Understanding and Protecting Our Home Planet

1
Field Campaigns
Paula Bontempi NASA Headquarters Ocean Color
Research Team Meeting 1 May 2008
2
Future Science A Blank Slate
Ocean Biology and Biogeochemistry Program
planning document identifies a global ocean
mission with enhanced spectral resolution from
the UV to SWIR as the top priority future
mission. Measurements will contribute greatly
toward achieving all four ocean-related science
objectives identified in the NASA Carbon Cycle
and Ecosystems roadmap (circled in red, right)
1. How are ocean ecosystems and the biodiversity
they support influenced by climate and
environmental variability and change, and how
will these changes occur over time? 2. How do
carbon and other elements transition between
ocean pools and pass through the Earth System,
and how do biogeochemical fluxes impact the
ocean and Earth's climate over time? 3. How (and
why) is the diversity and geographical
distribution of coastal marine habitats changing,
and what are the implications for the well-being
of human society? 4. How do hazards and
pollutants impact the hydrography and biology of
the coastal zone? How do they affect us, and
can we mitigate their effects?
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Field Campaign Ideas

• Inquiry for ideas for field campaigns (LBA for
  oceans) went out to NASA PI list back in
  September 2007, and then out on the OCB list in
  March 2008
• JGOFS
• Southern Ocean GasEx
• Arctic 2009-10
• how and why are ocean ecosystems responding to a
  warming Arctic and Bering Sea and associated
  increased insolation
• what are the impacts of the changing climate on
  Bering Sea and Arctic carbon chemistry,
  including ocean acidification and air/sea CO2
  flux?
• what is the impact of changing ice sheet and sea
  ice structure on ocean margins/coastal ecology
  and river runoff, and how does this affect
  offshore fluxes of particles?
• Make field work a regular component of the
  program plan, in support of new missions, in
  partnership internationally, to provide the basis
  for future science
• Response
• Field projects
• Field campaigns

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Field Campaign Ideas Field Work

• POC Optical field work to validate CALIPSO
  observations/optical backscattering as a function
  of depth for POC ship/aircraft LIDAR/CALIPSO
  Gulf of Maine/S. California/Gulf of Mexico
• Evolution/biogeochemistry/carbon fluxes
  associated with spring bloom characterizing
  oligotrophic summertime ocean under a range of
  iron supply Process study over global oceans
  underway measurements of biogeochemical
  properties in mixed layer, bio-optical
  properties, pigments, shipboard flow cytometry,
  mixed layer flow carbon balance studies, trace
  metals, POC
• Support Argo program for float deployment
  compare/contrast protocols across groups/PIs
  matchups with remote sensing for resolving the
  full mixed layer is an undulating towed vehicle
  behind a steaming vessel (e.g. a Seasoar).
• Primary production and phytoplankton
  absorption productivity normalized by
  phytoplankton absorption constant in surface
  ocean.
• Ocean heterotrophy from remote sensing connect
  respiration to ocean color via its relationship
  to primary production, from coastal to open
  ocean, for net autotrophic production, net
  autotrophic respiration, community respiration
• High-latitude remote sensing validation.
• Coastal waters linking land/ocean/atm scientists
• Ocean straits variability in ocean color
  across ocean straits can be used to estimate
  transports through the straits (Lombok, Indonesia)

5
Field Campaign Ideas Field Work

• Multi-disciplinary field campaign to monitor
  carbon and phytoplankton changes in the Orinoco
  River plume and watershed
• Linking tropical river plume biogeochemistry to
  remote sensing observations quantify and model
  biogeochemical linkages between C and N in
  Orinoco, Amazon River plumes as they spread
  across eastern Caribbean and Western Tropical
  Atlantic basins.
• Systematic Estimates of Primary Production and
  Net Community Production Rates across the Ocean
  Basins the rate of anthropogenic CO2 uptake by
  the ocean in the future is how the magnitude of
  the biological carbon pump will change.
• Self-shading correction for in-water radiometry
  validate models and apply to the vast array of
  in-water radiometers, function of the optical
  properties of the water under study
• Episodic carbon export of benthic macroalgae
  (Bahamas) to the deep seafloor

