and coral reef ecosystems are threatened [Kleypas and
Yates, 2009]. These ecosystems are especially vulnerable and an accelerating
global pattern of loss has been identified [Waycott
et al. 2009]. Based on an assessment of 215 studies from around the world, it
is estimated that seagrass and coral reef ecosystems
have been lost at a rate of 110 sq.km/yr
since 1980 and that the known areal extent has decreased by 29% since 1879.
Human factors that cause the loss are direct (e.g., dredging; filling;
propeller scarring) and indirect (e.g., eutrophication and processes that
reduce water clarity and add organic matter to sediments). Natural stresses
include disease, tropical cyclones, sea temperature increase and sea level
rise.
In
assessing spatial variability, health, and productivity in coastal ecosystem
habitats, the Instrument will provide a reliable means for rapid and
repeated field measurements over large areas. Traditional techniques
using field measurements are labor-intensive and very expensive, thus often
restricted to small regions. Traditional airborne surveys are also expensive
and usually lacking synchronization, only yielding information on areal distribution.
Recently, proof-of-concept studies have shown the value of low altitude
multispectral remote sensing in quantitative measurement of coastal ecosystems
[Belluco, E.; Klemas, V.
(2011); Klemas, V. (2009)].
The
Instrument would enable inexpensive high-resolution airborne remote sensing
through an innovative approach for the characterization, extension, and
observation of the synoptic patterns that influence coral reef and seagrass ecosystems in coastal regions.
References Cited
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Levin and E. Levina, "Effect of atmospheric
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