Status of the development of an in situ plankton monitor

The majority of the world's population lives and is employed along its shorelines and is economically dependent upon the activities of its coastal facilities. Development of methods to determine the spatial and temporal extent of changes in the health of coastal ecosystems within sufficient time to take effective management and mitigation actions is essential to effective environmental stewardship. The phytoplankton populations of coastal waters are very sensitive indicators of current environmental health and productivity because their nutritional and water clarity requirements are quite specific. These primary producers are the first step of the marine food web and thus, most of the rest of the coastal ecosystem (water quality, organisms which consume algae directly and their consumers, etc.) relies upon a healthy and balanced phytoplankton community. Routine synoptic in situ monitoring of phytoplankton by labor-intensive ship operations is rapidly being replaced by satellite borne ocean color instruments, such as the ADvanced Earth Observing Satellite (ADEOS)/Ocean Color and Temperature Scanner (OCTS). However, frequent in situ calibration of data from diverse water masses is necessary to develop and maintain algorithms which correctly relate the data provided by remote sensing instruments to the in situ geochemical parameters.