The health of every reserve is continuously monitored by the NERRS System-wide Monitoring Program or SWMP (pronounced “swamp”). SWMP measures changes in estuarine waters to record how human activities and natural events affect coastal habitats. Scientific instruments that are located at over 100 reserve data stations (4 stations are at each reserve) collect information in different estuaries across the country. Each monitoring station collects data on a variety of factors.
Monitoring estuaries allows scientists to observe trends and changes in the ecosystem and to track the health of the estuary and the plants and animals that live there. Monitoring is collecting and analyzing data to observe and follow the condition of the estuaries. Over time, the data could show changing conditions in an estuary and can give clues to the causes of such changes.
About the Dataset
SWMP was established in 1995 as a means of observing short-term variability and long-term changes in estuarine regions, to gain a better understanding of how human activities and natural events can change coastal ecosystems. The history of SWMP describes the origin of the program. SWMP currently has three major components that focus on: (1) abiotic indicators of water quality and weather; (2) biological monitoring; and (3) watershed, habitat, and land use mapping.
The NERRS SWMP uses automated data loggers to monitor the temperature, depth, salinity, dissolved oxygen, turbidity, and pH of each estuary’s water. These variables are recorded every 30 minutes at four stations in each of the 27 NERRS sites. They are key indicators of water quality and environmental conditions for the plants and animals that live in or use the estuary. The reserves also sample the water for nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) and chlorophyll on a monthly basis.
Weather can have a major impact on water quality in estuaries. For example, rainfall can increase sediment runoff, which, in turn, influences dissolved oxygen, turbidity, pH and temperature. As part of SWMP, every reserve has a weather station that collects data every 15 minutes on temperature, relative humidity, atmospheric pressure, rainfall, wind speed and direction. Several reserves are able to send real-time data as they are collected directly to Web sites on the Internet.
These data have already helped scientists gain a better understanding of how environmental conditions fluctuate in estuaries. The SWMP data have been used to detect conditions related to oyster diseases, measure the recovery of estuaries after hurricanes, and evaluate restoration projects in estuaries. The NERRS Centralized Data Management Office compiles SWMP data, and following quality assurance, disseminates data over the World Wide Web where researchers, coastal managers, and educators readily access the information.
Learn More...
- What parameters does SWMP measure?
- How has SWMP helped so far?
- How is the SWMP data collected?
- Check our Frequently Asked Questions About SWMP
- Monitoring Tutorial: View an animated interpretation of the NERRS System-Wide Monitoring Program. These series of animations and visualizations will make it fun and easier for you to understand why scientist monitor estuaries and what parameters they use to measure water quality and weather patterns in an estuary. (Requires Flash Player)