6
Field Campaign Ideas Field Campaign on LBA
Scale

• Terrestrial, Atmosphere and Coastal Carbon
  Fluxes and Exchanges in the Gulf of Mexico
  terrestrial and coastal carbon fluxes and
  exchanges carbon signal uncertainties, link to
  terrestrial C budget, role of shelf physics,
  ecological transformations, impacts of climate
  change, resource management
• The applications of understanding sediment load
  into lakes and coastal waters from glacial melt -
  new applications of remote sensing and
  understanding implications of climate change and
  hazards in coastal zone with the glacial
  community, an intensive field effort to get AOPs
  and IOPs of glacial meltwater
• Global Feedbacks between the hydrological
  cycle, land use, and natural ocean carbon
  sequestration processes in the coming century
  the ability of the oceans to naturally sequester
  atmospheric carbon dioxide decadal changes,
  changes in land use/hydrological cycle alter
  Aeolian iron fluxes to ocean.
• North Atlantic circulation, biology,
  biogeochemical cycles are poised to change
  dramatically surface salinity and inhibition of N
  Atlantic Deep Water formation change. Time series
  in Azores link two time series further south and
  address a larger North Atlantic gyre
• Plankton-climate interactions and tropical
  variability distribution of heat in the upper
  ocean, biology, chemistry, physics
• Arabian Sea impacts of warming, monsoonal
  shifts on biology, biogeochemistry Indian Ocean
  impacts of warming, nutrient inputs, currents and
  variability, fate of PP, global
  change/anthropogenic impacts, higher tropic levels

7
Field Campaign Ideas Field Campaign on LBA
Scale

• Antarctic and Arctic global change regions
  standard algorithm validation
• Southern Ocean, gradients across polar front,
  two major iron-driven zonal transitions
  (smaller-Kerguelan massive Southern Drake
  Passage) need to be explored in relation to
  export flux, community structure, productivity,
  and how Fe affects this so Fe changes with
  climate can be better modeled.
• For Arctic, receding sea ice, albedo,
  characterize sea ice bio-physical feedback
  Arctic river input, and changes with climate, are
  very important, CDOM from river (Arctic vs
  Antarctic.
• microbial ecology, nutrient use and
  transformation, fluxes
• NABE subpolar variability in biology and carbon
  fluxes modeling
• Characterizing biogeochemical properties and
  carbon fluxes of the mixed layer over
• oceanic reaches spanning a broad array of
  biogeochemical provinces or statesrelationshi
  ps between remote sensing optical properties and
  ocean mixed-layer characteristics, understanding
  of links between physical and geochemical
  forcings, ecosystem structure, and carbon fluxes
  (N. Atl, S. Pacific)

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Field Campaign Ideas Field Campaign on LBA
Scale

• Basin Scale Trends in Limiting Factors for
  Nitrogen Fixation and Nitrogen Fixing
  Populations Central North Pacific Ocean
  nutrient factors controlling nitrogen fixation
  across major oceanic basins
• Community composition in phytoplankton
  community ecology at the genetic level on the
  ecosystem scale a molecular biological approach
  to high resolution high throughput phytoplankton
  community composition determination validation
  of both direct and remotely sensed pigment and
  carbon biomass analyses polar oceans most
  rapidly affected by climate modification that
  will change amount of sea ice, ice edge,
  stratification, nutrient availability
• Methane from the East Siberian Arctic Shelf
  Early Warning of Global Climate Change and
  Positive Feedback Global oceanic warming -
  methane releases from oceans, impact global
  climate, permafrost
• Southern Ocean Biological Response to Iron
  deposition biogeochemical rate processes, GPP,
  NCP
• Biogeochemistry, Biodiversity, Bio-optics with
  emphasis on remote sensing aspects,
• to be conducted in several contrasting
  biogeochemical/ecological provinces of the ocean