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This presentation will illustrate case studies of changes in littoral ecosystems on the Northern Gulf of Mexico and Southeastern Atlantic coasts, as captured with satellite and airborne imagery analysis. On the Georgia coast, 35 years of Landsat imagery revealed large scale (3 fold) inter-annual variation and a cumulative net loss of 16.5% in the aboveground biomass of the keystone salt marsh species, Spartina alterniflora. Spatial differences and temporal changes in 620 km2 (about 680,000 pixels of Spartina habitat) were linked to climate variables, river hydrology, and sea level dynamics. In the same area, riparian brackish and freshwater wetlands are sensitive indicators of changes in salinity patterns. On the Texas coast, Black Mangrove vegetation is replacing salt marsh communities, as shown in analysis of high resolution WorldView satellite imagery. This "tropicalization" is well underway, but also reveals instabilities due to occasional winter incursions of arctic air. Finally, at multiple sites, we've used airborne hyperspectral and HICO Space Station imagery to document patterns of phytoplankton chlorophyll (including HABs) and CDOM in estuarine, inshore, and shelf waters.

Schalles, J.F., O'Donnell, J., Hladik, C.M., Ponzi, S., Cao, F. and Miller, W. 2018. Poster: The dynamic littoral fringe - Spatial and temporal patterns in community structureand productivity in North American coastal ecosystems. Poster Session - Tuesday. GLOBOLakes and GEO Aquawatch Joint Workshop, Wednesday, August 29, 2018, University of Stirling, Stirling, Scotland, UK.