The Color of the Coastal Ocean and Applications in the Solution of Research and Management Problems

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The coastal ocean, which we define as extending from the coast seaward to the edge of the continental margin (approximately 500 m depth), is the most productive area of the global ocean (Chen et a1., 20011' Koblenz-Mishke et al., 1970). It experiences significant carbon fixation by photosynthesis, which in turn supports abundant and diverse pelagic and benthic fauna relative to the deep ocean. For humans, the coastal ocean has important recreation and transportation functions, and it is the locus of significant living and non-living resource extraction activities. Because of these factors and because of the beauty of the coastal ocean, approximately 25Yo of the global human population resides in coastal watersheds in densities that exceed those of inland communities by a factor of three (Small and Nichols, 2003). In the United States, over 50 percent of the population resides in coastal watershed counties which occupy less than25 percent of the country's land area. Around the globe, human population density continues to increase faster along the coast than in inland areas. However, the coastal ocean is affected by the close proximity of growing urban areas, commercial and industrial interests, and sediment, nutrient, or other pollutant discharges generated from our inland and marine activities. The result is stress of coastal ocean resources, with undesired consequences of significant, perceptible, and quick degradation in water quality, biodiversity, and fish abundance on a global scale. Climate variability funher complicates this situation, but the impacts of climate change on ocean resources, their utilization, and on human development are still unclear. We know that the ocean plays an important role in defining geochemical imbalances at the Earth's surface over geological time scales through carbon sequestration by marine organisms. However, whether the ocean helps mitigate the increase of anthropogenic greenhouse gases over shorter time scales (years to decades) or not remains one of the most pressing questions in ocean biogeochemistry. These issues present difficult challenges for stewards of the marine environment, who currently have limited ways to assess conditions over these sensitive environments. Similarly, scientists studying climate change, associated feedbacks, and other natural ocean processes have found that traditional techniques are inadequate to cover the range