Corbett's Corner
Happy New Year! Yes, yes, I realize the New Year was more than a month ago, but I’m excited to provide well wishes to each of you for this first time this year through CoastLines. Thank you for your continued support. We appreciate you following all our great programs and exciting science.
This time of year always provides an opportunity to reflect on the year that just closed and, more importantly, to look forward to the blank canvas of the year ahead! This is a BIG year for CSI and ECU’s Outer Banks Campus. We are celebrating a couple major milestones and reflecting on all that has been accomplished and how we will approach all that we hope to do.
2023 represents the 20th year since CSI was established, on July 1, 2003. TWENTY years…you read that right. Feels like a blink of an eye, but it is really amazing when you consider how far we have come during those two decades. From the leadership of CSI’s founding Director, Dr. Nancy White, to the constant support of our incredible community, community leaders and CSI’s Board, the UNC system that broke the traditional mold to create a research partnership across five institutions, and ECU who was willing to invest time and resources to truly create a world-class marine research and academic facility on the Outer Banks.
It was through all of these incredible groups and people that the doors to the Research & Administration and Marine Operations Buildings in Skyco opened in January 2013…just over 10 years ago. I am lucky to have been here since we moved into this incredible facility, part of the team of dedicated and hardworking staff, students and faculty that transformed these two buildings and the surrounding 230 acres into a true campus…now lovingly referred to as ECU’s Outer Banks Campus.
Anyone who spends time here recognizes that we truly are an extension of our university partners. Pick any day of the week, any time of the year (Fall, Spring Summer terms…yes, like any campus we live by the term), and you will see students roaming the halls, in class with our faculty, maybe dealing with their homework, or taking a virtual course in the computer lab. You will find faculty working with graduate students in their research labs or in a seminar room discussing ongoing research and group tasks that need to be completed. You will find post-docs working with high school and undergraduate interns, mentoring the next generation of scientist that will solve the challenges we face living along the coast. Finally, maybe not every day, but many days during most months you might even run into 50, or even 100, K-12 students filling the halls and classrooms on campus. Regardless of the day, there is so much energy across our campus…keeps things exciting and we look forward to continuing to expand all these activities across campus.
Along those lines, we are thrilled to continue the growth of our undergraduate programming on campus. Last academic year, we welcomed more than 40 undergraduate students onto our campus for at least one full semester. That included undergraduates from ECU (Undergraduate Semester Experience at the Coast), UNC-CH (Outer Banks Field Site), as well as several other students from universities around the nation as part of a focused internship or as a participant in the National Science Foundation’s funded Research Experience for Undergraduates program. We saw a growth in the ECU’s Undergraduate Semester Experience at the Coast this spring with our largest cohort of students (pictured in background) in the four years we have hosted the spring program.
This takes a dedicated faculty and staff willing to think outside the box to create curricula that moves beyond the classroom. However, it is important to recognize that it also requires a student that is willing to step outside their comfort zone, take courses that maybe initially seemed outside their major, and able to put in a little extra effort to handle the logistics of moving to the coast in the middle of an academic year. We recognize their effort in making our programs successful and are truly thankful to each of them.
As we collectively look to the next 10 years on our campus or event as far out as CSI’s 50th anniversary, I hope you will consider how you can help grow our programs, help a student make it to the coast, or build opportunities for internships and K-12 students. We didn’t make it to where we are without help, and continued growth won’t happen without a collective effort. Given the season- yes, we released this issue on Valentines Day- consider showing your love for the coast by supporting our programs and students through a contribution to one of our scholarships or priority fund. You can make a difference… and what better way to spread the love?
Have a wonderful spring and stay tuned for details as we plan to celebrate this special year at our Open House this spring. We hope you will join us then!
Best,
Reide
Special Feature
Celebrating 10 Years on the Croatan
Ten years ago this winter, staff members of the Coastal Studies Institute got a brand-new view.
