Water Quality Monitoring and Modeling for the Peconic Bay BTCAMP

Abstract

The Peconic system, an interconnected series of shallow coastal embayments at the eastern end of Long Island, New York, has been plagued since 1985 with an unusual algal bloom resulting in widespread devastation of the living resources (shellfish, finfish, eelgrass) of this important coastal ecosystem. The microscopic algal cell (about 2.5 micrometers in diameter) responsible for the recurring bloom has been identified by researchers as a new genus and species, Aureococcus anophagefferens, otherwise known as the “brown tide”. Due to the severe impact this bloom has had on the shellfish industry, as well as destruction of a large percentage of the eelgrass (Zostera marina) population, the Suffolk County Department of Health Services (DHS) has initiated a series of intensive monitoring and analytical activities and has contracted with researchers at the Marine Sciences Research Center (MSRC) of the State University of New York at Stony Brook (SUNY) and the Marine Sciences Center of Long Island University (LIU) of Southampton to conduct laboratory and field experiments to evaluate possible mechanisms for the bloom’s initiation and growth requirements.