New research in Chesapeake Bay, Pamlico Sound shows hurricanes, runoff tax water quality management efforts

By DAVID WILLIAMSON
UNC News Services

CHAPEL HILL -- A scientific study that involved analyzing phytoplankton in both North Carolina’s Neuse River Estuary/Pamlico Sound and Maryland and Virginia’s Chesapeake Bay offers a new lesson in light of recent increased hurricane activity along the East Coast, researchers say.

“Water quality management efforts aimed at protecting and preserving water quality and fisheries resources and habitat must be highly adaptive, taking both human nutrient enrichment and changes in freshwater input into consideration,” said Dr. Hans Paerl, Kenan professor of marine and environmental sciences at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Institute of Marine Sciences.

“Estuaries are among the most productive and resource-rich waters on earth,” Paerl said. “The recent hurricanes we have experienced have taught us that the growth and composition of phytoplankton are controlled and affected by both the freshwater inputs and nutrients contained in floodwaters accompanying hurricanes and other large storms.”