The Bureau of Marine Water Monitoring measures the health of New Jersey's coastal waters with a variety of techniques. Each is designed to provide a different perspective on the condition of our bay and ocean waters.

Basic Water Quality: Water samples are collected by boat or helicopter a minimum of four times each year from over 200 locations along New Jersey's coast. These are tested for basic measurements of water quality such as temperature, salinity and nutrients. This link takes you to interactive maps for access to results of this monitoring.

EMPACT Project: Links to near real-time water quality monitoring from automated sensors in Atlantic County and Cape May County.

Phytoplankton: Phytoplankton are microscopic plants that float in State's coastal waters. Under normal conditions, they are beneficial and are the base of the food chain that most other marine life depends on. This link describes monitoring performed by the Bureau for phytoplankton.

Remote Sensing: The Bureau is working cooperatively with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to use remote sensing at part of New Jersey's routine water quality monitoring effort. Remote sensing means making water condition measurements from a distance, typically from aircraft or satellites.