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NASA News
National Aeronautics and
Space Administration

John C. Stennis Space Center
Stennis Space Center, MS 39529-6000    MWS-03-006
(228) 688-3341       Jan. 21, 2003

Lanee Cooksey       FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NASA News Chief
(228) 688-3341

NASA PROJECT WILL OFFER VALIDATION
OF OCEAN-COLOR SATELLITE IMAGERY

HANCOCK COUNTY, Miss. - Through a NASA Small Business Innovation
Research (SBIR) project sponsored by the Office of Technology
Development and Transfer at Stennis Space Center, Wet Labs Inc.,
Philomath, Ore., is developing a prototype of an instrument that will
help validate products produced from ocean-color satellite imagery -
data that helps researchers better understand and protect our home
planet. 

Ocean-color images obtained from instruments in space are used to
assess the conditions of the oceans, including pollution transport,
water quality and fisheries yield - information valuable to
decision-makers. For decision-makers to rely on this information with
confidence, however, the remote sensing instruments and the products
generated from their data must be validated. The Earth Science
Applications Directorate at Stennis Space Center, which conducts
remote sensing applications as part of NASA's Earth Science
Enterprise, is known for its validation of remote sensing data and
instruments, made possible by their research and engineering
facilities and expertise. 

The Wet Labs product, Dolphin, will be a major advance in the
development and validation of ocean-color products. "A major hurdle in 
any ground-truthing exercise is to collect sufficient and high quality 
field data at the time of satellite overpass," said NASA's Dr. Richard 
Miller, chief scientist of the Directorate. "If you're trying to 
relate what the satellite sees to what is actually occurring in the 
ocean, you must collect data as close as possible to when the 
satellite goes over. This is particularly important in the coastal 
environment because it is highly dynamic. Many features quickly change 
with the tides, winds and river discharge." 

The amount of data obtained from traditional techniques to collect
water samples by lowering an instrument into the water from a boat at
intervals is limited.  The time to obtain these measurements and move
to a new sampling site may take several hours. The features observed
by the satellite instruments have often changed or moved. The Dolphin
will contain a bio-optics package towed on a vehicle behind a boat and 
will enable scientists to gather data over an area much faster,
greatly increasing the amount of measurements that can be compared to
the ocean- color images. As the Dolphin is towed through the water
horizontally, it also rises and falls under water, collecting data
from an entire water column. 

Scientists can also collect water from the Dolphin in the boat for
analysis in the laboratory and comparison with the measurements of the 
underwater sensors - a much-needed yet uncommon feature in towed
bio-optics packages - thereby calibrating the data collected by its
towed sensors. 

Miller recently returned from a cruise off the coast of Narragansett,
R.I., where the prototype instrument underwent the second in a series
of trials. "All elements of the package worked extremely well," said
Miller. 

Once the Dolphin is complete, it will measure how light is absorbed,
scattered and weakened; chlorophyll fluorescence, which is an
indicator of phytoplankton; and temperature, depth and salinity. "We
should be able to apply these data in the coastal environment where
applications can be developed to address a number of different coastal 
issues," said Miller. The Dolphin will be used to validate remote 
sensing results that will help scientists measure marine conditions 
from satellite imagery. The Dolphin results will be important to the 
validation of the products and applications of NASA's ocean-color 
remote sensing instruments.

"This project with Wet Labs is a prime example of how the Earth
Science Applications Directorate works to develop strategic
partnerships with private industry and NASA's technology programs,"
said NASA's Dr. David Powe, the head of the Directorate. The SBIR
Program goals are to stimulate U.S. technological innovation, use
small businesses to meet federal research and development needs,
increase private-sector commercialization of innovations derived from
federal research and development, and foster and encourage
participation by socially disadvantaged businesses. 

For more information about Stennis' SBIR Program, contact Ray Bryant
at the Office of Technology Development and Transfer at (228)688-1929 
or visit http://technology.ssc.nasa.gov.

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