Wednesday, July 06, 2005

TO: Media

FROM: Mimi Cunningham

DATE: July 26, 2005

RE: Buoy Deployment in Onslow Bay

Media Opportunity – 8:15 a.m., Aug. 1, out of Beaufort, N.C.

Media are cordially invited to watch the deployment of a new real-time weather and oceanographic buoy that is being jointly funded by UNCW’s Coastal Ocean Research and Monitoring Program (CORMP) and US Marine Corp Base Camp Lejeune. The buoy will be deployed approximately 5 miles offshore from Camp Lejeune. By September, boaters and fishermen from Morehead City, N.C. to Little River, S.C., will benefit from four new real-time buoys, along with two pier-based stations, which will transmit marine weather and oceanographic information on an hourly basis.

Please plan to be ready to board the Outrageous V, located at Discovery Dive Center at 8:15 a.m., Monday, Aug. 1. Discovery Dive Center is located in Beaufort, NC. There is ample parking. Space on the boat is limited to 25 attendees, so please RSVP to me as soon as possible – 910/962-3171 or cunninghamm@uncw.edu. Please plan to bring your own lunch and beverages. Coolers with ice will be provided. The duration of the cruise is expected to be approximately 6 hours.

Discovery Dive Center is located in Beaufort at 414 Orange Street, phone 252-728-2265. From Morehead City, follow US-70E to Beaufort. Just past Hardee’s, take the first left onto Orange Street and follow to the end of the road (look for the large sign that says Discovery Dive Center as you enter Beaufort).

Joining us on the mission will be Marvin K. Moss, co-director of CORMP, and representatives from the U.S. Marine Corps, Newport/Morehead City National Weather Service, and a buoy design engineer from NOAA’s National Data Buoy Center. All will be available for interviews.

The Coastal Ocean Research and Monitoring Program (CORMP), is a NOAA-funded initiative, located at UNC Wilmington’s Center for Marine Science. The buoy being deployed Aug. 1 is one of two scheduled for deployment in Onslow Bay. They will transmit weather and sea state information almost hourly. All data transmitted will be incorporated into NOAA’s National Weather Service marine observations and forecasts, as well as the dial-a-buoy service. In June, CORMP also outfitted Johnnie Mercer’s Pier (Wrightsville Beach) with wave, current, salinity and water temperature instruments that will also transmit data on a real-time basis. CORMP expects to install the same system on Long Beach Pier (Oak Island) in September.

The Aug. 1 mission will deploy a buoy, named LEJ2 for Camp Lejeune, located approximately 5 miles offshore from Camp Lejeune (GPS Coordinates N34°28.566’ W77°16.783’). This is a NOAA National Data Buoy Center (NDBC) style-buoy, such as the Frying Pan Buoy located off the Cape Fear Shoals, and is being funded jointly by CORMP and the Camp Lejeune Marine Corp Base. For training purposes, Camp Lejeune needs up-to-date weather and sea state conditions to ensure Marine safety during training exercises. Once this buoy is deployed, base officials can easily access the buoy data and immediately determine if ocean conditions are acceptable.

A fourth buoy named LEJ3 (located at approximately N34°12.652’ W76°57.154) will be deployed in early fall. This buoy will extend the coverage offshore 25 miles from Camp Lejeune and completes the suite of four buoys, covering near-shore to offshore conditions in Onslow Bay.

All of the buoys will hourly transmit weather and oceanographic observations via Iridium satellite. Core weather data will include air temperature, barometric pressure, wind direction and velocity, solar radiation, and humidity. Oceanographic data will include, surface currents, surface temperature, salinity, and turbidity. The LEJ2 and LEJ3 buoys, both built by NDBC, will transmit standard wave data which includes significant wave height, direction, and period.

CORMP was created under the strategic plan for the congressionally-mandated Integrated Ocean Observations System (IOOS). IOOS calls for a sustained, integrated system to improve weather forecasting, predictions of climate change and related impacts on coastal populations, improved safety and efficiency of marine operations, and increased monitoring of coastal ecosystem health. CORMP, at UNC Wilmington, is a research and monitoring program that addresses these goals in the coastal ocean region of Long Bay and Onslow Bay. The program mission is to provide an interdisciplinary science-based framework that supports sound public policy leading to wise coastal use, sustainable fisheries and improved coastal ocean ecosystem health. There are two other IOOS members in the region that will be adding buoys in coastal South Carolina waters and along the North Carolina Outer Banks.