URI
scientists to deploy Narragansett Bay Observatory to monitor health of
changing bay
Oceanographers,
engineers and other marine scientists from the University of Rhode Island, in
partnership with researchers from seven other institutions in the state, are
preparing to deploy an array of instruments in Narragansett Bay as part of a
new effort to monitor and predict the Bay’s health in the face of environmental
changes.
The
project, called the Narragansett Bay Observatory, will use a collection of
state-of-the-art sensors and water sampling technologies to quantify chemical
compounds and marine organisms, the presence of which can affect plants and
animals in good or bad ways.
“The health of Narragansett Bay needs to be better understood in the face of both natural and human stressors,” said Lewis Rothstein, an oceanography professor at URI’s Graduate School of Oceanography and one of the leaders of the development of the observatory. “The observatory will help obtain the information we need to understand and predict the health of the Bay, which is so essential to the well-being of Rhode Island.”
The
oceanographic instruments will be deployed in November in three locations: near
the Castle Hill Lighthouse in the East Passage, to gather information about
water circulating into the Bay from Rhode Island Sound; near Fox Island in the
West Passage, where URI has been collecting data for more than 60 years; and on
the bottom of Greenwich Bay, though that device can also be deployed elsewhere
as data needs arise.
The
instruments will collect data on nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphates that
are used by plankton and other organisms in their life cycle. Water samples
will also be collected to examine the complex interactions among nutrients and
marine species.
“The
Greenwich Bay device is called a benthic lander, which is an autonomous
measuring platform,” Rothstein said. “It sits on the bottom and samples the
water from the benthos, measuring the exchange of nutrients and other chemical,
physical and biological properties between the sediments and the water.”
The
platform near Castle Hill Lighthouse has been designed and built at URI to pump
water from three different depths through its sensors, which analyze the water
for nutrients, plankton concentrations and other ecological properties. Other
characteristics of the water will also be collected, such as temperature,
salinity and currents.
The
instruments will be programmed to communicate their data among the three
platforms, creating a sustainable observatory and a real-time response network
for scientists. If one instrument measures too much nitrate in the water
column, for instance, a nearby biological sensor can then be examined to
determine if a spike in a potentially harmful phytoplankton population is also
occurring.
The
data collected by the instruments — as well as from existing instruments
measuring river water and wastewater entering the Bay — will be used to predict
the effects of global warming and other climate-related issues, as well as to
study human impacts on coastal ecosystems.
The
data will be housed at the Rhode Island Data Discovery Center, an online portal
managed in collaboration with Brown University that will enable researchers and
the public to see and use the information. A map on the website will indicate
the conditions at each location and include historical data, graphs and
animations.
The
Narragansett Bay Observatory is one of three elements of the Rhode Island
Consortium for Coastal Ecology Assessment, Innovation and Modeling, a
collaboration of engineers, scientists and students at eight institutions of
higher education in the state.
The project, with URI as the lead institution, is funded with a $19 million grant from the National Science Foundation’s Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research and an additional $3.8 million from the Rhode Island Science and Technology Advisory Council. More than a dozen scientists from URI are involved.
The project, with URI as the lead institution, is funded with a $19 million grant from the National Science Foundation’s Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research and an additional $3.8 million from the Rhode Island Science and Technology Advisory Council. More than a dozen scientists from URI are involved.
Other
elements in the project focus on the creation of computer models for predicting
how environmental conditions will change, based on the data collected by the
instruments, and the development of new sensors and devices for collecting data
in the future.
The
grants also fund related research by dozens of graduate students as well as
internships for undergraduates statewide.
URI’s
Narragansett Bay Campus is home to the URI Graduate School of Oceanography
(GSO), one of the world’s premier oceanographic institutions. Founded in 1961,
GSO has built a reputation for excellence in deep water oceanographic research,
coastal planning and management, sustainable fisheries and monitoring the
health of Narragansett Bay. With operations, researchers, faculty and students
worldwide, the Bay Campus education and outreach programs train the next
generation of scientists and policymakers, while ensuring Rhode Island’s K-12
teachers and students gain an appreciation for the importance of ocean science
through a variety of hands-on programs.
On
Nov. 6, Rhode Islanders will vote on Question 2, a $70 million higher education
general obligation bond that includes $45 million for upgrades to the
Narragansett Bay Campus. If approved, proceeds from the bond will be used to
improve the GSO’s pier (required to accommodate a newly awarded Regional Class
Research Vessel from the National Science Foundation valued at more than $100
million), construct a 20,000-square-foot Ocean Technology building, a Marine
Operations building and fund other necessary improvements to campus facilities.