Hanom Fresko yan Acho' Tasi: A cross-disciplinary study of coastal freshwater discharge hydrology and near-shore and coral reef ecology using geospatial analytical techniques

Freshwater resources are the first priority for island communities, followed by coral reef ecosystems. Humans cannot live without water. Thus, it is imperative for inhabitants of small islands to understand how their freshwater is distributed, how much is available, and how best to develop, manage, and protect it. Studying the environmental, anthropogenic, and ecological effects on island groundwater and surface water can inform these questions. Coral reefs play a vital role in Guam’s economy and society. The role of freshwater discharge, particularly temperature control and the fate and transport of nutrients and contaminants, and its effects on coral reef ecosystem resilience is not well understood. This projects aims to model these freshwater relationships between island hydrology and coral reef ecology on Guam.

Understanding and mapping the distribution and properties of coastal freshwater discharge, such as volumetric flow rate, temperature, turbidity, nutrient content, presence or absence of suspected or possible contaminants, mixing/dilution rates, etc., is useful for water resource management as well as coastal zone management. A more complete picture of freshwater discharge involves detailing land coverage and environmental factors that impact watersheds and contribute to the occurrence of known stressors (e.g., nutrients, sediment) to these near-shore coastal waters and coral reef ecosystems. Guam is uniquely suited for such research as the northern half is an island karst aquifer drained entirely by coastal springs and seeps, and the southern half is a weathered volcanic upland drained entirely by surface runoff, providing two distinct hydrogeologic provinces for a comprehensive and comparative study.

Obtaining detailed knowledge of Guam’s coastal freshwater discharge is logistically and technically challenging, and therefore costly. In recent years, the use of geospatial data, such as satellite imagery and data acquired from unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), has proven very useful as a complementary source of information on various ecological and hydrologic processes, such as changes in land coverage, area of sediment plumes and freshwater plumes, and changes in coral reef cover. Examples of existing geospatial datasets or sources that cover Guam and near-shore coastal waters and would be applicable for this investigation include World View 2, 3, 4; IceSat-2, Sentinel 2, Landsat 8, UAV acquired thermal IR and multispectral imagery. Taking advantage of geospatial datasets of varying resolutions and traditional in situ field data would enable researchers to characterize and model different aspects of coastal freshwater discharge, from ridge to reef.

The intent of this project is therefore to integrate multiple disciplines and techniques, including: 1) analysis of geospatial datasets to identify geological features and changes in land coverages; 2) validation of the geospatial datasets with in situ field data (e.g., soil moisture, nutrient and sediment measurement, etc.) to reconcile multiple data sources of differing resolutions to create accurate models of freshwater discharge and sedimentation of coral reefs around Guam; 3) utilization of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and various sensors (e.g, thermal infrared, multi-spectral) for mapping and analyzing coastal freshwater discharge; 4) development of a three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFDs) model to provide detailed physical understanding of the nutrient/sediment transport mechanism within shallow coastal areas that contain coral reefs; and 5) ecological investigation for characterizing and evaluating impacts on coral reef ecosystems around Guam.

Building upon previous NASA, NOAA, USGS, and USEPA work, results will provide insights to effective management of island freshwater resources and coral reefs that may be applied to other islands.

This is a mature technology (TRL 7+) — the realistic path in is usually NASA's Technology Transfer Program: licensing an existing NASA patent, or a Space Act Agreement to use NASA facilities/expertise directly. NASA also runs a startup licensing program with no upfront fee for companies formed to commercialize a specific NASA technology.

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