SATELLITE ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING OF THE GREAT-LAKES - A REVIEW OF NOAAS GREAT-LAKES COASTWATCH PROGRAM

To address critical coastal environmental problems, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has established the Coastal Ocean Program. Within that program, CoastWatch is designed to provide a rapid supply of up-to-date, coordinated, environmental information, including remotely sensed data, to support Federal and state decision makers and researchers who are responsible for managing the Nation's living marine resources and ecosystems. This paper describes the NOAA CoastWatch program for the Great Lakes. The initial products of the CoastWatch program, a set of surface water temperature images, are routinely derived from NOAA AVHRR (Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer) satellite data and made available within hours of acquisition. Preliminary analysis has shown excellent correlation of satellite-derived temperatures with in situ water temperature measurements from mid-lake weather buoys. Other products including turbidity, ocean color, and ice mapping are planned. Components of the Coast Watch system including a wide area communications system, on-line product data bases, an electronically-accessible product archive, and PC software for display and analysis of the satellite imagery are also described.