Wednesday, March 28, 2012

NOAA Provides Support for U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service's Texas Coastal Monitoring System

On March 27-28 at the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) hosted an annual meeting for all Texas coastal refuges. This year's theme focused on a newly-funded initiative to install a state-wide coastal monitoring network. The network will be based on a clustering of similar monitoring infrastructure and protocols at all eight coastal refuges, including tide stations, Surface Elevation Tables (to monitor wetland elevation change), water quality, and other selected ecosystem variables. NOAA's National Geodetic Survey's (NGS) Texas State Geodetic Advisor provided a session on geodetic and tidal datums and shared his experiences in developing a high-accuracy sea level rise sentinel site within the Mission Aransas National Estuarine Research Reserve. NGS Ecosystems and Climate Operations were also invited to present new national guidelines for the installation of geodetic control networks in support of sea level change sentinel sites. This workshop/meeting represents an exciting opportunity to partner with other Federal agencies in the application of consistent protocols for monitoring the impacts of sea level change within coastal habitats.