Other News-in-the-Making from SeaWiFS

SeaWiFS data are being used by researchers on a wide variety of subjects. Here's a sampling of work currently underway.

* Turtles' migratory pathways across the Pacific. SeaWiFS images have proven useful in identifying forage and migratory pathways across the North Pacific used by loggerhead turtles and albacore tuna. The pathway appears in SeaWiFS images as a sharp chlorophyll front representing the boundary between the low chlorophyll water in the central Pacific and the high chlorophyll water further north.
Contact: Jeffrey Polovina, NMFS/NOAA. tel. 808-983-5390, e-mail: Jeffrey.Polovina@noaa.gov

* Coastal water quality and harmful algal blooms. NOAA's CoastWatch program provides near real-time SeaWiFS data to civilian government users (federal, state, and local). Applications include operational predictions and monitoring of harmful algal blooms and areas of coastal bottom anoxia; fisheries management, including reducing by-catch of protected and endangered species; and point source monitoring (ocean outfalls).
Contact: Pat Viets, NOAA Public Affairs, tel. 301-457-5005, e-mail: Patricia.Viets@noaa.gov

* Long-range movement of air pollution. SeaWiFS has tracked a dust storm from China that caused high aerosol concentrations over the U.S. Pacific coast and a smoke plume from Central American fires that caused health alerts as it moved into the United States. Researchers now routinely using SeaWiFS data to detect and study major dust and smoke events.
Contact: Rudolf B. Husar, Washington University, tel. 314-935-6099, e-mail: rhusar@me.wustl.edu

* Mysterious "bright waters" in the Bering Sea. During recent winters NASA scientists have noticed bright patches of water in SeaWiFS images of the remote Bering Sea. These were surprising because it should be too cold for phytoplankton to grow there in winter. We are now analyzing water samples collected from this area to find the cause of the mysterious bright waters.
Contacts: Sandra Broerse, University of Southampton, tel. +44-2380-596574, e- mail atb1@mail.soc.soton.ac.uk; Toby Tyrrell, University of Southampton, tel. +44-2380-596110, e-mail: T.Tyrrell@soc.soton.ac.uk

* Improving climate prediction tools. Understanding the current productivity of the ocean is helpful in evaluating the effect of global warming on marine biology in the future. The SeaWiFS record of observed chlorophyll is being used to create improved representations of the contribution of ocean biology in the overall climate system.
Contact: Jorge Sarmiento, Princeton University, tel. 609-258-6585; e-mail: jls@splash.princeton.edu

* Unusual long-lasting ocean eddies off Hawaii. For fish and fisherman, eddies mean an increase in organisms that make up the marine food web. Scientists using SeaWiFS data discovered an unusual long-lasting, whirlpool-like ocean eddy that generated a dramatic increase in the marine food supply off the Hawaiian coast.
Contact: Robert Bidigare, University of Hawaii Department of Oceanography, tel. 808-956-6567, e-mail: bidigare@soest.hawaii.edu

* Coral reef mapping around the world. NASA and NOAA are working together to identify areas of potential coral reef habitat around the world. This effort is providing a reference map for coral reefs for a database of other imagery. The project is improving the location of coral reefs in global databases to within half a mile.
Contact: Richard P. Stumpf, NOAA National Ocean Service, tel. 301-713-3028 ext. 173, e-mail: richard.stumpf@noaa.gov

* Fertilizing the ocean with iron. Experimental fertilization of the Southern Ocean produced a spectacular algal bloom that persisted for over a month. SeaWiFS images of the event challenge our understanding of the cycling of iron within algal blooms.
Contact: Edward Abraham, New Zealand National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, tel. +64 4 386 0329, e-mail: abraham@niwa.cri.nz Back to Top