Ocean Indicators
In Fall of 2017, SoMAS at SUNY Stony Brook and DEC began an ocean monitoring project on the R/V Seawolf to collect physical, chemical, and biological data from the shore to the continental shelf in ocean waters off New York and develop indicators of Ocean Health. This information helps create an effective Ecosystem Based Management approach and informs future decisions.
Through funding from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, the SoMAS Carbonate Chemistry Laboratory (CCL) is dedicated to evaluating long-term changes in carbonate chemistry across the New York Bight, as well as areas around Ocean Outfalls.
Ocean Acidification Impacts
Ocean Acidification (OA), resulting from increasing anthropogenic CO2 emissions, is expected to have profound adverse effects on marine organisms. There has already been suspected effects to commercially important shellfish species such as hard clams, bay scallops, and oysters. Lobsters are suspected to be in decline due to warming and acidified waters. Studies have shown that eutrophication (an excess of nutrients) which result from excess nitrogen pollution, exacerbate OA effects further and amplify the effects of acidification in the marine environment.
In an effort to understand the effects of OA on the New York Bight, the Ocean Acidification Task Force was legislated in 2016 to identify the causes and factors contributing to ocean acidification and evaluating ways of addressing the problem by applying the best available science as to ocean acidification and its anticipated impacts. Some water quality monitoring programs in the state’s estuaries already include measurements for pH. The ocean monitoring project on the RV Seawolf is collecting baseline carbonate chemistry data across the New York Bight.
Ocean Outfalls
Work at the CCL is an extension of the NYS Ocean Outfall Two Year Monitoring Project 2018-2020 (PDF) Existing ocean outfalls, particularly the one connected to the Cedar Creek Sewage Treatment Plant, are being monitored to better understand the effects of wastewater effluent on ocean habitats. The study will also examine the effects of allowing effluent from the Bay Park WWTP, which serves approximately 40% of Nassau County, to utilize these offshore outfalls. Bay Park current discharges approximately 50 million gallons of wastewater per day, and causes widespread degradation and toxic conditions to the Western Bays of the Long Island South Shore Estuary Reserve (SSER).
New York State recently announced a $354 million project to significantly improve the water quality of Long Island’s Western Bays. Waste from the Bay Park Wastewater Treatment Plant will be diverted-through an abandoned aqueduct under Sunrise Highway-to the existing Cedar Creek outfall, which diffuses treated sewage ~2 miles into the Atlantic Ocean. The project will prevent the discharge of 19 billion gallons of treated sewage into the warm, shallow Western Bays each year, eliminating harmful nitrogen pollution to jump start the rejuvenation of vital marshlands that protect communities from waves and storm surge. However, the impacts at the offshore outfall are uncertain. The CCL is monitoring the chemistry of the area around the outfall through time to help understand the impacts of wastewater on carbonate chemistry.