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Salt Evaporation Ponds in South San Francisco Bay
 Publication Size | AC95-0280-16 (top image) Salt Ponds adjacent to NASA Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, CA A-38715-29 (bottom image) |
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| M6 is a pond which is about 8 times salinity of seawater. Many "halophilic" organisms, including various microbes and brine shrimp, live in this pond to give it its pink color. James Brad Dalton, PhD, is using a field spectrometer to measure in situ spectra of each pond. | |
 Larger Size | M4 is about 7 times saltier than seawater. It includes halophiles (microbes and brine shrimp) to make it the pink color it is. However, different concentrations of the organisms alter the color of the pond just slightly so that the spectra is a bit different than M6. Corinne Duncan, intern from Oregon State University, is gathering water samples from M4 in order to centrifuge them down to collect a nice thick pellet of the microbes. |
 Larger Size | A23 is a pond that is about 10 times saltier than seawater, where crystals are forming within the middle of the pond itself. Also, it includes halophiles (microbes and brine shrimp) to give it specific spectra. |
 Publication Size | NASA technology is helping state and federal governments reclaim 15,100 acres of salt evaporation ponds in South San Francisco Bay, during one of the nation's largest restoration projects. A small group of NASA scientists and technicians is studying salt evaporation ponds by using sensors on satellites and airplanes in addition to surface sampling, to learn how restoring the ponds to nearly their natural state may affect local ecology. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the California Department of Fish and Game recently bought many salt ponds from the Cargill Salt Company for $100 million. Scientists think the project will continue for more than 20 years. Some NASA scientific instruments scientists are using in the south San Francisco Bay salt pond recovery effort include the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) on the Terra satellite; the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument on the Terra and Aqua satellites; and the thematic mapper on the Landsat 5 satellite. More information about the salt ponds project is on the World Wide Web at: http://geo.arc.nasa.gov/sge/wetlands Images credited to NASA photographer, Mr. Tom Trower
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