Albemarle Sound is a large coastal body of water in North Carolina and is known as one of the roughest stretches along the Intercoastal Waterway.  Scientifically, we refer to Albemarle Sound as an estuary, a semi-enclosed body of water where fresh and salt waters meet and mix; estuaries are a critical habitat for a variety of marine life and are popular sites for recreation (e.g., fishing, boating).  Through support from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), researchers from ECU (Walsh and Corbett) are working with scientists from the Coastal Studies Institute (Mike Muglia, Mike Remige and Nancy White), Elizabeth City State University (Jinchun Yuan) and the USACE (Jeff Hansen) to monitor atmospheric and estuarine conditions in Albemarle Sound.

This site is set up in the configuration indicated in this diagram.  The site uses an Instrumented TriPOD (ITPOD); an example schematic and picture of an ITPOD is shown in this figure.  Below is a graph of wave parameters measured at the site shown in the map at right.  View the meteorological data here.

The wave data plotted below can be compared with waves predicted from the SWAN (Simulating WAves Nearshore) Model that is being run by Jeff Hanson and Eve Devaliere at the USACE.  The predicted and forecast waves at this site and across the mid-Atlantic region can be found by visiting the following link: http://www.frf.usace.army.mil/eve/modelMainPageFrame.pl.  Note the site above is labeled ALB1 on the USACE website.  More marine and other data observations from around this region can be examined on the NC COHAZ real-time mapping page or at several sites listed in the links. Questions on the Albemarle data or effort can be directed to J.P. Walsh (walshj@ecu.edu; (252) 328-5431).