Monday, June 21, 2010

Researchers at the University of North Carolina Wilmington are collecting baseline samples of ocean water and sediment, shellfish and fish, as well as GPS profiling of beach conditions. They are preparing to detect changes that may occur in water quality, fish health and beach conditions if and when oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill begins to travel up the East Coast.

Sample collection teams will be working Tuesday, June 22 at Wrightsville Beach. Media are welcome to cover the sampling efforts and interview faculty and students involved.

WHAT: Sample collection of ocean water, sediment and fish; GPS profiling of beach

WHO: UNCW researchers and students: Larry Cahoon (water and sediment sampling), Troy Alphin (benthos sampling), Tom Lankford (fish sampling) and Yvonne Marsan (beach profiling by GPS)

WHERE: Meet at 9:45 a.m. Tuesday at parking lot of St. Therese Catholic Church, 209 South Lumina Ave., Wrightsville Beach (RSVP if you plan to attend so the research teams will wait for you to arrive)

Faculty member Larry Cahoon's team will start on the beach near St. Therese taking water and sediment samples. Other teams will work in various areas of the beach; connections can be made with them for interested media. Cahoon will be assisted by Victoria Miller, a science teacher from Brunswick County working with him as part of a technology preparation grant, and post-doctoral student Amanda Kahn, who received her master's and doctoral degrees in marine biology from UNC Wilmington.

Media contact:
William Davis, 910.962.2654 or 910.232.6264, davisw@uncw.edu