Table of Contents

• Coverage
• Dataset Description
  • Methods & Sampling
  • Data Processing Description
• Data Files
• Parameters
• Instruments
• Deployments
• Project Information
• Program Information

MCSST western North Atlantic full resolution domain for 2009. We chose this 2048 X 2048 pixel domain, as it covers almost the entire western North Atlantic region, from south of Florida to north of Newfoundland, Canada, thus incorporating the western Labrador Sea, and the entire eastern seaboard of the US and Canada, including the Florida Current and Gulf Stream regions.

Data Provider:
Dr. J. J. Bisagni
University of Massachusetts Dartmouth
School for Marine Science and Technology
200 Mill Rd., Suite 325
Fairhaven, MA 02719 USA
508-910-6328
jbisagni at umassd.edu

Notes:
As a courtesy, please notify Jim Bisagni via email about your intent to use these data, so that he may keep a record.

Domain:

57.566 latitude top, 24.499 latitude bottom, -82.448 longitude left, -38.798 longitude right

Center latitude: 41.000, center longitude: -60.580

2048 x 2048 pixels

Special data fields are defined to enable the satellite images to be plotted in the MapServer interface including the following: x_pixel_unit (pixel size in the X direction in map units per pixel),  y_pixel_unit (pixel size in the Y direction, which is usually negative map units per pixel), x_correction (rotation about the X axis in degrees), y_correction (rotation about the Y axis in degrees),  x_coordinate (X coordinate of the center of the upper left pixel in longitude degrees), and  y_coordinate (Y coordinate of the center of the upper left pixel in latitude degrees). These values are made accessible to the MapServer by including them as part of the data object. These six data fields correspond to the six lines in the so-called world file.

From Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_file), "a world file is a plain text computer data file used by geographic information systems (GIS) to georeference raster map images. The file specification was introduced by Esri.

Small-scale rectangular raster image maps can have an associated world file for GIS map software that describes the location, scale and rotation of the map. These world files are six-line files with decimal numbers on each line.

World files do not specify a coordinate system; this information is generally stored somewhere else in the raster file itself or in another companion file, e.g. Esri's .prj file. The generic meaning of world file parameters are:

• Line 1: A: pixel size in the x-direction in map units/pixel
• Line 2: D: rotation about y-axis
• Line 3: B: rotation about x-axis
• Line 4: E: pixel size in the y-direction in map units, almost always negative
• Line 5: C: x-coordinate of the center of the upper left pixel
• Line 6: F: y-coordinate of the center of the upper left pixel

This description is however misleading in that the D and B rotation parameters are not really rotations (in degrees or gradients) and in that as soon as D or B are not zero, the A and E parameters do not correspond to the pixel size anymore."

The data object is served with two columns representing the satellite image. The clickable link in the "time" column links to the satellite image that includes a color bar and a clickable link to the actual digital values of the image. This image undergoes a transformation during the serving to include, among other things, the color bar. The overlay image is another representation of the satellite image but this one is used by the MapServer in order to create the overlay image of the satellite image on the display map. This image also undergoes a transformation (by a different procedure) to enable it to be transparent among other changes.

The U.S. GLOBEC Georges Bank Program is a large multi- disciplinary multi-year oceanographic effort. The proximate goal is to understand the population dynamics of key species on the Bank - Cod, Haddock, and two species of zooplankton (Calanus finmarchicus and Pseudocalanus) - in terms of their coupling to the physical environment and in terms of their predators and prey. The ultimate goal is to be able to predict changes in the distribution and abundance of these species as a result of changes in their physical and biotic environment as well as to anticipate how their populations might respond to climate change.

The effort is substantial, requiring broad-scale surveys of the entire Bank, and process studies which focus both on the links between the target species and their physical environment, and the determination of fundamental aspects of these species' life history (birth rates, growth rates, death rates, etc).

Equally important are the modelling efforts that are ongoing which seek to provide realistic predictions of the flow field and which utilize the life history information to produce an integrated view of the dynamics of the populations.

The U.S. GLOBEC Georges Bank Executive Committee (EXCO) provides program leadership and effective communication with the funding agencies.

U.S. GLOBEC (GLOBal ocean ECosystems dynamics) is a research program organized by oceanographers and fisheries scientists to address the question of how global climate change may affect the abundance and production of animals in the sea.

The U.S. GLOBEC Program currently had major research efforts underway in the Georges Bank / Northwest Atlantic Region, and the Northeast Pacific (with components in the California Current and in the Coastal Gulf of Alaska). U.S. GLOBEC was a major contributor to International GLOBEC efforts in the Southern Ocean and Western Antarctic Peninsula (WAP).