ROSES Proposals
Sensing Earth’s Algal Wellness to Evaluate Environmental Drivers (SEAWEED)
PI: Tom Bell - Woods Hole Oceanographic InstitutionCo-I: Henry Houskeeper (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)
The overall objective of SEAWEED (Sensing Earth’s Algal Wellness to Evaluate Environmental Drivers) is to provide physiological state characterization for floating macroalgae using OCI on PACE. While technically the approach detailed here can be applied to any floating macroalgae with the appropriate spatial characteristics to be sensed by OCI, we chose to focus our attention on floating Sargassum in the North and Tropical Atlantic, the Caribbean Sea, and the Gulf of Mexico. SEAWEED will develop hyperspectral physiological algorithms to support the mapping of the spatiotemporal variability in pigment dynamics in floating Sargassum mats and to provide community data products to advance knowledge of the environmental drivers associated with increased biomass and productivity of Sargassum.