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The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is a federal agency whose primary function is to describe and predict changes in the earth's environment and to guide the conservation and management of coastal marine resources. This is accomplished through a variety of mechanisms, including collaborations with federal, state, and regional coastal resource management agencies and programs. NOAA's Coastal Services Center (CSC) assists the nation's coastal resource management programs by providing them with services and information, and by fostering the use of new or underutilized technology.

The purpose of this project is to provide a digital atlas of satellite observations for the northern Gulf of Mexico region from the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) aboard the NOAA Polar Orbiting Environmental Satellite (POES). The NOAA POES program is one of the longest continual satellite programs in the world, and at least one POES has been active at any one time since 1981. A water reflectance product has been derived from the visible band of the AVHRR and provides a measure of water turbidity associated with suspended sediments at 1.3 kilometer resolution. The images are presented in a GIF format for browsing and are also available in a GeoTIFF format suitable for import into geographic information system (GIS) and image processing software. Over 2,400 usable scenes compose this time series encompassing a period from 1985 to 1999. In addition to the reflectance images, a coincident set of sea surface temperature (SST) images is available. The images are co-registered with an accuracy of +/-1 pixel in an Albers conic equal area projection.

The northern Gulf of Mexico region is a highly dynamic area affected by many factors including the Mississippi River discharge and the Loop Current. From the satellite record many of these dynamics can be synoptically observed. For example, discharge and circulation in the vicinity of the Mississippi River can be monitored using the reflectance/turbidity imagery which is a proxy measurement for suspended sediments. The turbidity fronts apparent in the reflectance imagery provide a means of directly observing coastal circulation patterns as well as monitoring the overall water clarity and light availability trends in coastal regions. Sea surface temperature is useful for determining the mesoscale dynamics (tens to hundreds of kilometers) within this region, especially as related to the position and meandering of the edge of the Loop Current and associated eddies and filaments. The time series is useful for characterizing the interannual and seasonal variability of turbidity and SST as well as studying event specific features (e.g., resuspension/cooling due to hurricanes and storms). Anomalous conditions may impact many aspects of fisheries, including spawning, recruitment, and grounds.

From the perspective of the coastal scientist or resource manager, these two satellite products, when combined with in situ observations, represent important tools for assessing nearshore and shelf circulation, sediment transport and resuspension, water clarity and light availability, regional climatology and heat transport - important factors for scientists and resource managers working to understand coastal processes.

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To Learn More

This project has been organized into a number of different sections to allow you to access the information, imagery, and data of interest. Follow the links below to learn more.

REMOTE SENSING OVERVIEW - General information on remote sensing, sensor types, and applications.

DATA AND SATELLITE IMAGERY - AVHRR reflectance and SST image time series (1985 to 1999).

ECOSYSTEM DESCRIPTION - This section includes two papers that provide an overview of northern Gulf of Mexico ecosystems, biology, and physical dynamics.

LINKS OF INTEREST - Links to other sites that contain information and data for the Gulf of Mexico region.

BIBLIOGRAPHY - All citations for material used in this project.

ABOUT THIS PROJECT - General operating instructions accessing the various sources of data, author list, and obtaining additional information regarding this project.

AUTHORS - Contact information for the primary authors of this project.

CONTRIBUTORS - Contact information for the contributing organizations that provided data for this project and a link to the organizations' Internet home pages.

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