The North Carolina (USA) unattended Ferry-Based Water Quality Monitoring Program, FerryMon, is being used to assess the impacts of climatic perturbations such as hurricanes and droughts, and human development, including nutrient over-enrichment, on water quality, algal bloom dynamics, nutrient and carbon fluxes in the Pamlico Sound System (PSS), the USA's second largest estuary. Two NC-DOT ferries deploy YSI 6600 sondes (temperature, salinity, pH, turbidity, chlorophyll a fluorescence) coupled to automated ISCO discrete sampling of nutrients, organics, and diagnostic algal photopigments. Recent upgrades include an Algal Online Analyzer and CO2 partial pressure (pCO2) sensor to expand FerryMon's long-term monitoring objectives. Real-time data transmission and remote control of sampling resolution and sensor tolerance yield greater flexibility for research and management interests, which include:  1) Characterizing harmful algal blooms that can be used as information to ensure boaters, recreationists and tourists that waters are safe for swimming, recreation and transportation; and 2) Capturing acute impacts of major human and climatic disturbances in coastal waters. FerryMon recorded unprecedented air-water CO2 fluxes and nutrient cycling rates after Hurricane Irene passed directly over the ferry route as it struck the US East Coast in 2011.  FerryMon's website (www.ferrymon.org) provides residents, tourists, fishermen and passengers daily information on water and habitat quality. The website also serves as a teaching tool for educational institutions (K-12), museums, the media, and public outreach programs. This information serves to improve public awareness of how human activities and climatic perturbations interact to determine water quality, habitat conditions and sustainability of the PSS.

FerryMon: Ferry-based, real-time assessments of human and climatically-driven environmental change in the Pamlico Sound Estuarine system, North Carolina, USA

248th National Meeting (2014)

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