Satellite remote sensing data constitute valuable tools to investigate ocean processes at different spatial and temporal scales. In particular, ocean color products provide daily information on chlorophyll concentrations and primary production at a global scale, which in combination with other datasets, allow for high-resolution quantitative studies of ocean biogeochemical processes. Using SeaWiFS data (1997-2004), a biweekly climatology of chlorophyll a concentrations was generated for waters west of the Antarctic Peninsula. Variability in the magnitude and timing of phytoplankton blooms was examined, and its influence on zooplankton composition and abundance was investigated. Links between chlorophyll dynamics and recruitment of Antarctic krill, Euphausia superba are described.

Satellite data can also be applied to improving resource management capabilities and predictive capacity of fish reproductive success. The continental shelf of the Argentine Sea (34-42°S) presents a variety of frontal systems, which are important spawning and nursery grounds for fish of ecological and commercial importance, such as the Argentine anchovy, Engraulis anchoita, and the Argentine hake, Merluccius hubbsi. Analysis of a 12-year time series of SeaWiFS data (1997-2008) revealed that during spring, elevated chlorophyll concentrations occurred along a thermal coastal front established near the 50 m isobath in shelf waters off the Buenos Aires province where spawning of E. anchoita normally concentrates. Interannual variability in phytoplankton dynamics at the front was examined in relation to changes in environmental conditions, zooplankton production, and reproductive success of fish.

Dr. Marrari received a B.S. in Biology from the National University of Mar del Plata, Argentina in 2001 and a Ph.D. in Biological Oceanography from the University of South Florida in 2008. She is currently a NASA Postdoctoral Fellow with the Ocean Biology Processing Group at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Dr. Marrari's research interests focus on marine ecology with the main goal of understanding the physical and biological processes that influence phytoplankton and zooplankton populations, and the effects that these changes can have on higher trophic levels. She is interested in doing research with an interdisciplinary approach, using a combination of techniques including net sampling, high-frequency acoustics, and satellite data.

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