Each summer, extensive areas of maine coastline are closed to shellfish harvesting due to alexandrium, a toxic dinoflagellate, costing millions of dollars in lost commercial revenue and monitoring…

This is a $749,807.44 cooperative agreement awarded by the NASA Shared Services Center to the Maine Space Grant Consortium, a non-profit organization. The award is for a project to use NASA multispectral and sea surface temperature data, as well as new hyperspectral field data, to bio-optically classify different water masses in the Gulf of Maine. The goal is to identify water masses that are preferred habitat for the toxic dinoflagellate Alexandrium, track these water masses, and map their interaction with and impact on coastal shellfish harvesting sites. This project aims to build both instrument and intellectual infrastructure with hyperspectral data, while addressing a Maine technology priority and interfacing with a critical marine resource sector. The award does not have a set-aside designation and is scheduled for completion on August 16, 2022.

Each summer, extensive areas of maine coastline are closed to shellfish harvesting due to alexandrium, a toxic dinoflagellate, costing millions of dollars in lost commercial revenue and monitoring efforts. Unlike the harmful algal blooms of other coastal waters, alexandrium is dangerous even as just a minor part of the phytoplankton community, at concentrations too low to be detectable with current remote sensing technology. However, extensive previous research has shown that these organisms are widespread, have strong spatial and temporal patchiness, are associated with specific temperature and nutrient regimes, and are transported by local physical processes. The waters of the gulf of maine, especially those close to shore, are optically complex due to varying amounts, sources and characteristics of colored dissolved matter, suspended sediment, and varying concentrations and diversity of phytoplankton. A systematic investigation of the capability of multispectral satellite data to isolate and monitor the oceanic habitat of alexandrium has not been carried out. In this proposal, we use NASA multispectral and SST data and new hyperspectral field data to BIO optically classify different gulf of maine surface water masses, identify those water masses that are preferred alexandrium habitat, track these water masses and map their interaction with, and impact on, coastal shellfish harvesting sites. This proposal builds both instrument and intellectual infrastructure with hyperspectral data, while addressing a maine technology priority and interfacing with a critical marine resource sector.