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NOAA05-R499-09
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 15, 2005

NOAA AWARDS FIRST INSTALLMENT OF $2.5 MILLION GRANT TO UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND TO STUDY HYPOXIA IN ESTUARINE ECOSYSTEMS

NOAA has awarded the University of Rhode Island $1.5 million to develop modeling tools to predict low oxygen levels in upper Narragansett Bay, R.I. This award is the first installment of a five-year, approximately $2.5 million grant.

This ecosystem-scale project aims to characterize and predict the oxygen dynamics within Narragansett Bay through coordinated, multidisciplinary studies involving monitoring studies, development of linked physical and biological models, and the examination of historical oxygen conditions.

In 2003, severe hypoxia in Narragansett Bay resulted in a large fish kill, prompting a new state law to impose limits on nitrogen discharged into the bay. These efforts will help decision-makers better predict ecosystem responses related to hypoxia generation for present nutrient conditions and future conditions as a result of the recently enacted nutrient control strategies. This research is done in collaboration with scientists from the University of Connecticut - Avery Point and the Virginia Institute of Marine Science.

“Developing predictive tools to better understand how low oxygen and pollution affects our bays is critical to resource management of our waterways,” said retired Navy Vice Adm. Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Ph.D., under secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator. “NOAA's partnership with the University of Rhode Island will help create the tools needed to better understand how environmental pollution affects aquatic resources in Narragansett Bay and other similar mid-sized estuaries around the country.”

Each year, the NOAA Center for Sponsored Coastal Ocean Research awards approximately $25 million in grants to institutions of higher education, state, local, and tribal governments, and other non-profit research institutions to assist NOAA in fulfilling its mission to study our coastal oceans. NOAA-sponsored competitive research programs such as CHRP demonstrate NOAA's commitment to its historic responsibilities of science and service to the nation for the past 35 years.

NOAA's National Ocean Service is dedicated to exploring, understanding, conserving and restoring the nation's coasts and oceans. It balances environmental protection with economic prosperity in fulfilling its mission of promoting safe navigation, supporting coastal communities, sustaining coastal habitats and mitigating coastal hazards.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, an agency of the U.S. Commerce Department, is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national safety through the prediction and research of weather and climate-related events and providing environmental stewardship of our nation's coastal and marine resources. Through the emerging Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS), NOAA is working with its federal partners and nearly 60 countries to develop a global monitoring network that is as integrated as the planet it observes.

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