From 2008-2018, our program evaluated coastal marsh resilience to changes in
inundation along the New River Estuary in Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune (MCBCL) near
Jacksonville, NC. To properly contextualize marsh parameters and processes across a range of
tidal influence, we required site-specific information on water levels, temperature, and salinity.
This was a challenge in that the study area was in a known coverage gap in the National Water Level Observation Network (NWLON), whose closest station was ~60 km away in Beaufort,
NC. We established secondary water level stations in two different tidal regimes, supplemented by tertiary stations at our marsh monitoring sites. This technical memorandum summarizes ~ 10
years of water level, temperature, and salinity changes at MCBCL and provides our lessons learned regarding requirements for site-specific applications of water level data.