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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, November 2001, p. 5267-5272, Vol. 67, No. 11
0099-2240/01/$04.00+0   DOI: 10.1128/AEM.67.11.5267-5272.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Detection and Quantification of Snow Algae with an Airborne Imaging Spectrometer

Thomas H. Painter,1,* Brian Duval,2 William H. Thomas,3 Maria Mendez,3 Sara Heintzelman,3 and Jeff Dozier4

Institute for Computational Earth System Science, University of California, Santa Barbara, California1; Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, Worcester, Massachusetts2; Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, California3; and Donald Bren School of Environmental Science and Management, University of California, Santa Barbara, California4

Received 22 March 2001/Accepted 20 August 2001

We describe spectral reflectance measurements of snow containing the snow alga Chlamydomonas nivalis and a model to retrieve snow algal concentrations from airborne imaging spectrometer data. Because cells of C. nivalis absorb at specific wavelengths in regions indicative of carotenoids (astaxanthin esters, lutein, beta -carotene) and chlorophylls a and b, the spectral signature of snow containing C. nivalis is distinct from that of snow without algae. The spectral reflectance of snow containing C. nivalis is separable from that of snow without algae due to carotenoid absorption in the wavelength range from 0.4 to 0.58 µm and chlorophyll a and b absorption in the wavelength range from 0.6 to 0.7 µm. The integral of the scaled chlorophyll a and b absorption feature (I0.68) varies with algal concentration (Ca). Using the relationship Ca = 81019.2 I0.68 + 845.2, we inverted Airborne Visible Infrared Imaging Spectrometer reflectance data collected in the Tioga Pass region of the Sierra Nevada in California to determine algal concentration. For the 5.5-km2 region imaged, the mean algal concentration was 1,306 cells ml-1, the standard deviation was 1,740 cells ml-1, and the coefficient of variation was 1.33. The retrieved spatial distribution was consistent with observations made in the field. From the spatial estimates of algal concentration, we calculated a total imaged algal biomass of 16.55 kg for the 0.495-km2 snow-covered area, which gave an areal biomass concentration of 0.033 g/m2.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: ICESS, 6th Floor Ellison Hall, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106. Phone: (805) 893-8116. Fax: (425) 740-9260. E-mail: painter{at}icess.ucsb.edu.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, November 2001, p. 5267-5272, Vol. 67, No. 11
0099-2240/01/$04.00+0   DOI: 10.1128/AEM.67.11.5267-5272.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Brehm-Stecher, B. F., Johnson, E. A. (2004). Single-Cell Microbiology: Tools, Technologies, and Applications. Microbiol. Mol. Biol. Rev. 68: 538-559 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Williams, W. E., Gorton, H. L., Vogelmann, T. C. (2003). Surface gas-exchange processes of snow algae. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 100: 562-566 [Abstract] [Full Text]  


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