Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771

ENGINEERING COLLOQUIUM

Monday, September 22, 2003 / 3:30 PM, Building 3 Auditorium 

Tiffany Moisan

"Remote Sensing of Coastal Marine Ecosystems"

ABSTRACT -- The coastal zone is a crucial boundary between land, ocean and atmosphere, a focal point for the accumulation of carbon (C) and nutrients, and a region under direct influence of human impact. A diverse suite of physical and biogeochemical processes act upon and transform these constituents as they move from the terrestrial watershed, through embayments to coastal and open ocean waters. The sensitivity of the coastal region to climate change and increased industrialization due to increases in the human population is unknown. Ocean color satellites have provided both qualitative and quantitative estimates of these fluxes using a variety of ocean color remote sensing instruments to monitor phytoplankton concentrations. Phytoplankton serve as the base of the marine food chain and serve to support upper trophic levels such as fish. We have developed a small compact hyperspectral passive sensor that will allow for the remote sensing in coastal embayments to capture episodic events that occur on time scales that are currently undersampled with current satellite sensors. We have the capability of mounting this on small aircraft to measure tidal signals and episodic event such as phytoplankton blooms.

SPEAKER -- Dr. Tiffany A. Moisan received her doctorate from Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UCSD, and is currently a civil servant in the Observational Science Branch, Code 972. She focuses her expertise on phytoplankton physiology and optics and she is interested in cellular processes and satellite remote sensing. She leads the OSB Biogeochemistry Laboratory at Goddard's Wallops Flight Facility.