Mullica River/National Estuarine Research Reserve Water Quality Monitoring

Water quality monitoring is conducted, for all 22 National Estuarine
Research Reserve (NERR) sites, at two locations within or adjacent to
the Reserve. These two locations monitor a reference non-impacted
site (baseline condition) and a non-point source pollution site. The
following parameters are measured at least every 30 minutes: water
temperature, conductivity, salinity, dissolved oxygen (percent
saturation and concentration mg/L), pH, turbidity, and water
depth. All water quality data loggers (YSI's) are deployed from a
known depth from the bottom at each site.

The Jacques Cousteau/ Mullica River National Estuarine Research
Reserve (NERR) site is located on the northeast coast of the United
States on the Atlantic Ocean. The estuary is near Tuckerton, New
Jersey about 14 kilometers north of Atlantic City. All four locations
can be characterized by having no macroalgae and fast moving tidal
currents. All sites are in an undisturbed area with little impact
from development or pollution. There are four sampling stations: 1)
Buoy 126 (B126) (39 deg 30.478' N, 74 deg 20.308' W) - is located
three kilometers from Little Egg Inlet on the eastern side of Great
Bay and is 100 meters from the nearest land which is a natural marsh
island. This is a naturally deep area which has never been dredged.
It is located about 0.5 kilometer from an area in the intracoastal
waterway which is dredged regularly. The dredged material is a coarse
sand. The data logger at this location is attached to Intracoastal
Waterway Buoy 126 and is the closest monitoring station to Little Egg
Inlet. 2) Buoy 139 (B139) (39 deg 29.883' N, 74 deg 22.873' W) - is
located 4 kilometers from buoy 126 on the western side of Great Bay
and is located about one to one and one-half kilometers from land.
The closest land form is an extensive salt marsh about 1.5 kilometers
wide which borders the upland area. This area is dredged on a on a
regular basis every five to six years to maintained the channel at a
depth of eight feet by the Army Corp of Engineers. The surrounding
depth of the bay is about five to six feet deep. This site is
characterized by having maximum currents of about 1.5 knots with a
muddy sand bottom and with little structure or shell. The average
depth is 2.47 meters with a range of 1.77 to 3.29 meters. The average
pH is 8.0 with a range of 7.2 to 8.5 and salinity values averaged 26.1
with a range of 12.1 to 32.8 ppt. 3) Chestnut Neck (NECK) (39 deg
32.872' N, 74 deg 27.676' W) - is located 12 kilometers up the Mullica
River from the mouth of the river. The River begins at a line drawn
between Graveling Point and Oysterbed Point on the northwestern side
of Great Bay. The Mullica River at this location is quite wide, about
250 meters. The data logger is attached to the dock of a small marina
along the southern shore of the river adjacent to the main channel.
This location has never been dredged. The average depth at this
location is 0.87 meters with a range of from 0.00 to 1.48 meters. The
depth in the middle of the Mullica River at this location is about six
meters. The pH averages 7.3 for the year with a range of from 4.4 to
8.1. The average salinity here is 14.0 with a range of 0 to 25.4 ppt.
The site is characterized by having tidal currents of less then one
knot, during both ebb and flood tide, with a sandy bottom. 4) Lower
Bank (BANK) (39 deg 35.618' N, 74 deg 33.091' W) - is located 13
kilometers upriver of the Chestnut Neck location. The Mullica River
at this site is about two hundred maters wide. The data logger is
attached to a bridge going over the Mullica River which was rebuilt
three years ago and is located in the center of the river. The
northern bank of the river is sparsely developed with single family
houses and has a steep bank about five meters high. The southern
shore has an extensive marsh and fresh water wetland area about three
kilometer wide. This site can be characterized by having fast tidal
currents, just over one knot, deep water, and fine sand sediment. The
average depth is 1.65 meters with a range of 0.65 to 2.45 meters. The
pH averages 5.8 with a range of 3.9 to 7.4. The salinity averages 2.2
with a range of from 0 to 15.1 ppt.

The NERR data is collected to fulfill two major goals: to support
state-specific non-point source pollution control programs by
establishing local networks of continuous water quality monitoring
stations in representative protected estuarine ecosystems; and to
develop a nationwide database on baseline environmental conditions in
the NERR system of estuaries.

The NERR System-wide Monitoring Program seeks &to identify and track
short-term variability and long-term changes in the integrity and
biodiversity of representative estuarine ecosystems and coastal
watersheds for the purposes of contributing to effective national,
regional, and site specific coastal zone management&. This
comprehensive program consists of three phased components: (1) abiotic
factors (i.e. water quality & meteorological monitoring), (2)
biodiversity monitoring, and (3) land use planning analysis. With the
initial focus on phase (1), the NERR System-wide Monitoring Program
will provide data necessary for site and inter-site baseline studies,
trend analyses and impact assessment.

Information for this metadata was taken from the Water Quality Data
Dissemination Page and individual site pages.