The University of Maine’s School of Marine Sciences and the Friends of Casco Bay have teamed up to monitor nutrient conditions in Casco Bay.  We have committed to the establishment and long-term maintenance of this first-in-the-Gulf-of-Maine time series in order to document any future changes in water quality in Casco Bay and/or its source waters.

Our joint program began in the winter of 2001 with initial funding from GoMOOS (the Gulf of Maine Ocean Observing System) and the University of Maine.  The program continues today under NERACOOS (the Northeast Regional Association of Coastal Ocean Observing Programs).  Sampling is conducted by the staff at the Friends of Casco Bay, located on the campus of Southern Maine Community College (SMCC) in South Portland, Maine.  The nutrient analyses are performed in D.W. Townsend's lab at the University of Maine, which also hosts the data server. 

Water samples are collected from stations in Casco Bay, shown on map, with measurements of temperature and salinity taken concurrently.  Samples are analyzed for concentrations of the dissolved inorganic nutrients Nitrate+Nitrite (NO₃+NO₂), Phosphate (PO₄), Silicate (Si(OH₄), and Ammonium (NH₄).

Daily samples are collected off the Southern Maine Community College dock in South Portland, Maine (labeled SMCC), while other stations are sampled on a weekly or bi-weekly schedule.

Click on a station to see a surface time series plot and to access tabulated data collected to date.