Use of Coupled Circulation/Biogeochemical Models to
Assess Potential Coastal Carbon Flux Study Field Programs
John R. Moisan
Laboratory for Hydrospheric Processes
NASA/GSFC Wallops Flight Facility
Wallops Island, VA
A collaborative investigation is presently ongoing between
researchers at NASA/GSFC, UCLA, Scripps and Rutgers University to
develop a fully coupled circulation/biogeochemical model for both East
and West Coasts of the U.S. One aspect of this study has been to develop a
model that could resolve the observed coastal features that have been
observed from the NASA SeaWiFS and NOAA AVHRR sensors. We have
made comparisons of the model against these satellite data as well as
against actual field data in order to provide validation of the model's
ability. The results from the model have been used to investigate the
potential errors associated with potential coastal carbon flux field
programs or observations. There has been a considerable amount of effort
in recent years to develop coastal observation programs. The
presentation will outline the potential for using highly-resolved
coastal models to investigate the cost benefits and effectiveness of a
variety of scenarios for making field measurements of carbon
flux along the coast.