NCCOS Project Explorer (NPE)

A Real-Time Environmental Surveillance Network for Coastal Ecosystems(2010)

Project Description:
The South Carolina Environmental Surveillance Network (ESN) is a project to provide early warning to first responders, state natural resources and coastal zone managers, and scientists in the event of environmental incidents that may require rapid response. The co-occurrence of mortality events (and other unusual occurrences, such as phytoplankton blooms) in wildlife populations may signal any of a number of possible causes. These range from the relatively benign (e.g. seasonal hypoxia) to the extremely hazardous (e.g. an act of bioterrorism). There are numerous existing agencies at the state and federal levels that collect and report data on events such as bird kills, fish kills, and marine mammal standings in the southeast, however these data streams are typically not connected to each other or to the emergency response community, so that the exercise of determining the co-occurrence of events in real time or near real time is difficult or even impossible. The ESN addresses this critical gap by integrating state and federal data streams into a web-based mapping application, and providing for rapid, automated notification of Network members as events occur. Partners in the ESN include NOAA (NOS/Center for Coastal Environmental Health and Biomolecular Research and NESDIS/National Coastal Data Development Center), US Geological Survey, South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control, South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, South Carolina Department of Emergency Management, and Clemson University.

Expected Outcome:
The potential benefits of a mature Environmental Surveillance Network are many, as evidenced by the number of state and federal partners who have joined the project. The public health and first responder communities will benefit from the ability to rapidly and easily share data and information between member agencies, enhancing their ability to make informed decisions. Resource managers will have a dynamic, "dashboard" presentation of environmental indicators, supporting real-time ecosystem assessment. Over the longer term, the Network data will provide a rich resource for researchers in the public health and ecosystem science communities as they attempt to make causal connections between environmental conditions and resulting impacts on wildlife and human populations.