Adaptive sampling of upwelling eddies at the long-term ecosystem observatoryOscar Schofield Friday, April 16, 1999
This seminar will focus on the operation of the LEO-15 network and results from the ONR/NOPP sponsored 1998 Coastal Predictive Skill Experiments during the summer upwelling season. Next: Satellite remote sensing- A tool for biogeochemical insight Last updated: December 19, 2000 |
Off the coast of New Jersey, a distributed network of real-time coupled
physical/bio-optical observation systems (LEO-15) is being constructed to span the scales
from the continental shelf to the near-shore. The system (satellites, aircraft, buoys,
radar, autonomous nodes, ships, and autonomous underwater vehicles) are being integrated
through acoustic, radio, and satellite communications for adaptive sampling based on
real-time observations and coupled data-assimilative physical/bio-optical model forecasts.
The goal is to synoptically define the physical forcing of coastal biological
productivity. Currently, the phenomenological focus for LEO-15 is on the impact of
episodic upwelling on coastal optical properties. Off the southern coast of New Jersey,
upwelled water evolves into an along-shore line of three recurrent upwelling centers that
are co-located with historical regions of low dissolved oxygen. The upwelling eddies are
clearly visible in ocean AVHRR, RADARSAT, and SeaWiFs color imagery. The optical features
of the upwelled waters are dominated by inorganic particles during the earliest phases of
the upwelling cycle, but later are dominated by particulate organic carbon associated with
diatoms and dinoflagellates.