The Wrack

I just wanted to let you know that the Wells Reserve came through the storm in good shape, despite wind gusts (according to Jeremy Miller and the SWMP weather station) of up to 58 MPH Monday evening. We were without power beginning at around 8 pm, but regained it around 11 am today.

We lost about 20 shingles on the Laudholm barn and several on the Sheep Barn, but that is it. A dozen or more trees (most small, several large) had fallen across the trails, with one threatening the public entrance. John Speight and volunteer Frank Heller cleared the tree alongside the entrance road and many of those along the trails; they had the gates open by late morning. The Internet was on and the phones working (with some minor glitches) by noon.

We saw a cold and wet start to the month of June here in Southern Maine. I thought I would share some SWMP data from a few of our stations to illustrate how weather can significantly impact the water quality of our estuaries

So looks as if we got a bit "lucky" and missed the brunt of Hurricane Irene as the storm passed to our west dropping large amounts of rain on western New Hampshire and parts of Massachusetts and Vermont. Here are some totals from our System Wide Monitoring Program (SWMP) weather station behind the Coastal Ecology Center.

With the impressive amounts of rain in the last month or so, and some unusually warm temperatures in March and early April, I thought I would share some of the more interesting weather trends we recorded through our System Wide Monitoring Program here at the reserve. March was the wettest and warmest on record for the state of Maine!

Hello again, Well another strong storm system battered the Maine coast again this past weekend. Here is a brief synopsis of that storm data courtesy of the System Wide Monitoring Program. All data from 3/13 at 11pm to 3/15 at 3pm was collected on the SWMP Meteorological Station located behind the Coastal Ecology Center. We had 6.7 inches of rain fall between late Saturday night (13th) into mid…

Whew! Nothing like some February rain showers huh? It's been a "weird" winter for lack of a more "technical" term.....

Here are some numbers from the most recent "Blast" that occured Thursday Feb 25 through early morning of February 26th 2010. (All data was collected on the SWMP Meteorological Station behind the Maine Coastal Ecology Center.)

Mays flooding washed away two of the Reserves water data-logger units used for the System-Wide Monitoring Program (SWMP). Replacing the units was well timed, though, as equipment upgrades now allow public access to real-time data on weather and water quality.

Too many nutrients can cause more algae growth than an estuary can support. Excess algae leads to decreased oxygen in the water and other symptoms that if left unchecked can completely devastate a marsh. This process is known as eutrophication. Scientists are now developing a tool to help address eutrophication in estuaries.

The Wells Reserve is collaborating with NOAAs National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS) to determine the extent of eutrophication in five northeastern reserves.

The NERR system just released a 10th anniversary report on the activities, achievements, and growth of the System-Wide Monitoring Program. You can download the PDF at the NERRS website. You can learn more about the program by following the links under Monitoring on that site. Visit our Monitoring page …