Provide assistance to the university of connecticut to implement its project to support the long island sound comprehensive conservation and management plan to protect and restore long island sound by…

The University of Connecticut received a $573,150 Project Grant from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 1 under the Geographic Programs – Long Island Sound Program (CFDA 66.437), awarded October 1, 2025, with completion targeted for September 30, 2027. The award supports implementation of the Long Island Sound Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan through continued operation and enhancement of the Long Island Sound Integrated Coastal Observing System Array, a component of the Northeastern Regional Association of Coastal Ocean Observing Systems. Key deliverables include sustained operation of a monitoring buoy, maintenance of the data system providing public access to observational data, integration of Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection ship survey program data, and addition of Automated Respiration Chambers (ARCs) to the sustained buoy program.

The project's primary objective is to advance understanding and prediction of climate change impacts on Long Island Sound acidification by tracking changes in measured environmental parameters. Specific products and services include: continuation of distribution and analysis of Connecticut ship survey data used to determine hypoxic areas, sustained operation of an online calculator computing hypoxic volume and area, and continued monitoring of near-bottom dissolved oxygen concentrations and hypoxia duration. The award explicitly excludes autonomous glider sampling due to unrepairable equipment and cost constraints, focusing instead on the buoy and ship-based monitoring components to improve tracking of dissolved oxygen levels and eliminate adverse impacts of hypoxia in the Sound.

Description

The purpose of this agreement is to provide assistance to the university of connecticut to implement its project to support the long island sound comprehensive conservation and management plan to protect and restore long island sound by continuing to support the deployment and operation of a buoy as an element of the long island sound integrated coastal observing system array, a component of the northeastern regional association of coastal ocean observing systems. The agreement will also provide support for the data system that allows access to the observations, and those of the ship survey program of the connecticut department of environmental protection and adding automated respiration chambers (arcs) to the sustained buoy program. The data system is augmented to allow calculation of the hypoxic area and volume from the ship survey data archive and this will be sustained for 2025-2026. Sampling using autonomous gliders was added to the program in 2021 to complement the ship and buoy data through a cost-sharing arrangement with additional partners, however due to unrepairable equipment and high replacement costs, the gliders will not be included in this award workplan.activities:the primary objective of this work is to improve our ability to track changes in measured parameters to understand and predict the impact of climate change on the acidification of the long island sound. Specifically, under this grant agreement the recipient will increase dissolved oxygen levels in the sound to eliminate adverse impacts of hypoxia resulting from human activities. The activities to be performed are: 1. Sustaining the distribution and analyses of the connecticut ship survey data that are used to determine the area of the bottom of long island sound subject to hypoxia, and sustaining the operation of the on-line calculator for hypoxic volume and area 2. Continuation of the monitoring of the near bottom dissolved oxygen concentration and duration of hypoxia in the region that is likely to experience improvement first with the hypoxia buoy, together with the other water-quality and environmental parameters required to understand the variability in dissolved oxygen. 3. Record interannual and spatial variability in rates of respiration and productivity in long island sound using in-situ respiration sensors at near-surface and near-bottom at two buoy locations. 4. Expand recording of PH and total alkalinity measurements to every 15 minutes in the sound by utilizing 2022 purchased sensors at one buoy location. 5. Support a scientific programmer to focus solely on restoring access to long island sound integrated coastal observing system data and implementing standardized quality assurance/quality control protocols.subrecipient:no subawards are included in this assistance agreement.outcomes:under this grant agreement the recipient will: 1. Sustain the continued operation of the interface to the long island sound integrated coastal observing system server and data visualization tools to allow university of connecticut and connecticut department of energy and environmental protection staff to share ship survey data and produce hypoxic area and volume estimates. 2. Operation and maintenance of a buoy in long island sound from april to october to complement the national ocean and atmospheric administration- integrated ocean observing system, the northeastern regional association of coastal ocean observing systems at two locations.3. Deploy and maintain the automated respiration/metabolism chambers (arcs) used to acquire the data from may through october 2025-2026 at two locations. Raw data will be processed and yield a continuous record of respiration rates and ecosystem metabolism. These data will be archived at zenodo data hub. 4. Recalibrate and RE-deploy the biological sensors at approximately 20M depth every 3-4 months. Data will be quality assured/quality controlled and shared via the long island sound integrated coastal observing s