Advancing the Use of Remote Sensing to Measure Water Quality and Detect Submerged Aquatic Vegetation and Marsh Habitat in Currituck Sound

In North Carolina (NC), there is a pressing need to understand the dynamics of coastal marshes and submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV), two habitats increasingly threatened by climate change. This issue is especially relevant in Currituck Sound, an oligohaline estuary of ecological and economic importance that has shown marked declines in both marsh and SAV area in recent years. SAV decline in the region has also been linked to declining water quality. Advances in remote sensing offer opportunities to examine trends in water quality and habitat conditions and to better understand the resilience of these coastal systems. Combining traditional field-based methods with innovative remote sensing techniques, this work has three aims: to evaluate remote sensing approaches for measuring colored dissolved organic matter (CDOM), to assess their ability to detect SAV presence or absence, and to explore large-scale relationships between SAV distribution and marsh habitat change, ultimately informing future monitoring and management.