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深水地平线漏油事件的短期影响和确定未来恢复行动的优先顺序至关重要。本研究将通过评估沼泽生物物理特征（包括叶绿素含量分布、绿叶面积和绿色沼泽冠层覆盖）来识别沼泽退化热点。这些特征是沼泽植被光合能力和生理状态的主要指标。NASA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。泄漏前后每周生成整个路易斯安那海岸的盐沼生物物理特征合成图，显示损害程度和恢复情况。通过对卫星图像的分析，可以推断沿海盐沼的整体健康和生产力，并可以有效地分析石油和石油/分散剂对这些敏感生态系统健康和生产力的生态影响。这项研究产生的地图和工具将有助于路易斯安那州的沿海管理人员评估和优先考虑由于泄漏而即将进行的大规模沼泽恢复工作。将首次生成能够定量评价湿地生态系统恢复效果和恢复速度的有形地图产品。该提案还直接涉及墨西哥湾联盟（Gulf of Mexico Alliance， GOMA）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.