The Collier Report of U.S. Government Contracting

Sampling of Federal Government Funding Actions/Set Asides

In order by amount of set aside monies.

• $85,387 - Friday the 10th of July 2015
  National Aeronautics And Space Administration
  NASA SHARED SERVICES CENTER
  SATELLITE REMOTE SENSING OF OCEAN COLOR HAS PROVIDED AN UNPRECEDENTED TEMPORA/SPATIAL DATA SET OF GLOBAL PHYTOPLANKTON BIOMASS SUFFICIENT FOR INVESTIGATIONS OF CLIMATE CHANGE, CLIMATOLOGY, AND EPISODIC EVENTS. PHYTOPLANKTON ECOLOGY, IN GENERAL, AND HARMFUL ALGAL BLOOM (HAB) INVESTIGATIONS IN PARTICULAR, WOULD BENEFIT TREMENDOUSLY IF TAXONOMIC INFORMATION COULD BE DERIVED FROM OCEAN COLOR. OBTAINING TIME/SPACE DISTRIBUTIONS OF THE CAUSATIVE SPECIES ON SCALES COMPARABLE TO ENVIRONMENTAL OBSERVATIONS WOULD PROVIDE UNPRECEDENTED CAPABILITIES FOR QUANTIFY FORCING FUNCTIONS RELATED TO HAB INITIATION, DEVELOPMENT AND DEMISE. THE GULF OF MAINE PROVIDES AN EXCITING AND CHALLENGING TEST SITE FOR SUCH WORK. CLOSURES DUE TO PARALYTIC SHELLFISH POISONING (PSP) OCCUR ANNUALLY DUE TO THE TOXIC DINOFLAGELLATE ALEXANDRIUM FUNDYENSE, DESPITE THE FACT THAT THIS SPECIES DOES NOT ACHIEVE BLOOM CONCENTRATIONS AND REMAINS A MINOR MEMBER OF THE PHYTOPLANKTON COMMUNITY. COASTAL WATERS IN THE GULF OF MAINE ARE OPTICALLY COMPLEX COMPLICATING OCEAN COLOR REMOTE SENSING. HOWEVER, SUCH CHALLENGES CAN BE MET WITH AN INVERSE MODELING APPROACH WHICH TARGETS TAXONOMICALLY-DISTINCT PIGMENT FEATURES AND IS ROBUST IN OPTICALLY COMPLEX WATERS. ECOLOGICALLY, A. FUNDYENSE IS FOUND TO CO-OCCUR WITH OTHER MORE NUMEROUS DINOFLAGELLATE SPECIES AND THUS A DINOFLAGELLATE MARKER WILL IDENTIFY WHEN A. FUNDYELLSE IS LIKELY TO BE PRESENT. GIVEN THESE OBSERVATIONS AND CAPABILITIES, THE SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES OF THIS STUDY ARE TO: 1. OPTIMIZE, VALIDATE AND TEST AN EXISTING OCEAN COLOR FUNCTIONAL GROUP MODEL TO YIELD ESTIMATES OF A.FUNDYENSE POPULATIONS; 2. APPLY THE MODEL TO HISTORICAL GOM OCEAN COLOR DATA OBTAINED FROM IN SITU RADIOMETERS DEPLOYED ON THE GULF OF MAINE OCEAN OBSERVING SYSTEM MOORED ARRAY (A TIME SERIES STARTING IN 2001) AND SEAWIFS AND AQUA-MODIS IMAGERY TO STATISTICALLY QUANTIFY THE TEMPORAL AND SPATIAL MODES OF VARIABILITY IN A. FUNDYENSE DISTRIBUTIONS; 3. USE THESE STATISTICAL MODES TO INVESTIGATE CAUSATIVE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN A. FUNDYENSE DISTRIBUTIONS AND ENVIRONMENTAL FORCING ASSOCIATED WITH HYDROGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS (E.G. WATER MASSES, STRATIFICATION INDICES) AND NUTRIENT DISTRIBUTIONS; -IMPACTS OF A. FUNDYENSE DISTRIBUTIONS ON THE TEMPORA/SPATIAL PATTERNS IN COASTAL PSP SCORES OBTAINED BY THE MAINE DEPARTMENT OF MARINE RESOURCES. OUR APPROACH IS (1) MODIFY AN EXISTING ALGAL FUNCTIONAL GROUP OCEAN COLOR INVERSION MODEL TO PREDICT THE RELATIVE CONTRIBUTIONS OF DIATOMS AND DINOFLAGELLATES TO THE TOTAL ALGAL COMMUNITY, THE LATTER OF WHICH PROVIDES THE PREDICTOR OF LIKELY A. FUNDYENSE PRESENCE; (2) QUANTIFY MODEL SENSITIVITY TO PIGMENT-BASED FUNCTIONAL GROUP OPTICAL PROPERTIES, CONSTITUENT OPTICAL PROPERTIES, AND SPECTRAL RESOLUTION; (3) VALIDATE THE MODEL AGAINST QUANTIFIED GROUND TRUTH OBSERVATIONS OF PHYTOPLANKTON COMMUNITY COMPOSITION AT A TEST LOCATION; (4) APPLY THE MODEL TO MOORING- AND SATELLITE-BASED OCEAN COLOR DATA TO DERIVE TIME/SPACE SERIES DATA SETS OF A JUNDYENSE DISTRIBUTIONS FOR STATISTICAL ANALYSES. THE ANTICIPATED RESULTS ARE THAT (1) THE FUNCTIONAL GROUP MODEL WILL PREDICT A. FUNDYENSE DISTRIBUTIONS FROM BOTH IN SITU AND REMOTELY SENSED OCEAN COLOR OBSERVATIONS; (2) THE OCCURRENCE OF A. FUNDYENSE DISTRIBUTIONS WILL PRECEDE POSITIVE PSP SCORES AT ADJACENT COASTAL SAMPLING SITES; (3) THE STATISTICAL ANALYSES WILL FORM THE BASIS OF A FORECAST MODEL FOR A. FUNDYENSE DISTRIBUTIONS IN COASTAL AND OFFSHORE ALGAL POPULATIONS AND PSP EVENTS ALONG THE COAST.

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