Applied Science and Technology Project Office

The Gulf of Mexico is a vital economic engine and sensitive ecological region of the United States, yet it is vulnerable to both natural and anthropogenic impacts. Visionary scientific leadership is essential to ensure that the societal responses to these events are informed instead of reactionary. The NASA Applied Sciences Program created the Gulf of Mexico Initiative in 2007 “to enhance the region’s ability to recover from the devastating hurricanes of 2005 and to address its coastal management issues going into the future.” The initiative utilizes NASA Earth science assets to addresses regional priorities defined by the Gulf of Mexico Alliance (GOMA), a partnership of the states of Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas and 13 federal agencies whose goal is to significantly increase regional collaboration to enhance the ecological and economic health of the Gulf of Mexico.

The Applied Science and Technology Project Office (ASTPO) manages the Gulf of Mexico Initiative for NASA's Applied Sciences Program. The mission of the organization is focused on transferring results of NASA’s Earth Science research projects from the lab into the real world. ASTPO works with partners to demonstrate how NASA’s Earth Science assets can address societal issues. Using expertise in the fields of remote sensing, oceanography, coastal processes, signal processing and mathematical modeling, efforts are directed at addressing issues in the following areas:

• Water Quality for Healthy Beaches and Shellfish Beds
• Wetland and Coastal Conservation and Restoration
• Environmental Education
• Identification and Characterization of Gulf Habitats
• Reducing Nutrient Inputs to Coastal Ecosystems; and
• Coastal Community Resilience

Research Opportunities in Space and Earth Science (ROSES 2008)
Earth Science for Decision Making - Gulf of Mexico Region

Gulf of Mexico Initiative Image of the Month The 3D visualization image shown above depicts approximately 35 years of urbanization in the Mobile Bay region. It is based on data products from the Mobile Bay Application Pilot project, performed in 2008 NASA Stennis, the Mobile Bay National Estuary Program (Mobile Bay NEP), and other organizations in the Gulf of Mexico Alliance. This image shows the expansion of urbanization from 1974 through 2008, based on classifications of Landsat data. Mobile Bay is in the center of the image, the city of Mobile is in the background, and a portion of Baldwin County is in the foreground. The yellow areas depict urbanization apparent as of 1974, and the red areas show the expansion of urbanization since 1974. The blue areas are water areas evident on the 2008 Landsat imagery. The urban and water classes are draped on top of a digital elevation model derived from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) products. Collectively speaking, these NASA-supported satellite data products were processed to assist the Mobile Bay NEP in their efforts to encourage coastal habitat conservation and restoration. A follow-on to this project is now underway to further assess Mobile Bay land use/land cover trends to aid coastal habitat management in the region.

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