I have made substantial progress with my independent study over the last few weeks. I have spent plenty of time on the computer researching documents and analyzing aerial photographs on Arc GIS software with the help of Eddie Saenz and Steve Nye. Below is my abstract and sample photographs I will be analyzing.

Salt Marshes are unique coastal habitats that provide ecosystem services and hold important roles to the surrounding environment.  The services and roles consist of providing nutrients to the coastal ocean, protection to the mainland, filtering pollutants and decomposition. Medouie Creek salt marsh is located on the northeast portion of Nantucket Island along Polpis Harbor, which is currently being restored. Mosquito ditches and a dike road have changed the hydrology of the area being studied. The main objective of the restoration projected conducted by the Nantucket Conservation Foundation (NCF) was to increase tidal action by installing a low flow box culvert, which increased the salinity and decreased the abundance of the non-native invasive plant Phragmites australis, also known as the Common reed. Improving tidal exchange has been done in hopes of restoring the salt marsh to a suitable state. The trend of this salt marsh shows the changes it has encountered over time from both human and natural activities. An analysis of this specific area using Arc Geographical Information Systems (GIS) will show physical coastal habitat alterations by comparing historic and current aerial photographs of Medouie Creek salt marsh. GIS will also be used to examine the impact of the restoration project and possible management techniques for future success.

After finishing hydrology on Friday we are now officially at the mid way point of our Nantucket living lab semester. I would like to give a special thanks to Professor Douglas for an amazing three weeks of hydrology. To celebrate our accomplishments we went to the UMASS field station on Saturday afternoon to grill some food and enjoy the outdoors. I have been eager to try the ocean kayaks and was able to do so along with Richie Corrado, Sarah Jacobs and Llewin Froome. We decided to make the trek across Nantucket Harbor to the third point of Coatue Wildlife Refuge, which was a great experience.

View of Nantucket Harbor from Coatue’s Third Point

We have had the privilege to see many locations on this amazing Island thus far. The impact of erosion was clearly seen in the aftermath of Nemo, which caused damage across the island. The locations of erosion that I have personally seen this week included Siasconset beach, Sankaty Head Light, Umass Field Station and the beach off of Lauretta Lane. These locations made me realize erosion as a significant problem on Nantucket.

This week we all began our hydrology class taught by Professor Douglas. I really enjoyed the first week and have gained a substantial amount of information. I have freshened up on my excel knowledge, have a better understanding of water properties/ the hydrologic cycle and the water supply specific to Nantucket. This was done through lectures, exercises, activities, homework and field trips. We also had privilege of having Mark Willett of the Wannacomet Water Company take us on a tour to see several sites on the Island which was appreciated.

The Nantucket Living Lab Semester 2013 is off to a good start following the completion of our first class Eco-Poetics. In this class Len Germinara taught us many aspects of poetry and how we can use it to reflect our experiences. We got to share our poems with each other through workshops and to the public during the Spoken Word Nantucket. This class surely brought out my creative side while still incorporating my passion for science. I would like to thank Len for an awesome start to the semester and I’m looking forward to the remainder of our stay on Nantucket.