Grace Su ( grace@seawifs.gsfc.nasa.gov) (301) 286-9494
Applicant's Name: Pauline P. Stephen Institution: State University of New York - College of Environmental Science and Forestry Address: 410B Bray Hall 1, Forestry Drive Syracuse NY 13210 Telephone: 315-395-8574 Fax Number: 315-470-6958 E-mail Address: ppstephe@syr.edu Type of Temporary Agreement requested: An agreement that temporarily allows an existing real-time SeaWiFS HRPT agreement to release data to the Authorized Users listed below. Dates (month/day/year): 06/25/2003 - 09/30/2003 SeaWiFS HRPT Station to provide data: HNSG List of Authorized Users to access real-time data. 1. Pauline P. Stephen Project Title: Monitoring and Event Response for Harmful Algal Blooms (MERHAB) Principal Investigator(s): Dr. Paul F. Hopkins, Pauline P. Stephen Funding Agency(s): National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Department of Commerce Description of the Research Project and Justification for Real-time SeaWiFS Data:
Introduction: - The term Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) refers to bloom phenomenon that contain toxins or that cause negative impacts. These are occurring with increasing frequency and duration along the shores of the Great Lakes causing devastating impacts to local economies and serious human health threats associated with a variety of harmful algae.
Objective: - The objective of this project is to monitor HABs in the lower Great Lakes, namely Erie, Ontario and Champlain. Remote sensing forms an important part of this project to provide the latest information on the occurrence and movement of the blooms. The final outcome of the project will be the development of an integrated alert system of detection and response protocols so that we can provide maximum protection to the public at minimum cost. The combination of raw and derived geophysical products from old and new remote sensing platforms will form an important part of the primary alert-response protocal.
Necessity for Near-Real-Time (NRT) data: - A number of field sampling teams aboard cruises are going to collect water samples from the three lakes in summer to study the characteristics, pattern and spread of HAB. Due to the enormous size of these lakes, NRT SeaWiFS Level 1 and chlorophyll data are required to be analyzed for toxins and other properties in laboratories and will be used as ground truth for image processing and remote sensing analysis.
Location: - I need L1A_LAC and L2_GAC SeaWiFS data for the following locations:
Lake Erie - Upper Left (43oN, 83o30'W), Lower Right(41o15'N, 78oW)
Lake Ontario - Upper Left (44o25'34"N, 79o53'41"W), Lower Right(43o5'46"N, 75o44'57"W)
Lake Champlain - Upper Left(45o26'56"N, 7314'10"W), Lower Right(43o42'27"N, 73o 7'5"W)
Publication: - I plan to publish the outcome of this project as my master's thesis and emphasize the use of SeaWiFS data in detecting and monitoring blooms on lakes.