Posts
ENVI Dark Object Subtraction
I spent several hours this past week tying up loose ends of the project by learning a new mapping software called ENVI. This key program is a vital source of my project because it has a tool that GIS doesn’t have, called ‘Dark Object Subtraction (DOS)’. This DOS tool searches the image for the darkest pixel and then subtracts that value from the whole image. This subtraction helps reduce hill shadows, cloud coverage, and floating particle accumulation.
Vegetation Signatures
I finished the official 2015 vegetation signatures several weeks ago and recently produced a scatter plot example of how the program (GIS) is able to determine these ‘signatures’ based off mathematical equations and different light frequency bands (red, green, blue, inferred ext..). An example is the the dark green blob, which signifies mixed woodland.
Update 4/18/16
This week was spent working on my final map that will show the growth of the main grove over the course of 76 years and my poster for SAGE research conference. Both of these processes have taken quite a bit of time and I am glad to see the work that is turning out.
In the next few days I hope to have my main map finalized, at which point I can begin to run various analyses to determine temporal change. One way this will be accomplished is by creating shapefiles that are set to the same coordinate system as the photos. I can outline the perimeter of the groves as they change throughout the years and measure the difference in area.
LA Water Keeper Event was Awesome!
Cheryl Hines, Stacey Anderson
Sean and I manning the booth and having a great time talking about micro plastics with people at Paradise Cove
Saturday I was able to have a booth at the LA Water Keeper event at Paradise Cove, Malibu The Annual Stand Up for Clean Water event is awesome as professional athletes along with weekend racers come out and paddle to raise awareness for clean water in Los Angeles county. Due to some strong winds the first race was cancelled half way thru and the beach party started a little earlier. But the wind dies down and the relay and kid events still got to go on in the afternoon. Robert Kennedy Jr. and his wife Cheryl Hines were there to discuss the history and importance of the work that each and every person needs to continue doing to ensure that we keep our watersheds clean.
Capstone
I have finished collecting data in my common garden. I found that there is more growth in the mainland population compared to the island population. Now, I am working on my poster, paper, and statistics.
Santa Rosa Island Trip
I spent this past weekend on Santa Rosa Island collecting my final GPS accuracy assessment points, as well as helping with marine debris collection. I was able to run 184 accuracy points which gave me a 84.15% accuracy. This week I plan to finalize all the map years with coinciding vegetation categories as well as matching color ramps.
The End is Near
As I close in on the final stretch of capstone i am beginning to run ANOVAs, Regressions and TTest. I have one week on the island next week which should be the last trip. There maybe up to 500 more out there but my assistant, Tess Silvestri, should be able to finish it.
Torrey Pine Common Garden Update!
Once this month watering is done, I will be finished collecting data on the Torrey pines growth rate and heath within each treatment. High leaf litter and high water is still the highest rate of Torrey pine saplings occurring. My hypothesis of which treatments would work best for Torrey pine sapling growth is correct, which was that high leaf litter and high water would have the most growth. 
Fresh Water testing for Microplastics begins!
Thru my WRPI/USDA grant I will be testing fresh water sources for microplastics, that flow to the ocean. Ventura River, Perkins Estuary, Santa Clara River and Calleguas Creek will be the 4 main water sheds for testing at the river mouth into the ocean. I am testing the soil as well as the water for the presence and abundance of microplastics. Then I will be testing the watershed at its point source of pollution, which are the sewer treatment facilities that drain directly into 3/4 of these water sheds.
Threatened Western Snowy plovers and Endangered California Least Terns nest at the mouths of all of these water sheds as well as many other migrating water fowl. I will be working with the Nest Monitor at Ormond beach where Perkins Estuary is located to possibly check hatched eggs for toxins as well.
I also have fresh water soil samples from watersheds in the Santa Monica Mountains that are not point source fed and have found micro plastics. I am curious to see what the difference in abundance and types of particles we find in these different water sheds. Hopefully with this information we can work on more policy change and infrastructure changes to the way we pollute our watersheds with plastic particles.
