This project synthesized Sentinel Site data for four New England National Estuarine Research Reserves (Great Bay, Narragansett, Waquoit Bay, and Wells), which have been individually monitoring salt marsh vegetation and elevation changes since at least 2011. The project team developed statistics-ready data packages linking vegetation change with surface elevation and other data, including output from an inundation tool. This project equipped New England reserves and coastal managers with new information to inform and improve the management, protection, and restoration of salt marshes. It produced an improved Sentinel Site monitoring protocol and established a methodology for analysis of marsh condition that can be used across the reserve system and by coastal managers nationwide. This catalyst project was funded by NOAA through the National Estuarine Research Reserve System Science Collaborative to advance collaborative science. It did not produce any new data.

Water quality monitoring experts, scientists, and estuary caretakers built a long-term collaborative monitoring strategy for estuary nutrients and phytoplankton dynamics at the headwaters of Lake Superior. The Project The St. Louis River Estuary, located at the headwaters of Lake Superior, is nearing a major milestone: its anticipated delisting as a Great Lakes Area of Concern by 2030. Yet even as remediation and restoration successes are celebrated, new environmental stressors, particularly harmful algal blooms, raise concerns about the estuary's long-term water quality health. In response, a group of local, state, federal, and tribal partners who have long worked in and cared for the estuary began calling for a science-based monitoring strategy that could respond to emerging threats and support ongoing stewardship beyond delisting. Together, they shaped a shared vision: a comprehensive program of observations, analyses, and public reporting that would protect remediation and restoration investments and inform future decision-making. To advance this vision, this group of partners who had long advocated for a coordinated monitoring effort, collaborated closely with the Lake Superior National Estuarine Research Reserve to launch the project. The Reserve brought together a scientific team that included collaborators from the University of Minnesota's Natural Resources Research Institute, who contributed expertise in phytoplankton and bloom dynamics. The partners co-authored the proposal and remained actively engaged throughout the project, helping select sites, shape the study design, and review statistical analysis and draft recommendations. Together, the partners and project team developed a research approach that combined strong scientific design to build foundational understanding of phytoplankton dynamics with a focus on generating practical, actionable insights for a shared long term monitoring strategy. Eight high-priority sites were intensively sampled in 2023 and 2024, focusing on areas vulnerable to nutrient enrichment, low oxygen, and bloom formation. The study also prioritized public relevance by targeting restoration areas, heavily used public zones, and capturing rarely collected wintertime data. The project successfully identified predictors of cyanobacteria biovolume in the estuary and actionable monitoring strategies to improve bloom detection and efficient water quality monitoring in the future. Important predictors of blooms included low nitrogen, warm temperatures, low dissolved organic carbon, and high pH. In addition, the team observed significant year-to-year differences in bloom composition and intensity suggesting bloom dynamics are highly responsive to variations in hydrology and nutrient stoichiometry which are driven by precipitation patterns. Further analysis evaluated the efficiency of different monitoring designs by assessing redundancy across space, sampling frequency, and parameters. These findings informed a science-based strategy that identified periods and locations of elevated bloom risk while accounting for the real-world capacity of agencies and partners. The resulting recommendations include a reduced set of priority sites and a tiered approach to sampling. This strategy is designed to be flexible with available funding and effort, while ensuring that high-risk bloom locations are monitored as a minimum standard. The project's result is not only a clearer picture of what drives blooms in the estuary, but also a durable and collaborative roadmap for long-term monitoring, co-created by the people who first called for a collaborative, comprehensive program.

Water quality observations made over long time periods can provide important feedback to scientists and to local, state, and national resource managers about actions taken to manage, protect, and restore estuaries. They also provide valuable information for evaluating the impacts of environmental change on coastal habitats and species. There are at least four water quality stations at each National Estuarine Research Reserve. Each station is designed to characterize long-term variability and short term changes in environmental conditions. Data are collected with data loggers at fifteen minute intervals and instruments are deployed continuously and year round where possible. Water quality parameters collected include: water temperature, specific conductivity, salinity, percent saturation of dissolved oxygen, dissolved oxygen concentration, pH, depth, and turbidity. Chlorohpyll fluorescence is an optional parameter and pressure corrected water depth is a calculated value. The National Estuarine Research Reserves is a network of 30 reserves protected for long-term research, ecosystem monitoring, education, and coastal stewardship. Established by the Coastal Zone Management Act, the reserve system is a partnership program between NOAA and the coastal states. NOAA provides funding, national guidance, and technical assistance. Each reserve is managed on daily basis by a lead state agency or university with input from local partners. These data are collected as part of the NERRS System-Wide Monitoring Program - SWMP, which includes: 1. abiotic indicators of water quality and weather; 2. biological monitoring; and 3. watershed, habitat, and land use mapping. Data were collected under individual Reserve NOAA grant/cooperative agreements and managed by the CDMO under NOAA grant/cooperative agreement #NA23NOS4200321 (2023) and prior grants. For more information on Reserve locations and programs, please visit www.nerrsdata.org or https://coast.noaa.gov/nerrs/.

A team of collaborators from the Tijuana River National Estuarine Research Reserve, Southwest Wetlands Interpretive Association, and University of California-Davis are exploring the environmental consequences of managing the opening and closing of lagoon mouths. The project approach includes the following elements: Collaboration with Users: The project team will regularly engage members of the Southern California Wetlands Recovery Project, which coordinates and funds restoration projects throughout the region. Data Synthesis: Long-term water quality and vegetation data will be analyzed from three estuary systems: San Diego Bay, Los Peasquitos Lagoon, and Tijuana Estuary. The team will look at how mouth closures influence factors such as dissolved oxygen and salinity, which in turn affect plants and animals. Literature Review: The project team will pull together relevant scientific articles and reports to guide its interpretation of monitoring data and development of management recommendations. This science transfer project was funded by NOAA through the National Estuarine Research Reserve System Science Collaborative to promote the use of science. It did not produce any new data.

