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Provincetown, MA |
Northeast Coastal Monitoring Collaborative (NCMC)
AAI is producing a range of products to support the Northeast Coastal Monitoring Collaborative (NCMC). NCMC is a partnership of organizations that utilize advanced scientific tools and technologies to enhance the monitoring of the New England coastline and nearshore waters. Collaborators include the staff and citizen volunteers of the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies, Salem Sound Coastwatch, Nantucket Soundkeeper, Coalition for Buzzards Bay, Lewis Bay Research Center, Save the Bay Narragansett Bay, Northeastern Regional Association of Coastal Ocean Observing Systems, and Applied Analysis Inc. Federal funding for the project is from the U.S. Department of Commerce National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and it is locally managed by the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies as lead organization.
The project is using AAI's technologies to retrieve information from commercial satellite spectral imagery to perform comprehensive coastal zone reconnaissance mapping of the region. These products, combined with coordinated field measurements and data from other ocean observing systems, will be analyzed to help understand and assess the impacts of various uses of our oceans. The products will also help identify nonpoint pollution sources, highlight areas for environmental restoration, and identify areas likely to be impacted by sea level rise. All products, scientific findings and information will be freely available to the public as well as to interested researchers and organizations.
Currently Available Products
Numerous image products will be generated over the lifetime of the project. Currently available products are for the areas shown in the NCMC Product Basemap. Click an area of interest to display a detailed list of available downloadable products for that area. A brief description of the currently available products is provided below. As new areas are added, Figure 1 will be updated accordingly.
Similarly as new products become available, their descriptions will be added to the list below.
Base Image. AAI's iCee™ image restoration and atmospheric correction application was applied to the imagery to produce base images calibrated to units of material reflectance. These are available as natural color composites in .png format
Land / Water Interface. AAI's SHORZAN Land / Water Interface technology was used to define the land / water interface boundary for the areas shown in Figure 1. The land / water transition occurs where the water depth drops below approximately 0.2m. The tidal state at the date and time of image acquisition was estimated based on tidal gauge measurements at the coordinates included in an accompanying table.
Land Cover Analysis. AAI's Material Identifier technology was applied to the imagery to perform automatic land cover material identification. Identified materials include: water, manmade/mixed materials, snow/ice, dense vegetation, medium vegetation, sparse/senescent vegetation, dark soil, medium dark soil, medium soil, medium light soil, and light soil.
Submerged Aquatic Vegetation. Shape files showing the boundaries of occurrences of submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) were generated and provided for selected areas of coastal Massachusetts, primarily in late Winter and early Spring of 2010. These shape file boundaries can optionally be compared to image-retrieved substrate material maps using AAI’s Material Mapper technology to assess the density and distribution of SAV within the shape file boundaries. SAV condition and extent can be quickly assessed, e.g., following storm events, and frequently monitored with quick turnaround using these satellite image based methods. Historical imagery can also be used to assess changes in the condition and extent of SAV beds over time for particular shallow-water areas of interest. See our Shallow-water substrate characterization web page for additional explanation.
Water Quality. AAI’s QSC Water Quality technology was applied to the imagery of 10 locations in Massachusetts and Rhode Island to retrieve the concentrations of suspended chlorophyll (mg/l), suspended sediments (mg/l), and colored dissolved organic matter (mgC/l) in the water column on selected days in the Summer and Fall of 2010. See our web page on Image-retrieved environmental water quality products for a detailed description of the nature and significance of the information being retrieved, how to interpret the spatial patterns of concentration, and how the image-retrieved concentrations compare to and complement field sample measurements of these substances.
Water Clarity. AAI’s QSC Water Quality technology was applied to the same 10 images used to retrieve the water quality information (previous paragraph) to also retrieve water clarity information. The technology uses the retrieved concentrations to derive vertical and horizontal subsurface sighting ranges (m), turbidity (m-1), and equivalent Secchi Depth (m). The products were provided in units of Secchi Depth, since this is the most common form reported in field measurements. Note, however, that unlike field-measured Secchi depths, image-retrieved Secchi depths can exceed actual depths because they are derived from the image-retrieved sighting ranges rather than from physical Secchi disk measurements. See our web page on Image-retrieved environmental water quality products for a detailed description.
Point and Non-Point Pollution Sources. The water quality and clarity information provided for the ten coastal New England areas (previous two paragraphs) were analyzed to search for spatial patterns and correlations of the suspended chlorophyll, suspended sediments, and colored dissolved organic matter concentrations that are indicative of nutrient influx. These can be the result of natural sources of nutrients, or they can be indicative of potential sources of pollution. Associations of identified “plumes” with known locations of outfall pipes, agricultural and urban runoff, residential and commercial development were identified and analyzed to locate potential point and non-point sources of pollution. These potential source locations, cued by the image data, would need to be independently assessed and confirmed by site visits and standard field sampling and analysis protocols. Confirmed sources can then be monitored over time using historical archived imagery and future measurements to assess past and future activity patterns, infer relative nutrient loadings, and monitor progress against restoration targets. See AAI’s web page on Point and non-point pollution source identification for additional discussion and illustrations of the approach and methods.