I completed a personal coastal transect last week, from Vancouver (typical Jericho Beach shot above), to southern Oregon (cloud-shrowded Cape Blanco below)/northern California, and back to Coos Bay.
The drive south was necessary to pick up help for an estuarine excursion that same day. John and I made it back to Coos around 5 and headed straight for the skiff. We were able to measure water column light, temperature and salinity profiles at three sites in the estuary, as well as collect water samples for nutrient and chlorophyll analyses at each site.
We sampled the estuary on the same day as PISCO's coastwide Coastal Transect sampling. PISCO's large coordinated effort collects water samples from open coast sites from Oregon to Northern California monthly throughout the summer. Hopefully my estuarine sampling can be used to show some evidence of marine connection into estuaries, as well as to show the water column conditions above my eelgrass monitoring sites, and differences between sites in Coos Bay. The sampling that I did, with a YSI probe and a Licor meter, is in addition to permanent sampling conducted in the estuary that measures similar parameters. The permanent monitoring , however, does not measure light (PAR - photosynthetically active radiation), which is a key variable controlling eelgrass dynamics. Next time around, I will be able to get out on the water before dusk for some better PAR measurements!
John and I finished up around 9:00 and then processed the water samples in the lab. Ravenous, we tried to get food at the local pub, but were quickly left as the bartender wouldn't even offer us a hello, let alone fried food. We settled for granola, and then quickly crashed, after a long day on the road and boat.
I completed a personal coastal transect last week, from Vancouver (typical Jericho Beach shot above), to southern Oregon (cloud-shrowded Cape Blanco below)/northern California, and back to Coos Bay.
The drive south was necessary to pick up help for an estuarine excursion that same day. John and I made it back to Coos around 5 and headed straight for the skiff. We were able to measure water column light, temperature and salinity profiles at three sites in the estuary, as well as collect water samples for nutrient and chlorophyll analyses at each site.
We sampled the estuary on the same day as PISCO's coastwide Coastal Transect sampling. PISCO's large coordinated effort collects water samples from open coast sites from Oregon to Northern California monthly throughout the summer. Hopefully my estuarine sampling can be used to show some evidence of marine connection into estuaries, as well as to show the water column conditions above my eelgrass monitoring sites, and differences between sites in Coos Bay. The sampling that I did, with a YSI probe and a Licor meter, is in addition to permanent sampling conducted in the estuary that measures similar parameters. The permanent monitoring , however, does not measure light (PAR - photosynthetically active radiation), which is a key variable controlling eelgrass dynamics. Next time around, I will be able to get out on the water before dusk for some better PAR measurements!
John and I finished up around 9:00 and then processed the water samples in the lab. Ravenous, we tried to get food at the local pub, but were quickly left as the bartender wouldn't even offer us a hello, let alone fried food. We settled for granola, and then quickly crashed, after a long day on the road and boat.
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