Long before the property was known as the ECU Outer Banks Campus, the 230- acre coastal site was slotted to have multiple single-family homes and a surrounding marina. Around the same time, CSI was looking for a more permanent place to call home. CSI had outgrown its current space, which consisted of a 100-year-old office space in downtown Manteo and a laboratory in the old health center in Nags Head. The organization had procured another parcel of land but unfortunately it lacked water access and thus CSI vessels would need to be housed at an offsite location. This was a less than ideal for a coastal and marine research center and CSI was looking for waterfront property with deep water access.
As fate would have it, the market would turn, and CSI would be given an opportunity to tour this grand piece of real estate on the Croatan Sound. While the price tag was seemingly out of budget for the organization, once they saw the property, they knew they should figure out how to make it work. Finally, CSI was able to purchase the property, and the development of our coastal campus began.
Not only did CSI someday hope to be a well-known higher education research institution, the organization hoped they could also serve as example for sustainable practices in the community and beyond. They achieved the latter in one way through the construction of the new building itself.
A New LEED-er in Town
As plans took shape, CSI wanted to make the new campus as “green” as possible, and to do so, sought a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. LEED is a voluntary program that provides third-party verification of “green” buildings and awards points for each building feature that meets LEED objectives. To hopefully receive a certification, CSI had to submit building plans and host site-visits during and after construction to prove that enough environmentally friendly measures had been implemented. At least 40 points were needed to attain any accreditation, and CSI received a Gold-level rating with a total of 64 points earned.
Even today, over a decade since construction began, some of the point-earning green features of the CSI building and grounds may be evident to any campus visitor, while many features are still at work behind the scenes.
Sights and Highlights
In the years since the big move, CSI has had some major accomplishments and experienced other big changes.
Most notably, in 2015, the parent organization of CSI transitioned from the UNC System’s general administration to becoming most closely aligned with East Carolina University®. ECU saw opportunity for the growth of its coastal enterprise by acquiring CSI under its leadership and in 2018 launched a brand-new College-level academic unit called Integrated Coastal Programs (ICP). Today, ICP includes CSI, ECU Diving & Water Safety, and the Department of Coastal Studies, as well as the Integrated Coastal Sciences Ph.D. and Undergraduate Semester Experience at the Coast programs.
The change in parent organization also coincided with the transition of CSI Executive Directors. After lobbying for its formation, seeing its establishment, and helping it flourish, founding director Dr. Nancy White decided it was her time to retire after 13 years of service to CSI and 27 years dedicated higher education overall.
Upon her departure, Dr. Reide Corbett was appointed as the next permanent Executive Director of CSI and Dean of ECU Integrated Coastal Programs. Dr. Corbett has a long history at ECU where he has served almost 20 years as a faculty member in the department of Geologic Sciences before taking on the new role for ECU’s coastal enterprise. Corbett’s leadership has led to expanded growth of ECU ICP and CSI, and he is thrilled with the forward and exceptional progress the institution has made over the last decade. The accomplishments of CSI, and now ICP too, include major growth in multiple areas, service to K-12 and community audiences, and the expansion of research.
In the last 10 years, CSI has:
- Increased its vessel fleet on site from 2 watercraft to 8
- More than doubled its faculty, from 7 members in 2013 to 17 currently
- Secured over $19M in research funding
- Expanded conducted research on all seven continents
- Hosted 124 community program and events
- Reached over 37,000 K-12 students through STEM programming at CSI and throughout the region
"From the earliest days in 2003, CSI built a world-class reputation based on its strong team of staff and faculty. I am humbled by all this organization has been able to do over the last two decades. The growth of academic programs and coastal-focused research experienced during the last 10 years, since moving onto this beautiful campus, shows true grit and determination. Our impact is seen throughout our region and across the globe. I am excited to see what the next 10 years bring!", shares Corbett.
