Funded! New Research on Eelgrass in Great Bay!
The Great Bay NERR is excited to be a part of a new $550,000 grant that will provide critical information about the relationship between hydrodynamics, water quality and eelgrass in Great Bay.
Margaret A. Davidson Fellow, Anna Lowien
As the inaugural Margaret A. Davidson Fellow at Great Bay NERR, graduate student Anna Lowien, is excited to be investigating the biogeochemistry of Great Bay Estuary. Biogeochemistry refers to the study of the chemical, physical, geological, and biological processes that influence the movement of nutrients (i.e. nitrogen and phosphorus) and carbon throughout an ecosystem or even the globe.
Graduate Student Profile: Grant McKown on Living Shorelines
With sea level and storm activities on the rise, researchers at UNH are looking into the best way to protect our coastal salt marshes. Working in collaboration with Great Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, researchers are able to implement different techniques to prevent salt marsh erosion due to sea level rise. This post is the second of two, highlighting graduate students working on salt marsh resiliency.
Decoding a “sea of green”: High Resolution Tidal Wetlands Mapped for the State
Recently released high resolution tidal wetland habitat data for the state is available on the University of NH’s “Coastal Viewer”, an online mapping service available at nhcoastalviewer.org. It is a free, clickable easy-to-use web application that allows custom maps to be created for any area of interest.
Are New England Marshes Drowning?
Oceans are rising at an alarming rate with future predictions almost impossible to comprehend, let alone plan for. Rising seas have and will further impact coastal communities in multiple ways, including flooding to homes and businesses and salt infiltration into our drinking water, but also can have large impacts on natural ecosystems. Salt marshes, in particular, are at great risk of ‘drowning’ from sea-level-rise.
Salinity Fluctuations in Great Bay Estuary
Great Bay is a place where the ocean and rivers, land and water, and people and nature meet. It lies at the confluence of tidally driven salt water from the Gulf of Maine and fresh water from the Salmon Falls, Cocheco, Bellamy, Oyster, Lamprey, Squamscott, and Winnicut rivers. Before reaching the bay, seawater travels 15 miles inland—a geographic configuration makes Great Bay one of the nation’s most recessed estuaries. It is often referred to as New Hampshire’s “hidden coast.” Because it has such a large tidal exchange and seasonal variation, the salinity in Great Bay can fluctuate quite a bit.
