NASA: “Earth Science for Decision Making: Gulf of Mexico Region” (ROSES 2009)
Filed under: Discovery,News & Resources
(Click to enlarge image) Shellfish (Photo Source: USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Services)
A Two-Year Grant from:
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
NNH08ZDA001N-GULF: Earth Science for Decision Making:
Gulf of Mexico Region
Award No. NNX09AR57G
Start Date: 9/15/09
D. Jay Grimes, Ph.D., Principal Investigator
Crystal N. Johnson, Ph.D., Co-Investigator
Gregory A. Carter, Ph.D., Co-Investigator
The University of Southern Mississippi
and
Carlos Del Castillo, Ph.D., Co-Investigator
The Johns Hopkins University, Applied Physics Laboratory
and
Callie M. Hall, M.S., Co-Investigator
National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Stennis Space Center
Project Summary
Several species of pathogenic bacteria occur naturally in coastal waters worldwide, some of which can cause disease outbreaks in marine animals and in humans during specific environmental conditions. Without question, death and illness as a result of eating raw or undercooked seafood or from ingesting or contacting water containing levels of Vibrio cholerae and other pathogenic Vibrio spp. sufficient to cause clinical symptoms are a major concern worldwide. Building on pioneering research directed at V. cholerae distribution and abundance in the Bay of Bengal, we have been able to predict the abundance and distribution of V. parahaemolyticus (Vp) in oyster reefs in the Mississippi Sound by using remotely sensed (RS) data. Our success in the prediction of Vp levels is actually an example of “nowcasting” and is based on populating a modified U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) mathematical model with RS data, specifically sea surface temperature (SST), obtained with NASA’s MODIS sensor. We further found that when hand measured salinity values were added to a modified FDA model driven by SST, the ability to nowcast Vp was greatly improved. We therefore propose to use several physical and chemical water quality parameters that will be collected simultaneously with Vibrio isolations as part of a large National Science Foundation grant the we have just received. These data will be used to improve the ability of the FDA model to nowcast the abundance and distribution of Vp in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Further, we hope to expand this nowcasting ability to incidence of the other two major Vibrio human pathogens, V. cholerae and V. vulnificus, in both oysters and recreational bathing beaches. The team that we have assembled to accomplish this research goal includes Vibrio experts, biogeochemical experts, and remote sensing experts. The results of this research is expected to help several state and federal agencies fulfill their public health mission to monitor microbial water quality at beaches and shellfish beds in the Gulf of Mexico.
Hypothesis
Environmental data derived from satellite remote sensing can be used to monitor (“nowcast)” and someday predict (forecast) the presence of indigenous pathogenic bacteria in the ocean.
