Prof. Naphtali Rishe, together with Profs. Daniel Gann (Biology) and Piero Gardinali (Chemistry), will be leading a subproject of a new Florida Department of Environmental Protection award led by Prof. James Fourqurean at the Institute of Environment. The award, “Biscayne Bay and Reef Observation, Interpretation and Prediction System (B-BROIPS)”, totals approximately $1.26M; the subproject led by Naphtali is close to $693k for roughly two years.
The project abstract states, “New data technologies in conjunction with valuable legacy data will be used to understand the forces driving harmful algal blooms, seagrass die-offs, and other change in Biscayne Bay and the offshore reef tract and to predict how future land use, management strategies, and climate change will influence their health. [The team] will bring to bear datasets available via Miami-Dade County (MDC), Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP), South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Florida International University (FIU), University of Miami (UM), and other resources in a single platform, identify and fill information holes with new sensors and monitoring programs, and build predictive models at levels needed to make informed management decisions.” The project will create a unified data repository and visualization website, build predictive models at levels from statistical to mechanistic 3-D, identify data gaps and provide the predictions needed to make informed management decisions. Dr. Naphtali’s group will focus on the data management aspects of the project.