By reaching such a significant milestone in time, it is quite satisfying to look back on all that CSI has accomplished. It is time and energy worth celebrating, while also recognizing how much left there is to do and look forward to. Everyone in the building is certainly excited for the things that lie ahead, but for this moment, all are happy to pause and reflect, and maybe even catch one of those gorgeous winter sunsets on the Croatan Sound.
Student Section
Student Research Reaches to Far Corners of North America
The ECU Integrated Coastal Sciences (ICS) Ph.D. program, formerly known as Coastal Resources Management (CRM) until 2018, brings together some of the best and brightest upcoming interdisciplinary coastal scientists. With so many varying interests, personalities, and research projects, there is something exciting always emerging. Fall 2022 proved to be a testament to that statement and was a thrilling quarter for four students in different stages of their degrees. While the academic program is based on the main campus Greenville, and sometimes the ECU Outer Banks Campus, the students’ research is not limited by the geographical boundaries of northeastern North Carolina.
Not so far away
Closest to home, second-year student Georgette Tso is working with Drs. Rachel Gittman and Sid Narayan to identify optimal constructed oyster reef configurations for wave attenuation and erosion reduction while promoting oyster recruitment and survivorship. In addition to providing better-known benefits such as habitat for fish and crustaceans and improved water quality, an oyster reef can also serve as a natural defense against erosion by attenuating wave energy as it approaches the shoreline. That said, reefs with higher elevation compared to the local average tidal range are better at breaking up waves, while reefs with lower relief are more likely to thrive over time given the longer submersion periods. Tso hopes to identify what parameters might be needed and/or used, to best configure constructed oyster reefs so that they will be successful at both attenuating waves and contributing ecologically.
So far, Tso has collected data at previously constructed OysterCatcher TM oyster reef sites in Taylor’s Creek, located in Beaufort, NC, and begun to program models which will help in her optimization assessment. Taylors Creek is an area known for heavy boat traffic, and many have raised concerns about how boat wake is affecting the shorelines of the Rachel Carson NC National Estuarine Research Reserve. At the sites, Tso gathered information about water levels and the characteristics of the reef and the surrounding areas of sandy bottom and marsh. Others from the Gittman lab took note of oyster recruitment, survivorship, density, and size. Finally, with the assistance of engineering undergraduate student Max Martinez, she constructed and deployed low-cost underwater pressure sensors to collect wave dynamics data. Through tests in CSI’s wave tank (pictured) and with the help of Dr. Teresa Ryan and Corey Adams, Tso was able to validate the low-cost sensors against standard wave gauges.
After entering all the collected information into various statistical modeling programs, Tso’s next task is to run the models with incremental changes that simulate sea level rise and reef growth. The long-term goal is to use these predictions to inform future reef installations in such a way that they can both protect the shoreline and experience ecological success.
Off the East Coast
While Tso’s research involves stationary organisms, the subjects of Ph.D. student Brian Bartlett’s work are moving targets.
Just over a year ago, Bartlett and his advisor Dr. Rebecca Asch, along with Dr. Cheryl Harrison, a colleague from Louisiana State University, applied for a grant from the NOAA Climate Program Office. This past fall, they were notified that their proposal, “Climate Change Impacts on Reef Fish Spawning Aggregations, Larval Dispersal, and Settlement in Southeastern U.S. National Marine Sanctuaries and Surrounding Areas”, had been selected and would be awarded $445,000 over the course of three years.
With the initial excitement of the news settling down, the team now seeks to better understand how climate change may influence the reproductive success- specifically spawning aggregations- of Black Grouper, Nassau Grouper (pictured), and Mutton Snapper, in three National Marine Sanctuaries: Gray’s Reef, Florida Keys, and Flower Garden Banks. Bartlett and his colleagues will utilize climate models and identify spawning habitat to provide insight as to how effective these marine protected areas will be for the three species as the climate shifts.
