Mentors: Don Field (vitae) and Jud Kenworthy (vitae)

Project Description:

The primary objective of this project is updating our knowledge of the distribution and extent of seagrass in the Core and Bogue Sounds areas of North Carolina, and comparing these data tko existing seagrass maps created in the late 1980's and early 1990's to identify areas of change. These two sounds also present an excellent opportunity to examine the impacts on seagrass of two divergent coastal development regimes: the relatively pristine conditions of Core Sounds versus the typical high beach and coastal community development pressures in Bogue Sound.

Weather and water quality conditions permitting, digital, aerial multi spectral imagery will be acquired in the spring/early summer of 2005. This will provide the intern with experience handling the latest in digital aerial multi spectral imagery. Unlike air photos that are hard copy and need to be scanned and rectified to be useful in a GIS format, these imagery products are provided by the vendor in 1 meter spatial resolution, digital, rectified format. The acquisition of the imagery, the ground data collection that will support the classification of that imagery, and processing the imagery will provide the intern with a full spectrum of experience of being involved in a remote sensing based mapping and change detection effort for submerged habitats. Considerable field work in small boats may be necessary, which will give the intern experience using an underwater video system integrated with Differential Global Position System (DGPS) technology.

Prior skills: Experience with Arc View and or Arc GIS
Helpful skills: Experience working in the field particularly from small boats; experience with DGPS technology