RAPID: Quantifying the Impact of the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill on the Health and Productivity of Louisiana Salt Marshes

沼泽健康评估对于评估BP深水地平线泄漏的短期影响和确定未来恢复行动的优先次序至关重要。这项研究将允许通过评估沼泽生物物理特性，包括叶绿素含量，绿色叶面积，和绿色沼泽树冠覆盖的分布，确定沼泽退化的热点。这些特征是沼泽植被光合能力和生理状态的主要指标。美国宇航局的中分辨率成像光谱仪（MODIS）卫星图像将用于检索和绘制泄漏前后路易斯安那州沿海盐沼的这些特征。泄漏前后，将生成整个路易斯安那州海岸盐沼生物物理特征的每周合成地图，显示损害和恢复的程度。通过检查卫星图像，可以推断沿海盐沼的总体健康状况和生产力，石油和石油/分散剂对这些敏感生态系统的健康和生产力的影响可以有效地分析。这项研究产生的地图和工具将有助于路易斯安那州的海岸管理人员评估和优先考虑由于分散剂的影响而将要进行的大规模沼泽恢复工作。说吧这是第一次，将产生有形的地图产品，可以定量评估恢复活动的效果和沼泽生态系统恢复的速度。该提案还直接涉及墨西哥湾联盟（戈马）的长期目标，即加强对整个墨西哥湾沿海湿地保护和恢复的监测。

Assessment of marsh health is essential to the evaluation of the short-term impact of the BP Deepwater Horizon spill and for the prioritization of future restoration actions. This study will allow the identification of hotspots of marsh degradation by evaluating marsh biophysical characteristics including distribution of chlorophyll content, green leaf area, and green marsh canopy cover. These characteristics are the primary indicators of photosynthetic capacity and physiological status of marsh vegetation. NASA's Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) satellite images will be used to retrieve and map these characteristics across the coastal Louisiana salt marshes before and after the spill. Pre and post spill weekly composite maps of salt marsh biophysical characteristics for the entire Louisiana coast will be generated showing the extent of damage and recovery. By examining the satellite images, the overall health and productivity of coastal salt marsh can be inferred and the ecological impact of the oil and oil/dispersant on health and productivity of these sensitive ecosystem can be effectively analyzed.The maps and tools produced by this study will be helpful to coastal managers across Louisiana as they evaluate and prioritize the massive marsh restoration effort that is going to take place because of the spill. For the first time, tangible map products will be generated that can quantitatively assess the effect of the restoration activities and speed of marsh ecosystem recovery. The proposal also directly addresses the Gulf of Mexico Alliance's (GOMA) long term goal to enhance monitoring for the conservation and restoration of coastal wetlands throughout the Gulf of Mexico.