1.2 Integrating land, ocean, and atmospheric processes through threatened and economically important fish species—the case of central California salmon

Eric Danner, NOAA, eric.danner@noaa.gov (Presenter)
Francisco Chavez, MBARI, chfr@mbari.org
Brian Wells, NOAA, brian.wells@noaa.gov
Steve Lindley, NOAA, steve.lindley@noaa.gov
Fei Chai, University of Maine, fchai@maine.edu
Yi Chao, JPL, yi.chao@jpl.nasa.gov
Ramakrishna R. Nemani, NASA ARC, rama.nemani@nasa.gov
Forrest Melton, CSUMB, forrest.s.melton@nasa.gov
Balaji Ragagopalan, Univeristy of Colorado, Boulder, rajagopalan.balaji@colorado.edu
Andrew Pike, University of California Santa Cruz, andrew.pike@noaa.gov
Jason Caldwell, Univeristy of Colorado, Boulder, caldwerj@colorado.edu
Roger Nizbet, University of California Santa Barbara, roger.nisbet@lifesci.ucsb.edu
Laure Pecquerie, University of California Santa Barbara, laure.pecquerie@lifesci.ucsb.edu
Morgan Hocking, Simon Frazer University, mhocking@sfu.ca
Kirstin Holsman, NOAA, kirstin.holsman@noaa.gov
Lynn Dewitt, NOAA, lynn.dewitt@noaa.gov
Jarrod Santora, NOAA, jarrod.santora@noaa.gov
William Sydeman, Farallon Institute, wsydeman@comcast.net
Eli Ateljevich, California Department of Water Resources, eli@water.ca.gov

Salmon are a vital economic, cultural, and ecological resource. As anadromous fish, spawning in freshwater while spending most their lives in the ocean, salmon are natural integrators of terrestrial, estuarine, and marine ecosystems and the processes affecting them. Throughout their migration through these systems, salmon play key roles as predators, prey, and vectors for nutrients. While salmon are important components of these ecosystems, many salmon populations are listed under the Endangered Species Act. NASA has supported two projects that bring together remote sensing and models to understand the impacts of climate and anthropogenic factors on the life cycle of Chinook salmon that spawn in the Sacramento River of California’s Central Valley, one focusing on freshwater river temperatures (PI: NOAA/Eric Danner) and the other examining ocean processes in the California Current system (PI: MBARI/Francisco Chavez). Recently, these two projects received a joint award to integrate their efforts in a comprehensive remote sensing and model-based effort that incorporates and connects the freshwater, estuarine, and ocean for a more complete understanding of the physical and anthropogenic drivers of Sacramento River salmon populations.

Presentation: 2011_Oct03_AM_Danner_43.pdf (6423k)

Presentation Type:  Plenary Talk

Session:  1.0 Integrated Remote Sensing and Modeling of Coupled Processes at Interfaces between Land-Atmosphere-Ocean Ecosystems:

Presentation Time:  Mon 11:30 AM  (30 minutes)