While each fish species tends to prefer certain types of habitat characteristics, the research team believes their methods will be applicable to similar studies in the future all over the world, including off the coast of North Carolina. This specific project is broad enough that it will have implications across the fields of biology, oceanography, ecosystem-based management, economics, and more- something that Bartlett sees as a strength of the project.
“This isn’t a study just for the sake of science. It will be applicable,” he states. “This work will support management in these National Marine Sanctuaries by providing better insight into metapopulation structure and distribution of reef fish species under changing climatic conditions.”
In layman’s terms, when complete, the study will be able to inform sanctuary managers of what may lie ahead in the wake of climate change, and how the managers might best respond to best protect these key reef species.
To the Western Most Points of the US
As Bartlett conducts research that might better sustain fish species, fellow Ph.D. student Dominic Bush works to preserve cultural history. In the summer and fall of 2022, Bush, a Hawaiian native with Alaskan heritage, stayed busy, traveling to both states outside of the continental US for fieldwork and research. He is interested in maritime archeology and both of his recent projects have focused on key battle sites, from WWII.
Over the summer, Bush spent time in Anchorage, Alaska, conducting initial research and combing through historical archives (pictured) to learn more about a series of battles against the Japanese in 1943 off the Aleutian Island of Attu. In addition to the thousands of casualties resulting from the battles, a myriad of military craft was also sunk including American and Japanese aircraft, ships, one submarine, and other vessels. Despite having a written record of these losses, no one has ever documented the underwater sites where these wrecks now lie.
Fortunately, though, thanks to a NOAA grant that Bush and his advisor Dr. Jason Raupp received, such work can begin, and Bush’s trip to Anchorage was just the first step. Next summer, in July 2024, they and other colleagues will visit Attu and use sonar and autonomous vehicles to investigate and begin documentation of the wreck sites. Their measures will help preserve Attu’s cultural heritage, as well as shine additional light on the battles that took place in the Aleutian Islands. They hope to share their findings with the surrounding communities, as well as government and academic entities.
While Bush’s work in Alaska will help document sites there for the first time, the work he conducted in Hawaii this fall, also with Raupp, was part of a larger project, sponsored by the National Geographic Society, to resurvey WWII-era wrecks. The coast of Maui and Lanai is littered with archeological sites, but the last time anything was documented, if ever, was over a decade ago. Between storms and anthropogenic, or human-caused, disturbances, many of the sites are not as they once were.
In order to best preserve the history and cultural heritage associated with these sites, Bush and his colleagues lived aboard the Ocean Exploration Trust’s EV Nautilus for a few weeks in October. Each day they would dive on various sites, documenting each wreck through surveys, photography, and videography.
Since processing the data they collected, Bush has used the thousands of videos and photos to create photogrammetric models of each site. The models, once complete, will be uploaded to the Ocean Exploration Trust’s website and sketchfab, thus granting global access to these important historical and cultural areas. They will give viewers a chance to learn about the sites and see them in 3D without having to leave their homes or classrooms.
Feature image of Dominic Bush above courtesy of Bill Roth, Anchorage Daily News.
Approaching the Northern Limits
Third-year student Samantha Farquhar is no stranger to international work. Her research throughout her academic and professional career has often focused on projects based in places like Madagascar. While her latest endeavors won’t be taking her overseas, Farquhar is scheduled to begin other international work later this year in Canada.
This past fall, Farquhar, who is mentored by Dr. Nadine Heck, received an award from the U.S. Department of Education’s Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad (DDRA) program which offers grants to doctoral students conducting research in other countries for a 6–12-month period. She is the first ECU student to receive this prestigious funding opportunity.
Much of Farquhar’s research examines the intersections between fisheries operations and management and human behaviors, and her work in Canada will also have a similar focus. Specifically, she hopes to create a series of models which will provide insight as to how commercial fisheries in Nunavik might operate sustainably based on community subsistence fishing behaviors in the area. Her research will consider the connection between fisheries and food consumption in the surrounding geographic areas, and she will collaborate with University of Laval and the Makivik Corporation.
