David E. Steitz
Headquarters, Washington, DC                 Nov. 2, 1999
(Phone:  202/358-1730)

Keith Koehler
Wallops Flight Facility, Wallops Island, VA
(Phone:  757/824-1579)

RELEASE:  H99-126

NASA TECHNOLOGY TRACKS CONSEQUENCES OF HURRICANE FLOYD

A NASA oceanographer, using spaceborne technologies to study the effects of Hurricane Floyd, has seen 
indications that there may be significant impacts on the marine food chain along the North Carolina coast 
due to extensive rainfall in the region.

"Following Hurricane Floyd, record-breaking rains continued to soak the area, washing mountains of 
sediment and waste into the water system.  Now rivers and tributaries along the Atlantic are choked and 
major ecological changes are happening," said Gene Feldman, of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, 
Greenbelt, MD.

"Periodically, levels of dissolved oxygen in the water have dropped dramatically as organic matter 
decomposes, and aquatic life has been threatened in dozens of estuaries and peripheral habitats, commonly 
referred to as 'dead zones.'  The current changes in the area may have lasting repercussions for hundreds of
thousands of people," he said.

Scientists are studying Hurricane Floyd's effect on algae blooms and phytoplankton, important links in the 
regional marine food chain.  Their data also will help them understand how the hurricane's aftermath may 
affect the fragile environment in the coming months.

Using data from NASA's Earth-orbiting Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor  (SeaWiFS) and an 
airborne laser instrument, scientists from two National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) 
centers can monitor algae growth over large regions, including Pamlico Sound between the North Carolina
mainland and the Outer Banks.
 
According to Pat Tester, a NOAA scientist at the Center for Coastal Fisheries and Habitat Research, 
Beaufort, NC, fertilizer and other nutrients that flowed down the storm flooded rivers in eastern North 
Carolina are feeding the algae or phytoplankton in the sounds.

"One question is what happens to the aquatic activity in the sounds when this algae dies and begins to 
starve the waters of oxygen," Tester said.  "The long-term observations provided by the NASA technology 
will help us monitor the phytoplankton in the water.

"The NASA technology improves our ability to monitor these important fishery areas by covering larger 
areas than direct sampling from boats can, and by providing this information for weeks or months."

Tester's team is coordinating sampling missions from small boats on the waterways with flights by a 
NOAA Twin-Otter aircraft carrying the NASA laser and observations from the SeaWiFS spacecraft.  "This 
approach is providing a three-tier look at the area from space, air and sea," she said.

The laser system, the Airborne Oceanographic Lidar from Goddard's Wallops Flight Facility, Wallops 
Island, VA, transmits a green light pulse into the water, where the light is absorbed by the phytoplankton.  
A receiver on the aircraft detects the green light reflected from the water's surface and red light that is
emitted by the chlorophyll pigment in the algae.

The SeaWiFS instrument measures changes in water color that indicate where concentrations of 
phytoplankton are located.

NOAA's Coastal Services Center, Charleston, SC, is also taking part in the research.

Images from SeaWiFS of eastern North Carolina following Hurricane Floyd are available at the following 
web addresses.

http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/imagewall/carolina.html

http://seawifs.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEAWIFS/IMAGES/NEW/USA/hatteras_23sept99_ann.jpg

http://seawifs.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEAWIFS/IMAGES/NEW/USA/S1999300173939
L1A_HNSG.67N.16N.100W.37W.jpg