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Completed Projects

North Carolina Environmental Observation Network System (NC- EONS)

Overview
Little is known about the water quality, fisheries and physical behavior of the Albemarle-Pamlico Estuarine System (APES), the country’s second largest estuary and North Carolina’s most valuable aquatic resource. A collaboration of seven universities are collaborating to develop a coordinated, environmental observing and modeling system, called the North Carolina Environmental Observation Network System (NC-EONS). The NC-EONS is a multi-institutional effort that allows researchers across North Carolina to conduct scientific experiments and collect environmental data that will be vital to understanding the effects of climate change.

A platform station in the Southern Pamlico Sound (EONS-SPS), located three miles out from the Cedar Island Ferry terminal, will give researchers a site to conduct experiments and collect marine and atmospheric environmental data. The data will include the physical conditions (temperature, salinity, water level, circulation, waves, meteorology), key water quality parameters (nutrients, dissolved oxygen, chlorophyll, atmospheric deposition), and fisheries data (acoustic reflection, acoustic tags or video). The EONS-SPS will be equipped with power and high bandwidth communications that allow deployed instruments to be accessed directly on the internet, and allow data to stream in real-time into classrooms, labs and computers. The platform station, 325 square feet and 15 feet above water level, will include space for mounting solar panels, meteorological sensors, and a weather resistant enclosure to accommodate equipment.

The EONS-SPS will be accessible to universities, governmental agencies and laboratories, and to private sector and non-governmental organizations in NC. Over the long term, data from the platform will also be used to evaluate the impact of development, coastal storms and climate change on the Pamlico Sound ecosystem.

The RENCI Contribution
RENCI will develop and install the power and communications infrastructure for the platform, including a solar/wind generation power system with battery banks to store energy for use at nights and on cloudy days. The communication systems include three components:

a VHF unlicensed 9600 baud packet-switched network using antennas that work well in rain and fog
a 902 megahertz wireless system
an experimental 5.8 gigahertz WiMax system

The communications systems on the platform will transmit data to servers at the collaborating institutions and to RENCI's Chapel Hill headquarters for integration with a project funded by Microsoft Research called Sensor Data Bus. The Sensor Data Bus project is a database and data analysis system, which aggregates disparate environmental sensor information so that scientists can analyze multiple kinds of data for patterns and relationships. In turn, the Sensor Data Bus servers are able to forward the data to NC-EONS collaborators and may eventually become the principal distribution mechanism for NC-EONS data. RENCI will also install two HDTV webcams to provide live video from the platform for security and to allow visual assessment of environmental conditions at the site.

Funding
North Carolina Research Competitiveness Fund
National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration
United States Army Corp of Engineers

Project leaders
Rich Luettich, director of the UNC at Chapel Hill Institute for Marine Sciences and lead research scientist at RENCI
Erik Scott, manager for project engineering, RENCI
Dave Eggleston, director of the North Carolina State University Center for Marine Sciences and Technology
Lynn Leonard, professor, University of North Carolina at Wilmington
Bob Christian, professor, East Carolina University

Collaborating and Cooperating Partners

Albemarle-Pamlico National Estuary Program
Dean Carpenter

Duke University
Joe Ramus

East Carolina University
Bob Christian
Reide Corbett
J.P. Walsh
Joe Luczkovich
Enrique Reyes

Elizabeth City State University
Maurice Crawford
Jinchun Yuan

North Carolina State University
Dave Eggleston
Don Stanfied
Jim Rice
Nicholas Meskhidze
Dave DeMaster
Joann Burkholder
Robert Reed
Dan Kamykowski
Len Pietrafesa

NC Department of Transportation
Rod Gross
Philip Atkinson

NC Division of Marine Fisheries
Anne Deaton

NC Division of Water Quality
Jay Sauber

UNC at Chapel Hill
Rick Luettich
Harvey Seim
Hans Paerl
Tony Whipple
Brent McKee
Alan Joyner

UNC Coastal Studies Institute
Nancy White
Mike Muglia

UNC General Administration
Steve Leath
Sarah Smith

UNC - Wilmington
Lynn Leonard
Dave Wells
Jennifer Dorton

US Army Corps of Engineers
Jeff Hanson

Other
Tim Boynton

The RENCI Team
Erik Scott, project lead
Ilia Baldine
Alan Blatecky
John Gallagher

Presentations
An Inter-institutional Environmental Observation Network System for North Carolina (NC EONS)
NC EONS: Environmental Observation Network System for North Carolina

Links
Initiation of an Inter-institutional Environmental Observation Network System for North Carolina