While Farquhar has relatively easy access to environmental and fisheries data, she will have to collect information needed to assess human behaviors. To do so, she will host workshops and conduct exercises with the residents of the Inuit communities to get a better understanding of how their consumption behaviors might shift in response to environmental changes driven by various scenarios of industrial fishing.
The communities Farquhar is working with are hoping to develop their own commercial fisheries, but they want to have all the information that is needed to make an appropriate decision. What they don’t want is for a commercial fishery to end up negatively impacting their already established subsistence way of life. With the models that Farquhar hopes to develop and share, the communities will be able to make the decisions that make the most sense for them and their desired goals.
Working Together To Make a Positive Impact on the World
“Our Ph.D. program is different from many other doctoral programs because of its integration of natural and social sciences. This type of interdisciplinary approach has resulted in all these dissertation projects being so beneficial to humans and the environment," says the program's director Dr. Sid Mitra.
Though Tso’s, Bartlett’s, Bush’s, and Farquhar’s research endeavors are all different, there is one common theme among them. A long-term goal for each is to share their knowledge and findings with others so that the communities and regions in which they work can become more sustainable, last long into the future, and serve as examples of preservation and innovation to others around the world. The ICS program is home to many shining stars, and there is no doubt it will continue to produce more in the years to come.
Research Focus
Monitoring our Shifting Shorelines to Improve Coastal Resiliency
As changing climates continue to increase coastal hazards such as sea level rise, large storm events, flooding, and erosion, it is ever more important for communities such as those found along the Outer Banks to heighten their resiliency. But what exactly does that entail?
According to NOAA, resilience is defined as the “ability to adapt to changing conditions and withstand- and rapidly recover from- disruption due to emergencies”. In other words, it is a community’s ability to bounce back after catastrophe strikes. Coastal resiliency is a feedback loop that includes planning and building, natural disaster response, and recovery, using lessons learned in the process to recuperate and prepare for the next event better than ever before. In theory, the more resilient a community becomes, the less time it will take them to recover after each coastal hazard event.
Those who live on the Outer Banks are familiar with having to rebuild after storms, and they are also slowly being introduced to measures that take the mitigation of coastal hazards into consideration. Examples of such measures for an area experiencing sea level rise, erosion, and/or flooding could include protection, accommodation, ecosystem-based adaptation, or retreat. Researchers from the Coastal Studies Institute are currently leading two different research projects which will provide insights for coastal management and hazard responses.
Nourishment for Protection
The first of the two ECU/CSI-led projects is a series of impact surveys for beach nourishment sites in Avon and Buxton, NC. Beach nourishment is implemented as a form of temporary coastline protection, particularly against erosion, and is executed by pumping closely matched sediment from areas offshore onto areas of shoreline that experience higher levels of erosion. Once the sediment is on the beach, it is spread evenly over the site thereby extending the beach’s width from dune to tideline.
As one might imagine, anytime a nourishment event takes place, there could be effects that impact beach morphology and the organisms that utilize the beach as habitat. Thus, impact surveys are required by the state, and this time, the CSI Marine Geochemistry and Coastal Dynamics Lab was chosen to lead part of the charge. The lab’s surveys extend in time from pre- to post-nourishment and include two main components- heavy mineral analysis and invertebrate counts.
For the heavy mineral analysis, samples are taken at each of the nourishment sites, as well as from a control site, before and after nourishment occurs. The samples are examined for grain size and density (pictured) thereby giving the researchers comparison snapshots of the sites’ compositions.
“There has to be a certain degree of match, in terms of [sand grain] size distribution and mineralogical composition of the material used to rebuild eroded beaches,” explains lab member and research scientist Dr. Paul Paris.
It is crucial that the sediment used for nourishment is as close as possible to the sediment naturally found at nourishment sites. Any significant changes could result in ecosystem changes that overtime could change the environment all together.
