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Remote Sensing Applications to Water Quality Management in Florida
Citation:
Lehrter, J., B. Schaeffer, Jim Hagy, B. Spiering, B. Barnes, C. Hu, C. Le, L. McEachron, L. Underwood, C. Ellis, AND W. Fisher. Remote Sensing Applications to Water Quality Management in Florida. Presented at AGU Fall Meeting, San Francisco, CA, December 08 - 13, 2013.
Impact/Purpose:
The purpose is to provide a summary overview of the scientific achievements and the use of remote sensing products in water quality decision-making from our NASA funded project
Description:
Increasingly, optical datasets from estuarine and coastal systems are becoming available for remote sensing algorithm development, validation, and application. With validated algorithms, the data streams from satellite sensors can provide unprecedented spatial and temporal data for local and regional coastal water quality management. Our presentation will examine two recent applications of optical data and remote sensing to water quality decision-making in coastal regions of the state of Florida; (1) informing the development of estuarine and coastal nutrient criteria for the state of Florida and (2) informing the rezoning of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. These efforts involved building up the underlying science to demonstrate the applicability of satellite data as well as an outreach component to educate decision-makers about the use, utility, and uncertainties of remote sensing data products. Scientific developments included testing existing algorithms and generating new algorithms for water clarity and chlorophylla in case II (CDOM or turbidity dominated) estuarine and coastal waters and demonstrating the accuracy of remote sensing data products in comparison to traditional field based measurements. Including members from decision-making organizations on the research team and interacting with decision-makers early and often in the process were key factors for the success of the outreach efforts and the eventual adoption of satellite data into the data records and analyses used in decision-making.