This Echo is READ ONLY !   NO Un-Authorized Messages Please!
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

NASA News
National Aeronautics and
Space Administration

John F. Kennedy Space Center
Kennedy Space Center, Florida 32899
AC 321 867-2468
_____________________________________________________________________
For Release:  April 23, 2003

NASA Contact: Tracy Young
Kennedy Space Center, Fla.
321-867-2468

KSC Release No. 32-03

MEDIA OVERVIEW OF OCULINA CORAL REEF MAPPING PROJECT SET FOR MONDAY,
APRIL 28
      
Media representatives will have an opportunity to speak with
participants of the Oculina Coral Banks Project at the Naval Ordnance
Test Unit (NOTU) docking port on Monday, April 28.

NASA/KSC is participating in an undersea expedition to characterize
the condition of the deep-sea coral reefs and reef fish populations
in the Oculina Banks marine protected area, 20 miles offshore of the
east coast of Florida.  Scientists on the team, will be deploying an
underwater robot, a seafloor sampler, and a Passive Acoustic
Monitoring System (PAMS), originally developed by NASA to monitor the
impact of rocket launches on wildlife refuge lagoons at KSC.

The research is sponsored by NOAA Fisheries and will take place
onboard the Liberty Star, the NASA Space Shuttle support ship
operated by United Space Alliance.  The ship will depart from Port
Canaveral April 29 and will return on May 9.

The Oculina Banks stretch 30 miles offshore from Ft. Pierce to Cape
Canaveral, Fla., and includes the East Coast's first Marine Protected
Area (MPA).  The ivory tree coral, Oculina varicosa, has constructed
various mounds and ridges in water depths of 150 to 300 feet
underneath the Gulf Stream and is critical habitat for more than 70
fish species, including declining snapper and grouper stocks.
Unfortunately, trawling over the past 30 years has reduced much of
the coral reef habitat to fields of rubble. The team will use a
Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) to study unexplored sites identified
during the 2002 acoustic mapping survey, also done onboard the
Liberty Star, in the hopes of finding the last of the live coral
banks. 

Participating in the overview will be:

    *   Andrew Shepard, Expedition Leader, National
        Undersea Research Center, University of North Carolina at
        Wilmington, NC, (NURC/UNCW)
    *   John Reed, Co-Principal Investigator, Harbor Branch
        Oceanographic Institution
    *   Lance Horn, ROV Operator, National Undersea Research
        Center, University of North Carolina at Wilmington, NC, (NURC/
        UNCW) 
    *   Leslie Sautter, Geologist, College of Charleston, SC
    *   Michael Lane, acoustics engineer, NASA, Spaceport
        Engineering & Technology, KSC

During the mission, students will be able to ask scientists
questions, view a live webcast and read the daily logs produced
onboard the Liberty Star. The webcast  co-sponsored by NASA's
Oceanography Program, KSC's Telescience Lab and NURC/UNCW will take
place on May 1, 2003, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. and can be accessed by visiting
http://oceanica.cofc.edu>.

Due to security considerations, media representatives planning to
attend must contact Tracy Young, 321/867-2468 by noon, Monday, April
28.  Media will depart at 2:45 p.m. from the Gate 1 Pass &
Identification Building, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS).
No transportation will be provided from the KSC Press Site.

-- end --

 - END OF FILE -
==========

@Message posted automagically by IMTHINGS POST 1.30
---