Along those same lines, the lab is also noting how beach nourishment may be impacting small sand-dwelling organisms on the beach by conducting the invertebrate counts. While higher mortality rates directly following beach nourishment are expected for the burrowing critters, little is known about their recovery process or the long-term effects on their populations.
“It’s easy to forget [the invertebrates] are there, but the fish that fishers catch often eat these invertebrate creatures that we’re studying,” Paris explains. “If these animals disappear, then the fish will go elsewhere. So it does, in the end, reflect directly into our tourist economy.”
To get a better understanding of the implications for invertebrates at the nourishment sites, the lab team employs two different approaches. The first is to count the number of crab burrows within two meters of a plot line stretching from dune toe to tideline. This method is repeated over thirty times at each nourishment site so the researchers can then estimate crab abundance.
The second effort is to quantify sand fleas, also known as mole crabs, and other small invertebrates within the swash zone. They do so by processing samples through a series of sieves, or stack of sifters, counting and recording each type of animal, then releasing them back into their habitats.
The data collected through both sets of invertebrate counts gives researchers insight into how the populations change over time. While preliminary results show that over time the invertebrate communities do recover, the lab’s surveys will continue through Summer 2024.
The full suite of results from this study will create a better understanding of benthic ecosystems and provide data to local decision-makers as they address best coastal management practices including those that make the Outer Banks a more resilient set of coastal communities.
A Nature-Based Approach to Resiliency
While beach nourishment is one way to temporarily fix erosion issues, some coastal communities are also utilizing greener tactics. One example of such practices here in North Carolina can be seen employed by Better Beaches OBX (BBOBX), a community group that encourages discussion and consideration of “more natural means, and necessary maintenance programs… to keep [the] beaches beautiful and protective.”
Among their top strategies for doing so is planting beach grasses and placing recycled Christmas trees along the dunes of the Outer Banks to create better stabilization and hopefully reduce impacts from sea-level rise, beach erosion, and flooding during storm events. It is an effort that not only paints the dunes with green color but may also be a more sustainable alternative for shoreline and infrastructure protection compared to other tactics.
While their work is performed in good faith and the local towns take great interest in BBOBX’s contributions, up until now, no measures of effectiveness have been implemented. However, this fall brought a change, and Dr. Lin Xiong, a postdoctoral scholar at the Coastal Studies Institute, received a mini-grant from NC Sea Grant to implement a 12-month study to assess the impacts of dune restoration on coastal resilience in the area.
According to the grant proposal submitted by Xiong and his colleague Dr. David Lagomasino, the study will include the use of a device known as a terrestrial laser scanner (TLS) to “quantify sediment budgets, foredune dynamics, and assess how various dune restoration activities impact coastal resilience along the North Carolina coast.” The TLS emits laser pulses and measures traveling time from returns to create a three-dimensional scan of the surrounding area.
To accomplish the goals set forth in their proposal, Xiong and his team, which includes Lagomasino, as well as ECU Integrated Coastal Sciences Ph.D. student Shalimar Moreno and a lab research specialist, will conduct repetitive hyper-resolution topographic surveys along the beaches in South Nags Head. A newly secured UTV with a TLS attached to the top (pictured), collectively named the Coastal Laser Scanning System, is a key tool for their work.
During each survey, the researchers will cover approximately 9km of shoreline with the Coastal Laser Scanning System. The survey area includes both planted and non-planted beachfront dunes, and they will stop, on average, every 30m to collect a three-dimensional snapshot of that portion of shoreline and dunes.
“The TLS in our lab, VZ400i, can emit up to 500,000 pulses/sec and acquire millions of measurements of coastal dunes and beaches in a very short time. This is amazing! It is like a digital twin of the coastal system with point clouds,” shares Xiong.
Their data, once fully processed, will provide preliminary, baseline measurements for the state of the shoreline and the effectiveness of dune stabilization. Additionally, Xiong hopes this work will “[lead to] future funding, provide training opportunities for students, and reinforce community partnerships between the ECU Outer Banks Campus, BBOBX, and the Town of Nags Head.”
