Data Products  

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Suspended Sediment Concentration (SSC)

 

	Suspended Sediment Concentration (Four League Bay area)
	Regression Diagram - Suspended Sediment Concentration vs Reflectance.

 

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Geomorphic Impact Index (GI²)

GI² is designed as a tool to quantitatively assess the impact of atmospheric forcing on accretion and erosion of Louisiana's muddy coastline at the Chenier Plain.  GI² is based on correlation between surface wind, coastal water level, and geomorphic impact as given by coastal landform measurements derived from aerial photography.  This tool is currently being applied to cumulative seasonal/annual storm impacts on coastal landform; principles learned from seasonal time scales can be applied to better understand impact at individual storm time scales. In the microtidal Louisiana coastal zone, it has been found that strong wind energy associated with high water levels results in the greatest impact on the landform.  Strong wind energy cold front systems make up less than 20% of the cold fronts that impact the Louisiana coast but appear to be responsible for a majority of the landform change.  However, weaker cold fronts play an important role too; they work to resuspend sediments which are subsequently transported down drift by coastal currents to preferred sites where the sediments settle out of the water column to the subaqueous bottom.  These deposits replenish sea floor bottom material, and are available for deposition along the muddy coast shore face during strong cold fronts.
 

	GI2 Compared to Mud Area Measurements
	Wind Energy at Lake Charles, LA for 1990 through 1997

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 Coastal Circulation and Sediment Transport

Coastal water levels, driven by astronomical tides and atmospheric forcing, affect local circulation and sediment transport. MAS repeat coverage visible/NIR images have been georeferenced and animated to track water motions and sediment transport in the Atchafalaya Bay region. The hydrodynamic nature of the Atchafalaya Bay region is apparent in the spatial (during one flight) and temporal (one flight compared to another flight) variation of the depicted water motions. The water motions may be combined with SSC in situ data to produce estimates of sediment transport, a visualization of the transport pathways and destinations of the sedimentary material inundating the Atchafalaya Bay region of the Louisiana coast. The impact of this sediment on marine ecosystems is not well understood at this time, but may threaten some while nourishing other of these delicate ecosystems.
 

	Coastal circulation image for Jan. 24, 1995.
	Water Motion Movie Gallery - MPEGs

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Water Typing

Mapping the presence of various water types is important to a number of problems common to coastal regions around the world.  In these complex environments coastal circulation is the primary control on physical properties, affecting the fate of toxic pollutants, the movement of fish larvae, the location of fish schools and other marine life, as well as the location of erosion and sedimentation sites.  Moderate spatial resolution (100 m)  multispectral remote sensing of surface temperature and turbidity has been used to quantitatively discriminate water types in Atchafalaya Bay.  The two primary water types detected in this complex coastal environment were Gulf of Mexico inner shelf water and Mississippi River water.  Four additional water types are formed locally and are readily detectable: shallow ambient bay water, fresh marsh drainage water, salt marsh drainage water, and soil drainage water.
 

MAMS water typing example.

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Sea Surface Temperature (SST)

MAS SST estimates are generated using a split window algorithm (11 and 12 micron), which corrects atmospheric water vapor effects. MAS high resolution data reveals many thermal features in the coastal bays and estuaries, including cold delta drainage and warm Gulf water intrusions.
 

SST in Atchafalaya Bay - January, 1995.

 

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Simulated MODIS Image

The MAS instrument has been used to simulate MODIS imagery over the Louisiana coast to assess the information content of coastal scenes from MODIS. Similar spectral bands of MAS have been spatially averaged to the 250 meter spatial resolution of the MODIS 650nm and 860nm bands. These simulations indicate that MODIS data will be very useful for monitoring fine scale variability in the coastal waters. When both the AM-1 MODIS (planned launch in June 1998) and PM-1 MODIS instruments (planned launch in December 2000) are on-orbit, these instruments will be useful for monitoring coastal water motions with their planned overpass times of 10:30am LST and 1:30pm LST.
 

Simulated MODIS Image of Atchafalaya Bay

 

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Last updated:  May 15, 1998