National Estuarine Eutrophication Assessment Website & Survey
The National Estuarine Eutrophication Assessment (NEEA) is a joint initiative between the
NOAA National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS) and the Integration and Application Network (IAN). IAN has just launched the new
NEEA website, which consists of a database of 141 U.S. estuaries with satellite imagery, maps (including salinity zone information), location, physical characteristics, landuse & population, hydrology, climate, oceanic details, sediment & nutrient loads, an image library, and discussion forum. The NEEA website also contains an interactive survey designed to gather information on these estuaries in preparation for an update to the original assessment released in 1999. The survey provides immediate feedback to the user by calculating eutrophication symptom expressions for a variety of parameters as well as an assessment of the overall eutrophic condition of the estuary based on their entered data. The site also features dynamic graphing of the database and survey data.
On May 9-10, IAN and EcoCheck (NOAA-UMCES Partnership) in collaboration with NOAA’s Center for Coastal Monitoring and Assessment, convened the National Estuarine Eutrophication Assessment update workshop. The workshop included data entry into the online data collection tool and development of recommendations for a national strategy for research, monitoring, and management needed to address eutrophication. The workshop will result in a report due in September 2006 that assesses present eutrophic conditions and trends in condition since the early 1990s for 141 US systems, as well as recommendations for a national approach to protect these systems from further degradation.