October 27, 2008

By Megan Shepherd ’08 MFA

UNCW’s Coastal Ocean Research and Monitoring Program (CORMP) has taken the lead in joining with the Carolinas Coastal Ocean Observing and Prediction System (Caro-COOPS) of South Carolina, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and the University of South Carolina to create the Carolinas Regional Coastal Ocean Observing System (Carolinas RCOOS), a new regional ocean observing network. Since 2007, CORMP has received 2.7 million dollars from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), USACE, and the U.S. Marine Corps to create and sustain the program.

“The goal of Carolinas RCOOS is to maintain real-time oceanographic and meteorological moorings located along the coasts of North Carolina and South Carolina. The information provided by these systems is valuable to the National Weather Service, local emergency managers, lifeguards, mariners, fishermen, surfers and beachgoers,” says Lynn Leonard, CORMP Director and UNC Wilmington geology professor. The RCOOS partners install and maintain ocean monitoring buoys, pier stations, and other platforms up and down the Carolina Coast, from the Outer Banks to just north of Hilton Head Island in South Carolina.

Carolinas RCOOS meets the needs of Carolina constituents for information on sea and weather conditions while fulfilling NOAA’s objective to develop a cohesive national network of ocean observing systems as part of the U.S. Integrated Ocean Observation System (IOOS). “IOOS’s goal is to connect sub regional systems such as CORMP to larger regional systems and ultimately to the national network. In connecting, we can offer increased access to data and information for everyone from scientists studying climate change to mariners,” says Timi Vann, Lead Management Analyst for the NOAA IOOS program.

Ocean observing systems not only provide valuable information on the state of the oceans but also on constantly changing shorelines. “Consider the destruction of wetlands along our coast; the steady decline and even loss of fisheries due to habitat destruction and overfishing; the loss of oysters and oyster habitats across our coastal watersheds; the way violent storms and hurricanes affect our coastal environment; the erosion of our beaches and our off-shore islands. What do we know about these issues or the variables that bear close observing and research? CORMP evolved at UNCW to provide pertinent observations of off shore currents and wind and their effects on sand movement and erosion, fishery habitat characteristics and real-time reports on our economically crucial coastal environment,” says Marvin Moss, former provost and CORMP advocate.

In 1999, Moss, biology professor Lawrence Cahoon and others coupled UNCW’s strength in marine research with the growing national need for near-shore ocean monitoring. “NOAA was most interested in this concept, not only for the mid-Atlantic area but for the coastal environment of the entire country. CORMP was among the first of such programs to get started in a significant way,” says Moss.

Since its inception, CORMP had received congressional earmark funding. According to Vann, this type of annual funding to meet ongoing regional needs made it difficult to build and sustain a national network. To better support a national ocean monitoring network, NOAA implemented a competitive funding process for ocean observing programs.

“We realized this was an opportunity to formalize our Caro-COOPS interaction and to use the opportunity to develop partnerships with other observing groups,” Leonard says.

Now, the IOOS program relies on regional associations, such as the Southeast Coastal Ocean Observation Regional Association (SECOORA), of which UNCW is a member, to identify and prioritize ocean observing needs in the region and also set priorities for funding.
“The future relies heavily on continuation of partnerships with state and federal agencies, as well as identifying additional partnership and support that will fund activities that are important to North Carolina stakeholders that may not be recognized at the regional level,” says Leonard.

CORMP is a familiar steward of the North Carolina waters. “We touch the public in a personal way. When one of our buoys go down, people call me,” Leonard says.

A CORMP website provides the public with access to real-time ocean conditions. The website engages elementary school children as well as university students, serves recreational and commercial interests and provides residents, business owners and leaders of coastline communities with water and weather conditions, forecasts and data.

According to Steve Pfaff, Senior Meteorologist and Marine Program Leader at the National Weather Service (NWS) Wilmington office, NWS utilizes CORMP data daily. “The deployment of CORMP stations has helped many facets of NWS services including coastal waters forecasts, surf zone forecasts, coastal flooding, and monitoring of hurricanes or nor’easters moving through the area. In addition, some of the CORMP stations are used to verify our marine forecasts, allowing us to identify strengths and weaknesses in our forecast operations.”

Spencer Rogers, North Carolina Sea Grant coastal construction and erosion specialist, uses CORMP wave data in conjunction with lifeguard reports from Wrightsville Beach to improve rip current prediction methods. “Rip currents are highly localized hazards. We have to have local information to refine prediction methods,” Rogers says.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) uses CORMP wave measurements to develop wave models that will eventually be employed by the NWS. “The southern extent of North Carolina’s shoreline is vulnerable to the impact of tropical storms,” says Bob Jensen of the USACE’s Field Wave Gauging Program, “A newly formed collaborative effort between the USACE and UNCW rectifies the absence of directional wave measurement sites over the years.”

Jennifer Dorton, CORMP Education and Outreach Coordinator, received $522,000 dollars from NOAA to support the creation of the Southeast Marine Weather Portal. Slated to go live fall 2009, the portal will provide standardized access to meteorological and oceanographic data through coastal NWS weather forecast offices from North Carolina to the gulf coast of Florida.

CORMP is a model for both the region and the nation in providing relevant oceanographic information to the public. Yet, Director Lynn Leonard never underestimates the importance of local support, where the value of a program is demonstrated daily. “Partnerships and leveraging are keys to our survival. We need to increase the state of North Carolina’s awareness of the relevance of observing systems – why they are valuable to the state’s citizens. Supporting these activities would make sense at a state level.”

Kim Proukou ’06 M contributed to this story.

 

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