The South Atlantic Bight monitoring program

An interdisciplinary monitoring and research program focused on the coastal ocean of the South Atlantic Bight has been implemented by the Center for Marine Science at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. This program monitors and assesses the physical, biological and chemical aspects of the coastal ocean, including the effects of ocean physics on both the marine environment and major marine resources on relevant time scales. The field sampling program began in the summer of 1999, focusing on the portion of the South Atlantic Bight between New River in Onslow County and Little River at the North/South Carolina border. The program is a mix of scheduled research cruises, continuous monitoring at fixed stations, and quick-response cruises to study special events (hurricanes, floods, winter storms). So far a fully equipped bottom mounted monitoring station has been installed, and scheduled monitoring cruises and a quick response effort for Hurricane Floyd have been completed