Descriptive Oceanography

Scientists at ASL Borstad have been involved in satellite oceanography and high-resolution spectroscopy since 1983.  Over the years, our scientists have developed methods to derive remote sensing estimates of:

• solar stimulated chlorophyll fluorescence
• chlorophyll concentration in turbid coastal and inland waters
• sediment concentration
• dissolved organic matter
• oceanographic fronts

  (Map of April and May frontal zones in the Strait of
  Georgia derived from MERIS)

Analysis

Satellite-based maps are used in fisheries and environmental science – for example, to understand explain the survival of Pacific salmon off the BC coast, or distributions of bowhead whales in the Beaufort Sea.

(Map of areas off British Columbia and Washington
where April chlorophyll was found to be correlated
with the survival of Robertson Creek coho salmon)

Data Portal

ASL Borstad currently hosts an interactive Satellite GeoPortal  that serves ocean colour imagery for the global northwest quadrant (0-90°N, 0-180°W), with a focus on Canadian waters.  An easy-to-use toolbox allows the extraction of historical time series with a simple mouse click.

We maintain full in-house archives of ocean satellite image products, which we use to perform custom analyses. 

Sample papers on Oceanography