FSML: Imaging instrument array for coastal landscape and ecosystem analysis at the Baruch Marine Field Laboratory, University of South Carolina

授予南卡罗来纳州大学的一项奖励将使研究人员能够部署一系列能够测量和跟踪沿海地区几个关键物理和环境条件变化的仪器。 该仪器包将使巴鲁克研究所海洋野外实验室的研究人员能够在空间尺度上检查河口环境，这是迄今为止不可能的。 该包将包含一个系留气球，配有高光谱，红外线和视频摄像机，以及分光光度计。 调查人员将使用这些仪器测量沼泽植被的生长和分布、表面温度、水中悬浮物、水的运动、动物分布和地表以上数十至数百米的景观格局。一个辅助的地面激光仪器将提供三维地形图像，并对潮汐沼泽、泥滩、小溪、海滩和潮间带牡蛎礁进行分析。 重复测量的绘图将用于量化变化和调查影响沼泽海拔、地貌、潮汐淹没、动植物分布和生理状态的因素。与正在进行的时间序列测量和面向过程的实地实验相结合，成像仪器和激光雷达将用于研究风暴、气温升高、持续干旱和海平面上升造成的影响和变化机制。 仪器阵列将设在乔治敦县的巴鲁克海洋野外实验室，南加州大学和来访的调查人员已经在那里研究了北入口的盐沼河口40多年。成像仪器阵列将使已经熟悉研究区域的调查人员受益，吸引首次访问的科学家，并提供独特的机会，培训研究生和本科生如何使用该技术来解决新的跨学科研究问题。从仪器部署中生成的图像，地图和其他产品将用于夏季课程，例如通过南加州大学海洋科学计划和继续教育计划研讨会提供的顶点实地课程。 为来访的公众和年轻观众设计的产品将与北入口-温雅湾国家河口研究保护区的工作人员联合开发，并通过霍布考男爵发现中心和在线分发。来自系留阵列和激光雷达的图像、数据和产品将通过巴鲁克研究所的网站http://www.baruch.sc.edu/提供。

An award made to the University of South Carolina (USC) will enable researchers to deploy an array of instruments capable of measuring and tracking changes in several key physical and environmental conditions of coastal areas. The instrument package will allow researchers at the Baruch Institute Marine Field Laboratory to examine the estuarine environment at a spatial scale that has heretofore been impossible. The package will contain a tethered balloon fitted with hyperspectral, infrared, and video cameras, and a spectrophotometer. Investigators will use the instruments to measure growth and distribution of marsh vegetation, surface temperature, suspended materials in water, water movement, animal distributions, and landscape pattern from tens to hundreds of meters above the surface. A complementary ground-based laser instrument (LIDAR) will provide three-dimensional topographic images and analyses of tidal marshes, mudflats, creeks, beaches, and intertidal oyster reefs. Mapping of repeated measurements will be used to quantify changes and investigate factors affecting marsh elevation, geomorphology, tidal inundation, animal and plant distributions, and physiological states. Coupled with ongoing time-series measurements and process-oriented field experiments, the imaging instruments and LIDAR will be used to address impacts and mechanisms of change due to storms, warming temperatures, persistent droughts, and sea-level rise. The instrument array will be based at the Baruch Marine Field Laboratory in Georgetown County, where USC and visiting investigators have been studying the salt marsh estuary at North Inlet for more than 40 years.The imaging instrument array will benefit investigators already familiar with the study area, attract first-time visiting scientists, and provide unique opportunities to train graduate and undergraduate students on how to use the technology to address new sets of inter-disciplinary research questions. Images, maps, and other products generated from instrument deployments will be used in summer courses such as the capstone field course offered through USC Marine Science Program and continuing education programs workshops. Products designed for the visiting public and young audiences will be developed in association with the North Inlet- Winyah Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve staff and distributed through the Hobcaw Barony Discovery Center and on-line. Images, data, and products from the tethered array and LIDAR will be available through the Baruch Institute web site at http://www.baruch.sc.edu/.