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Open-File Report 2014–1110

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Prepared in collaboration with the Albemarle-Pamlico National Estuary Partnership as part of the National Monitoring Network for U.S. Coastal Waters and their Tributaries

Estuarine Monitoring Programs in the Albemarle Sound Study Area, North Carolina

By Michelle Moorman, Katharine R. Kolb, and Stacy Supak

Thumbnail of and link to report PDF (5.54 MB)Abstract

Albemarle Sound was selected in 2012 as one of the two demonstration sites in the Nation to test and improve the design of the National Water Quality Monitoring Council’s National Monitoring Network (NMN) for U.S. Coastal Waters and their tributaries. The goal of the NMN for U.S. coastal waters and tributaries is to provide information about the health of our oceans and coastal ecosystems and inland influences on coastal waters for improved resource management. The NMN is an integrated, multidisciplinary, and multiorganizational program using multiple sources of data and information to augment current monitoring programs.

The purpose of this report is to identify major natural resource management issues for the region, provide information on current monitoring activities occurring within the Albemarle Sound study area, determine how the current monitoring network fits into the design of the NMN, and determine what additional monitoring data are needed to address these issues. In order to address these questions, a shapefile and data table were created to document monitoring and research programs in the Albemarle Sound study area with an emphasis on current monitoring programs within the region. This database was queried to determine monitoring gaps that existed in the Albemarle Sound by comparing current monitoring programs with the design indicated by the NMN. The report uses this information to provide recommendations on how monitoring could be improved in the Albemarle Sound study area.

First posted June 24, 2014

  • Downloads Directory
    Contains AlbeMonProg13_shapefile.zip (394 KB) : Shapefile of monitoring locations in the Albemarle Sound study area including metadata. The shapefile can be joined to AlbeMonProg13.dbf by the field SampNo.

    AlbeMonTable2013.dbf (1.57 MB): Database providing detailed descriptions of monitoring activities in the Albemarle Sound study area. The database can be joined to AlbeMonProg13.shp by the field SampNo.

For additional information, contact:
Director, North Carolina Water Science Center
U.S. Geological Survey
3916 Sunset Ridge Road
Raleigh, NC 27607
http://nc.water.usgs.gov/

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Suggested citation:

Moorman, M.C., Kolb, K.R., Supak, Stacy, 2014, Estuarine monitoring programs in the Albemarle Sound study area, North Carolina: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2014–1110, 38 p., https://dx.doi.org/10.3133/ofr20141110.

ISSN 2331–1258 (online)


Contents

Acknowledgments

Abstract

Introduction

Description of Study Area

Key Resource Management Agencies

Major Natural-Resource Issues

Monitoring Inventory and Gap Analysis

Summary and Major Conclusions from Pilot Study

References Cited

Appendix 1

Appendix 2


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