DURHAM, N.H. - For 40 years, researchers at the University of New Hampshire have been working to better understand the state's short coastline and the dynamic marine environment just beyond it. At the third annual Know the Coast Day, Saturday, Oct. 20, 2012, faculty and student researchers will share what they've learned with free demonstrations and activities at two UNH marine laboratories.

"University of New Hampshire faculty are conducting research from Great Bay to the Arctic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, and they're eager to share what they know with the general public," says Jonathan Pennock, director of the UNH Marine Program and the New Hampshire Sea Grant College Program, which are sponsoring Know the Coast Day in partnership with the UNH Marine Docents. "We're looking forward to helping the public to discover how UNH connects to the sea."

Concurrent activities run from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Jere Chase Ocean Engineering Laboratory on the UNH campus in Durham (24 Colovos Rd.) and at UNH's Judd Gregg Marine Research Facility in New Castle (25 Wentworth Rd.). Both locations feature hands-on activities, talks, and crafts.

At the Chase Ocean Engineering Lab, visitors of all ages can operate a SeaPerch underwater remotely operated vehicle (ROV) in the lab's 380,000-gallon tank, see and touch horseshoe crabs and seaweed, and learn hands-on about ocean mapping, plate tectonics, and knot-tying. UNH researchers will demonstrate how we might harness energy from the tides and waves and how they use acoustics and visualization techniques to learn more about the ocean.

At the Marine Research Facility, guests will learn about lobsters, whales, flounder, conch, and trout. Visitors can take a guided walk around Fort Constitution, and tour UNH's R/V Gulf Challenger and the newly launched gundalow Piscataqua (10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.). For an additional fee ($20 adults, $10 kids), participants can board the Piscataqua for a one-hour sail.

For more information, including directions and parking details, go to www.unh.edu/knowthecoast.

Know the Coast Day has been made possible through the generous support of the National Sea Grant College Program, the David J. Chase and Mary Ann Stone Chase Fund for Excellence in Marine Science, the Leslie S. Hubbard Marine Program Endowment, the UNH Marine Program, the UNH Marine Docents, and the Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping. Partners are the Blue Ocean Society, Great Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, Great Bay Stewards, Gundalow Company, Piscataqua Region Estuaries Partnership, Seacoast Science Center, Friends of the Portsmouth Harbor Lighthouse, and Shoals Marine Laboratory.

The University of New Hampshire, founded in 1866, is a world-class public research university with the feel of a New England liberal arts college. A land, sea, and space-grant university, UNH is the state's flagship public institution, enrolling 12,200 undergraduate and 2,300 graduate students.