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Airborne detection of ecosystem responses to an extreme event: Phytoplankton displacement and abundance after hurricane induced flooding in the Pamlico-Albemarle Sound system, North Carolina

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Abstract

Airborne laser-induced fluorescence measurements were used to detect and monitor ecosystem wide changes in the distribution and concentration of chlorophyll biomass and colored dissolved organic matter in the Pamlico-Albemarle Sound system, North Carolina, U.S., following massive flooding caused by a series of three hurricanes in the late summer of 1999. These high-resolution data provided a significantly more detailed representation of the overall changes occurring in the system than could have been achieved by synoptic sampling from any other platform. The response time for the distribution of chlorophyll biomass to resume pre-flood conditions was used as a measure of ecosystem stability. Chlorophyll biomass patterns were reestablished within four mo of the flooding, whereas higher chlorophylla biomass concentrations persisted for approximately 6 mo. The primary trophic level in the Pamlico-Albemarle Sound system returned to equilibrium in less than a year of a major perturbation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Coastal Fisheries and Habitat Research, National Ocean Service, NOAA, 101 Pivers Island Road, 28516, Beaufort, North Carolina

    Patricia A. Tester, Sabrina M. Varnam, Megan D. Black & R. Wayne Litaker

  2. Coastal Services Center, National Ocean Service, NOAA, 2234 South Hobson Avenue, 29405, Charleston, South Carolina

    Mary E. Culver & David L. Eslinger

  3. Center for Coastal Monitoring and Assessment, National Ocean Service, NOAA, 1305 East-West Highway, 20910, Silver Spring, Maryland

    Richard P. Stumpf

  4. Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA, Building N, Wallops Flight Facility, 23337, Wallops Island, Virginia

    Robert N. Swift

  5. Goddard Space Flight Center, EG&G, Building N, Wallops Flight Facility, 23337, Wallops Island, Virginia

    James K. Yungel

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  1. Patricia A. Tester
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  2. Sabrina M. Varnam
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  3. Mary E. Culver
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  4. David L. Eslinger
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  5. Richard P. Stumpf
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  6. Robert N. Swift
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  7. James K. Yungel
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  8. Megan D. Black
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  9. R. Wayne Litaker
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Correspondence to Patricia A. Tester.

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Tester, P.A., Varnam, S.M., Culver, M.E. et al. Airborne detection of ecosystem responses to an extreme event: Phytoplankton displacement and abundance after hurricane induced flooding in the Pamlico-Albemarle Sound system, North Carolina. Estuaries 26, 1353–1364 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02803637

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02803637

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