Dierssen, Heidi: University of Connecticut (Project Lead)
Project Funding:
2007 - 2010
NRA: 2006 NASA: Ocean Biology and Biogeochemistry
Funded by NASA
Abstract:
This proposal is in response to the solicitation for the Southern Ocean Carbon Program -
Field Component (Air-Sea CO2 Flux and Improvement of Remotely Sensed Data).
Remote sensing reflectance from the southern ocean is higher than most of the world’s
oceans. We propose to evaluate two primary hypotheses for the high reflectance: 1)
Southern Ocean waters contain high levels of backscattering materials such as Particulate
Inorganic Carbon (PIC); or 2) High reflectance is primarily due to the excessive amounts
of bubbles produced by consistently high winds in this region. Understanding the
magnitude of the spectral reflectance from the Southern Ocean will require a detailed
understanding of the backscattering properties of the water column in relationship to
wind-driven processes. Here, we propose to measure both wind-driven processes (e.g.,
bubbles and whitecaps) and water-column properties (e.g., calcite, coccolithophores and
detached coccoliths, dissolved and particulate organic matter, etc.) in order to evaluate
the contribution of each to measured inherent and apparent optical properties. High
water-leaving radiance may have little impact on spectral ratios used in standard remote
sensing algorithms, but significantly impacts the more advanced remote sensing
algorithms that quantify backscattering and particulates from the magnitude of waterleaving radiance. As part of this effort, we propose to develop an approach to quantify
the contribution of bubbles to water-leaving radiance and develop a wind-based
algorithm to correct for bubbles in the remote sensing reflectance spectrum. We will also
use these data to refine approaches to remotely estimating phytoplankton chlorophyll and
PIC in Southern Ocean waters. The diverse expertise of our proposed team allow us to
exploit cutting-edge technology (in situ VSF, acid-labile backscattering) and leverage
existing equipment and ongoing research projects that strengthen the proposed research
efforts at lower overall cost.
Publications:
Randolph, K., Dierssen, H. M., Cifuentes-Lorenzen, A., Balch, W. M., Monahan, E. C., Zappa, C. J., Drapeau, D. T., Bowler, B. 2017. Novel Methods for Optically Measuring Whitecaps under Natural Wave-Breaking Conditions in the Southern Ocean. Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology. 34(3), 533-554. DOI: 10.1175/JTECH-D-16-0086.1
2011 NASA Carbon Cycle & Ecosystems Joint Science Workshop Poster(s)
- Optical measurements of bubble size distributions at 6-9 m depths generated by large-scale breaking waves in the Southern Ocean
-- (Kaylan Randolph, Heidi Dierssen, Michael Twardowski, Alejandro Cifuentes Lorenzen, Christopher Zappa)
[abstract]
2008 NASA Carbon Cycle & Ecosystems Joint Science Workshop Posters
- High productivity of benthic macroalgae, Colpomenia, on the Bahamas Banks and potential carbon export to the deep sea
-- (Heidi M Dierssen, Lisa A Drake, Richard C Zimmerman, David J Burdige)
[abstract]
More details may be found in the following project profile(s):
