SYSTEM-WIDE MONITORING PROGRAM

NERRS operates a System-Wide Monitoring Program (SWMP) as a nationally-coordinated and standardized program. The goal of the SWMP is to develop quantitative measurements of short-term variability and long-term changes in the water quality, biotic diversity, and land-use / land-cover characteristics of estuaries and estuarine ecosystems for the purposes of contributing to effective coastal zone management. The SWMP provides valuable long-term data on water quality and weather at 15 minute time intervals. Coastal managers have used this monitoring data to make informed decisions on local and regional issues, such as “no-discharge” zones for boats and measuring the success of restoration projects. The program currently measures water quality parameters, weather, and a suite of nutrients. As the program expands, plans include adding biological monitoring components, such as submerged aquatic vegetation, benthos, and invasive species monitoring. Remote sensing will be used to track changes in vegetation and habitat boundaries.

The reserve system's monitoring program currently measures pH, conductivity, temperature, dissolved oxygen, turbidity and water level. In addition, nutrient samples are taken at four of the datalogger stations on a monthly basis and monthly diel samples at one datalogger station. Analyses for ammonium, nitrate, nitrite (or nitrate+nitrite), ortho-phosphate and Chl a are be conducted on-site at Reserve facilities. In addition, a weather station collects data on weather conditions (e.g., air temperature, wind direction and speed, barometric pressure and relative humidity). These variables are not only indicative of habitat quality for numerous estuarine species, but they establish health criteria and determine human uses.

Data Management

Data management, quality control, and information delivery services are provided by the SWMP Centralized Data Management Office (CDMO) operated by the University of South Carolina. The CDMO manages the basic infrastructure and data protocol to support the assimilation and exchange of data, metadata and information within the framework of NERRS sites, state coastal zone management programs and NOAA/Ocean and Coastal Resource Management (OCRM), as well as other state and federally-funded education, monitoring and research programs. The NERR-SWMP includes a rigorous Quality Assurance / Quality Control (QA/QC) program undertaken to ensure that the type, amount, and quality of data and ancillary numerical information are adequate to meet the study objectives.

You can view data from our SWMP stations at: http://cdmo.baruch.sc.edu/

Collaborations

The Reserve SWMP program will integrate the water level and meteorological data collected within the Texas Coastal Ocean Observation Network (TCOON)(http://lighthouse.tamucc.edu/MissionAransas). TCOON is operated by the Division of Nearshore Research (DNR) at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi (TAMU-CC) and consists of 36 water level monitoring platforms along the Texas coast. Collaboration with DNR is advantageous to the Reserve SWMP program because:

o      It provides broader coverage because there are already two stations within the NERR boundary, including one NOAA station in Rockport

o      It provides real-time data to decision-makers and scientists in an already tested and proven web-based format

o      Collaboration benefits Texas and Gulf coast communities by providing coastal decision-makers with data with greater coverage

In addition to the TCOON, Texas A&M University College Station (TAMU) has a high frequency (HF) radar station located on Matagorda Island. This radar system collects real-time measurements of surface circulation patterns, wave height/direction/period, and wind direction in the Gulf of Mexico, adjacent to the targeted water bodies. A unique feature of an HF Radar system is its ability to provide real-time surface current measurements out to 35km into the Gulf. There are currently five active TCOON stations within and directly adjacent to the Reserve boundary and one high frequency radar TAMU station.

Mission-Aransas NERR SWMP Stations

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