[SEMCO] The Pulse of the Salt Marsh-Tues, April 1 at Waquoit Bay Reserve

[Tompkins, Laurie (DCR)]

Research @ Reserve Coffee House “The Pulse of the Salt Marsh”
On Tuesday, April 1 at 7:00 pm, Waquoit Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve’s Community Coffee House series, Research at the Reserve presents “Taking the Pulse of the Salt Marsh” by Jordan Mora, GIS/Research Technician at Waquoit bay Reserve.

For the past two years, a diverse group of collaborators from many walks of life, including biology, chemistry, economics, mathematics, and communications, have united to tackle a series of critical questions regarding greenhouse gas exchange in restored coastal marshes using South Cape Beach in Mashpee as their study site. Greenhouse gases include carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide, and each gas enters and leaves the marsh through several different pathways. The complexity of the system calls for the continuous collection of many environmental parameters, such as the amount of sunlight, wind speed, temperature and water level. These measurements, are integral to understanding the relationship between the release and absorption of greenhouse gases with the ever-changing forces of climate and sea level in salt marsh systems.
As the GIS/Research Technician at the Waquoit Bay NERR, Jordan assists in the System-Wide Monitoring Program (SWMP) which monitors the long-term effects of natural and human-caused environmental changes. She also provides support for the NERR Science Collaborative Project, “Bringing Wetlands to Market: Nitrogen and Coastal Blue Carbon.” The R at R programs this spring will each put a spotlight on a particular aspect of the SWMP national program. In addition to hearing how researchers are using the data, participants will learn how to use a new mobile device application to access local and national  weather and water quality information in real time on their Smart phones or tablets.
This program is part of a continuing series, Research at the Reserve Community Coffee House. Each program features a scientist discussing their research at the Waquoit Bay Reserve. In addition to explaining the research, the scientists will include personal anecdotes on how they did the science and how they feel their research will make a difference to those sitting in the audience. This series was created to help expose community members to cutting edge science in a relaxed and informal way. The interactive coffee house format helps people feel equally comfortable asking questions and joining in the discussion or just sitting back and listening to the scientists’ stories of their work.
Doors open at 6:45 pm with a chance to view the exhibits in the visitor center and sample some homemade sweets and coffee and tea. Participants are encouraged to bring their own mug as well as a flashlight for traveling from the parking lot.  Admission is free. The April 8 presentation is “Shellfish, fossil fuels, and our changing coastal waters” focusing on the impacts of acidic coastal  waters on local shellfish presented by  Dr. Daniel McCorkle of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). On April 15, the Reserve’s Stewardship Coordinator Jim Rassman will present, “Our Changing Coast.” based on the results of comparing 10 years worth of high resolution aerial photos.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.whoi.edu/pipermail/semco/attachments/20140328/2b812006/attachment.htm