Meteorological dataset: Meteorological data provide information on atmospheric conditions that can affect water quality and biological and physical processes. Core elements currently measured at each National Estuarine Research Reserve (NERR) include air temperature, relative humidity, barometric pressure, wind speed, wind direction, rainfall, and photosynthetically active radiation (PAR). Optional parameters include total solar radiation. Each site maintains at least one meteorological station. Stations are placed at locations typical of local conditions or in areas where a specific need for weather data has been identified. Data are reported at 15 minute intervals. Prior to 2007, hourly and daily average data were also reported. Water Quality dataset: Water quality observations made over long time periods can provide important feedback to scientists and to local, state, and national resource managers about actions taken to manage, protect, and restore estuaries. They also provide valuable information for evaluating the impacts of environmental change on coastal habitats and species. There are at least four water quality stations at each National Estuarine Research Reserve. Each station is designed to characterize long-term variability and short term changes in environmental conditions. Data are collected with data loggers at fifteen minute intervals and instruments are deployed continuously and year round where possible. Water quality parameters collected include: water temperature, specific conductivity, salinity, percent saturation of dissolved oxygen, dissolved oxygen concentration, pH, depth, and turbidity. Chlorophyll fluorescence is an optional parameter and pressure corrected water depth is a calculated value. Nutrient/pigment dataset: There are at least four water quality stations at each National Estuarine Research Reserve. Each station is designed to characterize long-term variability and short term changes in environmental conditions. Discrete samples for nutrient and chlorophyll a concentrations are collected at each long-term monitoring station at least once monthly. More intensive (24-hours over a complete tidal cycle) sampling is conducted each month at one water quality monitoring station to better understand impacts of tide and irradiance on nutrient cycling. Nutrient parameters collected include: nitrate, nitrite, ammonium, orthophosphate, and chlorophyll a. Numerous optional parameters include dissolved organic carbon, total dissolved nitrogen, and total dissolved phosphorus. All data are provided in yearly .CSV files.

This project will integrate information on ecosystem stressors and predator-prey interactions into the fisheries assessment and management process in the Gulf of Mexico.

To build communication, coordination, and information sharing among scientists and restoration practitioners, this project established a coastwide network from Baja California to British Columbia, the Native Olympia Oyster Collaborative. The project team synthesized past restoration projects, developed an experimental design for future research, and created educational and outreach materials that convey the importance of native oyster restoration on the Pacific coast. These efforts engaged communities in Olympia oyster restoration, provided tools to enhance future restoration outcomes, and strengthened connections among researchers and practitioners to support ongoing collaboration. This catalyst project was funded by NOAA through the National Estuarine Research Reserve System Science Collaborative to advance collaborative science. It did not produce any new data.

Water quality observations made over long time periods can provide important feedback to scientists and to local, state, and national resource managers about actions taken to manage, protect, and restore estuaries. They also provide valuable information for evaluating the impacts of environmental change on coastal habitats and species. There are at least four water quality stations at each National Estuarine Research Reserve. Each station is designed to characterize long-term variability and short term changes in environmental conditions. Discrete samples for nutrient and chlorophyll a concentrations are collected at each long-term monitoring station at least once monthly. More intensive (24-hours over a complete tidal cycle) sampling is conducted each month at one water quality monitoring station to better understand impacts of tide and irradiance on nutrient cycling. Nutrient parameters collected include: nitrate, nitrite, ammonium, orthophosphate, and chlorophyll a. Numerous optional parameters include dissolved organic carbon, total dissolved nitrogen, and total dissolved phosphorous. The National Estuarine Research Reserves is a network of 30 reserves protected for long-term research, ecosystem monitoring, education, and coastal stewardship. Established by the Coastal Zone Management Act, the reserve system is a partnership program between NOAA and the coastal states. NOAA provides funding, national guidance, and technical assistance. Each reserve is managed on daily basis by a lead state agency or university with input from local partners. These data are collected as part of the NERRS System-Wide Monitoring Program (SWMP), which includes (1) abiotic indicators of water quality and weather; (2) biological monitoring; and (3) watershed, habitat, and land use mapping. Data were collected under individual Reserve NOAA grant/cooperative agreements and managed by the CDMO under NOAA grant/cooperative agreement #NA23NOS4200321 (2023) and prior grants. For more information on Reserve locations and programs, please visit www.nerrsdata.org or https://coast.noaa.gov/nerrs/.

Stormwater pollution is the number one threat to coastal water quality in North Carolina, where it contributes to beach closures, impacts tourism, and interrupts shellfish harvests. Rapid urbanization, population growth, and a shifting climate have all converged to make it increasingly difficult for the state’s communities to reduce the volume of stormwater washing over th landscape and protect water quality. Excess runoff also leads to street flooding that ranges from being a nuisance to a danger to public safety.

Healthy estuaries are vital to the economy of the Texas central coast, supporting the region’s multibillion-dollar fishing industry and growing tourist trade. Adequate supplies of freshwater are key to the productivity of these estuaries. However, as the regional population grew and the recent drought deepened, estuaries were receiving less freshwater.