Our environmental monitoring program began in June 1999, after the physical characteristics of the site were assessed. It has two broad objectives:

• Assess current and potential environmental impacts
• Develop sampling protocols and determine the best indicators of environmental impact

An automated buoy collects near-continuous environmental data at the offshore site. Currently, the buoy is maintained jointly by staff from UNH and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (WHOI). It provides information on wave amplitude, temperature, salinity, turbidity, and fluorescence at selected depths in the water column. We are working toward making this data available (in real time and in archived form) to the public via the web.

We also take an in depth “pulse” of this environment four times each year. Researchers log seasonal descriptions of the physical characteristics of the water column and conduct extensive sampling to determine suspended sediment, nutrient, and chlorophyll levels. Using a Shipek grab or Wildco box corer, they extract samples from the bottom to gauge the abundance and diversity of fauna that live burrowed in the ocean floor. Video shot by a drop camera towed above the bottom provides a window on epifauna and bottom habitat.