While this research project is still in its infancy and there is still much to be known about the effects of dune stabilization here on the Outer Banks, it is important to recognize how valuable nature-based adaptations such as those describe above can be for the resiliency of both the environment and coastal communities. With this research project in South Nags Head, as well as the the one occurring in Avon and Buxton, the municipalities of the Outer Banks are inching ever closer to understanding coastal dynamics and becoming more resilient communities in the face of change.
Thanks to Emmy Trivette (CSI photojournalism intern) and Dr. Lin Xiong for their photos & contributions to this story.
For more information about Dr. Xiong's work and the ongoing efforts of Better Beaches OBX, watch the video below!
North Carolina Renewable Ocean Energy Program News
A Newly Developed Coaxial Turbine May Someday Make the Energy World Go 'Round
Based at the Coastal Studies Institute, the North Carolina Renewable Ocean Energy Program (NCROEP) seeks to use renewable ocean energy wisely and effectively while contributing to North Carolina’s Blue Economy. As a result, NCROEP helps to support interdisciplinary researchers from UNC System Schools- specifically NC State University, East Carolina University, UNC- Charlotte, and NCA&T State University- and their projects to advance marine energy solutions.
Last year, researchers from NC State University and East Carolina University/ Coastal Studies Institute tested an underwater energy harvesting kite at Lake Norman in Charlotte. Now this fall, another device- a small coaxial turbine that relies on a water current to spin the turbine blades to generate energy- has been tested in the waters just off the shores of the Coastal Studies Institute.
Arriving early one morning in December at the Coastal Studies Institute, Saurabh Agrawal, a mechanical engineering Ph.D. student in the Engineering Mechanics and Space Systems Laboratory (EMSSL) led by Dr. Andre Mazzoleni at NC State, and Aditya Varanwal, an M.S. student from the same lab, were greeted by Oceanography and Marine Hydrokinetic (MHK) Energy Lab members Spencer Wilkinson and Trip Taylor. The team boarded CSI’s R/V “Blackbeard” and began their work for the day.
While the turbine had previously been tested in the lab and by boat in Lake Norman, the operations conducted at CSI marked the first time the device had been in any sort of saline environment. On that occasion, the coaxial turbine was again tethered to the boat and towed, simulating a current that the device depends on to generate power.
Because of the unpredictable nature of open water testing, “all the components of the turbine were designed to allow for easy integration and interchangeability…. The system was designed to be robust and built in such a way as to allow for quick assembly and tear down”, Agrawal explains. He and others at NC State- Drs. Matthew Bryant and Kenneth Granlund, as well as Ph.D. students Vinson Oliver Williams and Mehedi Hassan and M.S. student Xinyang Tong- worked together to bring the project to life.
The first tow test in the Croatan Sound was a big milestone for the group and for the device as it demonstrated operational feasibility in an open water setting. Over the course of the day, the coaxial turbine was tested under two different towing speeds for each of three different electrical resistive loads. The device had to be taken from the water each time the resistance load was switched which also allowed time for the downloading of recorded data from the device.
“Overall, this open water trial was incredibly successful. We were able to successfully demonstrate the ability to extract power, system robustness, and waterproofing capabilities during underwater operation,” said Agrawal.
Eventually, the goal is to have the device deployed off of Jennette’s Pier. There it would sit in the water column attached to a surface marker buoy from above and anchored to the seafloor below. An electric cable, running from the turbine parallel to the anchor line, across the seafloor, and up to the pier, would transmit the energy generated from the turbine to a microgrid.
While the above scenario might still seem distant, the testing done at CSI in December is not without importance. This work provided researchers insight into the robustness of the device, how it might operate in certain conditions, and how it could be improved. Their next steps will be to optimize the turbine’s current design so that, in the future, it will generate greater power.
