|
View the Request for
2008-2009 Demonstration and Development Proposals.
Overview
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 Stony Brook University was established in 1992 following
a regional competition. Geographically, the MAB Center supports
research in waters of the Mid-Atlantic Region (New York Bight
south of Long Island to and including the Chesapeake Bay).
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 an initial science workshop that provided research priorities
for the MAB Center. These objectives respond directly to science
priorities in thematic areas that 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 with an emphasis
on the LEO-15 Observatory (see below) and associated sensors,
a REMUS Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV), and other vehicles
such as gliders, in order to address research questions at
a range of scales. Access to submersibles and remotely operated
vehicles [ROVs] can also be provided and a highly skilled
SCUBA dive team is also available.
The Center has established a Long-term Ecosystem
Observatory (LEO) at an inner shelf site (15 meter depth)
located directly offshore of the Rutgers University Marine
Field Station at Tuckerton, NJ (LEO-15). LEO-15 provides long-term
ocean observations and will help to distinguish between natural
and anthropogenic changes in the marine environment. This
LEO serves as a core element of a shelf-wide ocean observation
network that will increase our understanding of episodic events
(such as storms, upwelling and hypoxia) that are poorly studied
by conventional methods.
Last Updated: 5/06/2008
|
