MID-ATLANTIC BIGHT NATIONAL UNDERSEA RESEARCH CENTER

Background

The Mid-Atlantic Bight (MAB) National Undersea Research Center, administered by the Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences (IMCS) at Rutgers University and the Marine Sciences Research Center at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, was established in 1992 following a regional competition. Geographically, the MAB Center supports research in waters of the Mid-Atlantic Region (New York and Chesapeake Bights).

The primary goal of the MAB Center is to improve our knowledge of the processes governing change and stability in the Mid-Atlantic Region at spatial and temporal scale not attainable with conventional oceanographic techniques. The broad goal is being pursued through long-term objectives developed at a February 1992 science workshop which produced research priorities for the MAB Center. These objectives respond directly to science priorities in thematic areas whcih guide the NOAA/NURP program, and highlight the need for long-term studies to distinguish natural from anthropogenic changes in the environment. The MAB Center provides undersea research platforms (such as submersibles, remotely operated vehicles, undersea sensors and sampling equipment, SCUBA) to address research questions at a range of scales, particularly from meters to kilometers.

The Center has established Long-term Ecosystem Observatories (LEOs) (see map for locations) to distinguish between natural and anthropogenic changes in the marine environment. These LEOs will serve as core elements of an ocean sensing network in the New York Bight which may aid in the predication of, or rapid response to, episodic events (such as storms, upwelling and hypoxia) that are poorly studied by conventional methods. LEOs will be available to all qualified investigators who wish to conduct in situ experimental studies. LEOs already have been established at an inner shelf site (15 meter depth) located directly offshore of the Rutgers University Marine Field Station at Tuckerton, NJ (LEO-15 ), at a continental slope site (LEO-750) to quantify the species diversity, biomass, trophic structure and metabolism of benthic boundary layer and sediment communities and in association with the 106-mile Municipal Sludge Disposal site at 2500 meter depth (LEO-2500) . A fourth LEO site is planned for the New York Bight Apex area.

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