Coastal Management
Gulf of Mexico Regional Collaborative
The Gulf of Mexico Regional Collaborative (GoMRC) is a partnership of the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH), and Battelle/Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. It was established with to provide both U.S. and Mexican Federal and State government agencies and decision makers an integrated Earth observation system capability that will support a broad understanding of the Gulf of Mexico’s marine and coastal environments at a regional, bi-national scale.
The objective of GoMRC during 2006-2007 is to develop an integrated, operational, prototype IT infrastructure for ecosystem science, data and models for the Gulf region. The IT platform will be developed to support a broad set of applications that enable decision makers to identify and test a range of potential options for environmental assessment, resource management, and restoration needs.
During its first year, GoMRC will demonstrate the ability of the IT platform to help decision makers better understand critical Gulf scale issues in at least one application area. The value of the prototype system will be demonstrated initially with a Coastal Wetlands Restoration application, which will involve partnering with local scientists and end users to develop a tool for prioritizing wetlands restoration decisions and for disseminating data and knowledge about coastal systems. A second application that GoMRC will explore in its first year is Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs). GoMRC will assess the need and potential for integrating data and systems developed under NOAA’s Harmful Algal Bloom Observing System (HABSOS) program with NASA and other datasets to support Gulf wide HABs monitoring and prediction.
GoMRC will work with regional problem holders to incorporate a broader set of applications that address priority issues in the Gulf, such as sea level change and air quality. An expanded set of applications will strengthen the ability of decision makers to understand complex ecosystem dynamics and relationships across datasets and applications. It is hoped that GoMRC’s efforts to improve the ability to make more timely and informed decisions about resource management in the Gulf of Mexico will help enhance and sustain the environment and economy of this vital region.
Using Remote Sensing Data to Evaluate Habitat Loss in the Mobile, Galveston, and Tampa Bay Watersheds
Additional Information
NASA: Dale Quattrochi: (Dale.Quattrochi@nasa.gov)
Maury Estes (Maury.G.Estes@nasa.gov)