Oceans

Group Part 2
Kelp Forest Ecology
Ocean Color Remote Sensing & Kelp versus
other water targets
Example student projects from SARP

KELP
FORESTS

Descriptive Ecology

Kelp (Brown Algae)

Brown Algae (Phaeophyta)
1000 species, almost all
marine
Includes Sargassum, Padina,
kelps
Most common in cold,
temperate seas
Two pigments for
photosynthesis:
1) Chlorophylls a and c
2) Fucoxanthin (brown color)

Distribution

Kelp forests - Where do they occur?

Worldwide Kelp (Laminariales) Distribution

They grow in cold nutrient rich waters
Laminaria

Macrocystis
and Nereocystis

Macrocystis
and Lessonia
Ecklonia and
Macrocystis
Macrocystis, Ecklonia and Laminaria
From: Steneck et al. 2002

Distribution

Santa Cruz

Giant kelps range

~1450 km

Asuncin

Distribution

Laminaria
Pterygophora

Kelps worldwide

Nereocystis

Macrocystis

Ecklonia

Productivity

Two sources of productivity

Macrophyte production
- bathed in nutrients
- second fastest growing plant
on earth
- constant production / loss of
blades (leaves)
- fed on directly by grazing snails
and crustaceans
- blades litter reef to create
detritus food chain
Plankton Influx
- phytoplankton, holoplankton,
meroplankton
- great abundance and diversity of
planktivores

Productivity

Kelp forests vs terrestrial forests

Kelp forests come and go

1982-83 El Nio

Wave Action

Abiotic Factors

Biotic Factors

Competition for space

Biotic Factors

Sea urchins graze on kelp

grazers

Biotic Factors

Sea otters control urchin

populations by eating them

Otters- cute killers

Kelp forest ecosystems

Habitat structure
- surface canopy

- subcanopy

- turf

Algae can be single celled,

chains of cells,
or larger macrophytes

R. Kudela

R. Jester

Chlorophyll a emits red light when

excited with blue or red light !

Fluorescence Line Height (FLH)

Water absorbs strongly beyond about 700 nm, so the IR is cut offplants (and algae)
absorb strongly in the blue, producing a green peakfluorescence adds MORE light in
the red (~700 nm), and increases with increasing biomass.

Passive
Fluorescence
detected by
satellites
can be used to
identify
phytoplankton
biomass

Santa Cruz

Average during extreme bloom season

(August November)
Image Courtesy John Ryan, MBARI

Kelp the trees of the ocean (we can use

land-based spectral analysis!)

Red Edge

Kelp biomass
was accurately estimated
from satellite observations

A Day in the Life of the Oceans Group

Platform
MODIS

HICO

Data Type
MASTER
Analysis Tool

spectra

Team Oceans Projects

Kelp Forest Ecology

Harmful Algal Blooms, PFTs
Homeland Security (ship tracking)
Atmospheric Correction
Data Fusion

Team Oceans Projects

Kelp Forest Ecology
How do you map a kelp forest?
How does this change as a function
of spatial resolution?
How does the kelp forest change
the surrounding ocean? How does
the kelp respond to the
environment?
Why are kelp found where they
are?

Team Oceans Projects

Harmful Algal Bloom Detection
Can we detect phytoplankton types?

Land-Sea Interface
How would you develop habitat maps for
complex coastal environments (kelp, eel
grass, estuarine waters, etc)

Team Oceans
Projects
Ship Tracking
Can we identify large vessel tracks
(could this be applied to whales?)

Atmospheric Correction
How best to remove the
atmosphere?

Data Fusion
How do we merge sensors to
develop models?

Analysis: Isla Vista

Isla Vista shows a high distribution of medium to high density habitat

in the 7-14m depth range and a comparably high distribution of low
density kelp in the 0-7m range
The kelp forest area is somewhat protected by the point off to the
west, which may buffer some of the current and wave energy acting
on the shallow forest, preventing higher densities of kelp due to
lower nutrient flow
There is a sizeable gap of what appears to be viable kelp recruitment
area, which could be explained by an area of non-suitable substrate
or urchin activity, further data would be needed to conclude

Casey Zakroff, SARP 10

Whole Bed Productivity Results

Method

Bed Productivity
(g DW/day)

