Coastal Observation

CIT led a $6.8 million, five-year grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for its Coastal Observation project, which:

• Developed and deployed remote sensing technologies to monitor – in real-time – the influence of the Chesapeake Bay on the nearby coastal ocean margin ecosystem;
• Established a system to monitor nutrient levels and organic matter loads in the outflows from the Chesapeake and Delaware Bays that heavily influence the surrounding coastal ocean ecosystem in Virginia;
• Improved the understanding of the impact of the Chesapeake and Delaware Bays on the hydrological and biogeochemical cycles of the shelf ecosystems;
• Developed a regional coastal ocean observing system along the Delmarva (Delaware/Maryland/Virginia) coast that became a key component of the Mid-Atlantic Coastal Ocean Observing Regional Association (MACOORA);
• Deployed a fleet of solar-powered Autonomous Surface Vehicles (ASVs) called OASIS (Ocean-Atmospheric Sensor Integration System) outfitted with weather and ocean environmental sensors to monitor the ocean and a NASA-supported Adaptive Sensor Fleet (ASF) software, a command and control system for multiple OASIS platforms;
• Deployed ship-based research cruises to collect additional measurements not obtainable using autonomous or remote methods;
• Deployed a network of five high frequency (HF) radars to monitor surface ocean currents and waves out to 200 km from shore; and
• Deployed a coastal bio-optical buoy that profiled surface characteristics as well as those in the water column.

This program, which concluded in 2008, was a public-private collaboration of CIT; NASA; DLBA Robotics; Donald L. Blount & Associates; EG&G Services; Emergent Technologies; Hampton University; Noesis, Inc.; Old Dominion University (ODU); Pacific Gyre, Inc.; Rutgers University; Stinger Ghaffarian Technologies (SGT); the University of Maryland (UMD); and the Virginia Marine Science Consortium. CIT was the program manager for this multi-year award.