Utilizing geographic information systems (GIS) with the environmental monitoring and assessment program-estuaries (EMAP-E) for the Louisianian Province
- USDOI/NBS/NWRC, Gulf Breeze, FL (United States)
- Environmental Protection Agency, Gulf Breeze, FL (United States)
Most environmental regulatory programs address specific local pollution problems. However, the means to assess the effectiveness of these programs in protecting the environment and their natural resources at national and regional scales and over the long-term do not exist. The US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) and the National Biological Survey (NBS) consider it critical to establish research and monitoring programs to establish the status of the environmental resources of the United States and to track the changes in that status over the long term. In 1990, the USEPA initiated EMAP, a nationwide program in response for demand of information concerning the condition of the nation`s ecological resources. The Estuaries component of EMAP represents one such ecological resource. Within the Louisianian Province, individual estuarine sampling areas are being delineated on GIS basemaps. GIS technology will provide basic functions, such as depicting the estuarine sample area basemaps for the Louisianian Province overlaid with the sample station point locations for the five year period. Advanced GIS techniques will provide gradient maps utilizing krigging functions on such indicators as sediment toxicity or benthic indices. The spatial analytical capabilities of GIS will aid in evaluating the field data collected from the sample areas to determine the distribution, status, and trends of ecological resources in the Louisianian Province.
- OSTI ID:
- 40139
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-9410273-; TRN: IM9520%%334
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 15. annual meeting of the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC), Denver, CO (United States), 30 Oct - 3 Nov 1994; Other Information: PBD: 1994; Related Information: Is Part Of Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry 15th annual meeting: Abstract book. Ecological risk: Science, policy, law, and perception; PB: 286 p.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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