Decision and Information System for the Coastal waters of Oman (DISCO) - An integrative tool for managing coastal resources under changing climate

DESCRIPTION: In partnership with Government agencies and scientists from Oman and building upon our previous NASA funded efforts we are developing a Decision and Information System for the Coastal waters of Oman (DISCO)” that will provide stake holders in Oman with the tools necessary to manage their resources as their coastal waters respond to climate change. This effort will make use of remote sensing and modeling tools that we developed as part of our previously NASA funded studies in the Arabian Sea, enhance their capabilities and customize them specifically for resource management and environmental stewardship of the coastal waters of Oman.
DISCO will be hosted by the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries Wealth, allowing them to provide a continuous stream of satellite imagery, outputs of physical and biological oceanographic data from a 3-D coupled ocean circulation – biogeochemical model. These data streams will allow for assessments of ecosystem state, provide timely information on Harmful Algal blooms with adequate lead times and guide realistic mitigation strategies that minimize the risks of Harmful Algal blooms on coastal resources and human health. DISCO will have capabilities for providing information on fish habitats and will allow for forecasts of future conditions and assessments of potential climate change impacts on the coastal ocean resources of Oman.
Our proposal takes advantage of our informal collaboration with scientists and policy makers in Omani and will repurpose remote sensing tools and models developed earlier for use in managing and mitigating coastal ecosystem problems that are unique to the coastal waters of Oman. DISCO will incorporate satellite data products and ecological forecasting tools necessary for developing long-term management and stewardship strategies for the coastal ecosystem of Oman. Validation and fine-tuning of data products from DISCO will be undertaken through crowdsourcing activities involving citizen scientists and fishers.