When asked about the Oceanography and MHK Energy Lab’s collaboration with the researchers at NC State, Dr. Mike Muglia shared, “We’ve really enjoyed working with this group of professors and students on the coaxial turbine project. We are excited to see this go from paper to deployment and look forward to a longer-term ocean deployment at Jennette’s Pier very soon.”
Fall Internships
Two students from the UNC-Chapel Hill Institute for the Environment's Outer Banks Field Site interned with NC Renewable Ocean Energy Program faculty members at CSI. One student interned with George Bonner, NCROEP Director, to explore opportunities for marine energy to provide power to maritime/blue economies and coastal communities in North Carolina. The other student, Tara Hinton, interned in the Dubbs lab with Ph.D. student, Claire Johnson.
Hinton (pictured) did an independent research project on how nutrient addition might influence the plankton community associated with Sargassum. This is of interest to the NCROEP because harmful algal bloom (HAB) - forming plankton species are frequently observed associated with Sargassum in the samples that we collect from the Gulf Stream. Changes in hydrodynamics resulting from ocean current energy harvesting could change the nutrient regime surrounding Sargassum mats, and the lab is curious what that would mean for the plankton community, and especially those plankton that are HAB-forming species.
When asked about what she learned during her internship experience, Hinton replied, "Research is as much about being playful and creative as it is about logic and expertise. This is a great attitude to have when trouble-shooting and designing experiments! Though I’m not sure if my future will hold more Gulf Stream cruises and phytoplankton experiments, I am so grateful for the experiences, expertise, time, and resources that my wonderful mentor Claire and Dr. Dubbs extended to me."
International Reach
NCROEP researchers traveled to Spain in the fall to participate in two different networking and research-sharing opportunities.
Dr. Mike Muglia (CSI) and NCROEP Director, George Bonner, participated in International Wave and Tidal Energy Testing Sites (WaTERS) Workshop in Bilboa, Spain. This provided an opportunity for the world’s leading marine energy open-water testers to collaborate on best practices, challenges, and standards to advance marine energy commercialization.
Muglia and Bonner then went on to San Sebastian, Spain where they attended the International Conference on Ocean Energy (ICOE). There they presented on open water device deployments which occurred during the Department of Energy's (DOE) Waves to Water Prize DRINK Stage Finale in April 2022. The conference included technical sessions and networking sessions from global leaders from academia, industry, and government stakeholders.
Also in attendance at ICOE were NCROEP researchers Drs. Saffeer Khan (UNC-Charlotte), Landon Mackey (NC State Ph.D. Alum & co-founder of WATER BROS), and Wesley Williams (UNC-Charlotte, co-founder of WATER BROS).
Community Calendar
Science on the Sound
Science on the Sound continues in 2023! This monthly lecture series brings perspectives from all over the state and highlights coastal topics in northeastern North Carolina. Each lecture is free of charge, and all are welcome to attend. Mark your calendars now for the following evenings: March 30, April 20, May 18, and June 15, 2023.
Summer Camp Registration
CSI will once again offer marine-themed camps for students 10-15 years of age in Summer 2023, and registration will begin March 1. Spots fill quickly so do not wait to sign up! For more information about the camps including dates, themes, and prices, please visit our website.
North Carolina Renewable Energy Challenge
CSI and Jennette's Pier will host the annual North Carolina Renewable Energy Challenge on the ECU Outer Banks Campus on April 1, 2023. This year's competition is open to elementary, middle, and high school-aged students and will focus on renewable energy from wind and ocean currents. For more information and to sign up, please visit the NCREC webpage.
2023 Spring Open House
Have you ever wondered what is inside the Coastal Studies Institute as you pass by the ECU Outer Banks Campus on your way to or from Wanchese, or wished you could visit it another time? Though we are open to the public year-round, a great time to visit is during our annual Open House. Stay tuned for more details about our 2023 Open House planned for later this spring!