Real-Time Water Quality Monitoring in Estuarine and Coastal Environments

As the population living near U.S. coastal regions continues to grow, understanding and monitoring the effects of human activities on the surrounding estuarine and coastal ecosystems is imperative to protect these natural resources. There is a definitive need for long-term, accurate, cost-effective water quality monitoring systems that provide real-time information on the status of these essential ecosystems. A collaborative partnership was formed between research scientists at the University of New Hampshire, resource managers at the Great Bay NERR, and commercial system providers at WETSAT to provide an operational end-to-end water quality monitoring information system, spanning from observations through data management, modeling and product delivery. This system includes a flexible buoy system, a suite of water quality sensors, a remotely accessible data acquisition and command/control system, and a wireless telemetry system. In situ measurement parameters include nitrate, phosphate, chlorophyll, colored dissolved organic matter, dissolved oxygen, turbidity, spectral irradiance, temperature, salinity, current profiles, and meteorological parameters. A shore-based data management system facilitates real-time automated quality control and product generation. We present an overview of the system including data collected during the 2005 deployment season.

Visit the University of New Hampshire's Great Bay Coastal Buoy site to see real-time data.

View the slides presented by Dr. Andrew Barnard at the Oct. 2005 ERF Conference,"Estuaries on the Edge"  html • pdf