Empirical Remote Sensing

Method

3.0978 x 106

Depth-Integrated Model
with Subsurface and Age
Composition

3.1282 x 107

PAR Attenuation Model

5.0501 x 107

PUR Attenuation Model

3.9851 x 107

Effects of Tissue Variation

All Mature Kelp

9.25 x 106 g C/day

Tissue Variation

8.27 x 106 g C/day

Percent Decrease

10.59%

Samantha Trumbo, SARP 12

High

Low

Modeled Surface Reflectance at Increasing Depths

HydroLight
: 0.05m Kelp
: 0.1m Kelp
: 0.2m Kelp
: 0.3m Kelp

James Allen, SARP 12

: 0.4m Kelp
: 0.5m Kelp
: 1m Kelp
: Blue Water

Pan-sharpening MASTER with DCS

MASTER

DCS

Pan-sharpened MASTER

Rachel Gertl, SARP 10

Spatial Metrics
DCS

Pan-sharpened MASTER

MASTER

DCS

Pan-sharpened
MASTER

MASTER

Number of clusters

728

465

150

Total Area (m2)

112,718

170,819

242,534

Dispersion (ArcGIS)

0.64

0.46

0.73

Dispersion
(Fragstats)

8.529

4.1502

21.8642

Aggregation Index
(Fragstats)

93.4999

95.4708

85.6932
Rachel Gertl, SARP 10

Time-Series of Kelp Area

Kelp and NPO Time Series

3
2.5
2

Standardized Value

1.5
1
0.5

KelpSt
NPO

0
1991

1993

1995

1997

1999

2001

2003

-0.5
-1
-1.5
-2

Katelyn Zigner, SARP 16

Year

2005

2007

2009

2011

2013

Optical Observations at Sea

Extending PHYDOTax to Depth

RGB image of
Monterey Bay during
a red tide event
COAST 2006, 9/05

Kimee Moore, SARP 13

Modeled Spectral shifts

573nm

688 or
701nm

0.1
0.09
0.08

Rrs

0.5 m

0.07

3m

0.06
0.05
0.04
0.03
0.02
0.01
0
500

Kimee Moore, SARP 13

600

700

Wavelength (nm)

800

900

Remote Sensing Estimates of Red Tide Depth

Surface (0-3m)

Depth (7.5m)

Kimee Moore, SARP 13 / Noah Tuchow, SARP 14

All depths
R: dinoflagellates at 0-3m
G: dinoflagellates at 7.5m
B: open water
White is clouds

Explanation for Curve Shape

No motion
(blue water)

Slow speed

A little faster

Past critical speed

Brent Nicklas, SARP 12

March July 2012 time series captures

non-algal bloom to algal bloom conditions

pCO2

<- Source/Sink ->

Sink/source code written to express

pCO2 values > 395 ppm as a source
and pCO2 values < 395 ppm as a sink

Yellow = Source (+)

Green = Sink (-)

16-week time series once a week 8-day composite

Jacey Wipf, SARP 12

Detecting Cyanobacteria
Application with MASTER
Kelly Lake, July 22, 2009

Pinto Lake, July 22, 2009

SLH (sr^-1)

UCSB Lagoon, June 30, 2011

SLH (sr^-1)

SLH (sr^-1)

Application with HICO

Pinto Lake
HyspIRI Meeting 2014

Kelly Lake
Daid Austerberry, SARP 11

0.05

A
0.04

-1

) 0.03
(sr
rs
R 0.02
0.01
0
400
0.04
0.03

-1
rs

450

500

550

600

650

700

750

800

450

500

550

600

650

700

750

800

0.02

(sr0.01
R

-0.01
-0.02

400

Wavelength
Figure 5. Remote sensing reflectance for above-water measurements collected using the
ASD and GER 1500 (A) and from HICO L2 data (B). Dates are indicated in Figure 3. Note
the occasional negative reflectances in the HICO spectra.

Remote Sensing of Environment, 2015

Application

Predicting Impacts Downwind

Pinto Lake Highly Toxic Bloom

52

MODIS Aqua Spectra

versus Measured Toxin

Blue: 28 ng/L domoic acid

Orange: 2083 ng/L
Red: 2978 ng/L
Chlorophyll:
Blue = 11.07
Orange =1.43
Red = 1.88