Brian Helmuth and Jon Grabowski

Sponsor: NOAA-NERACOOS

Initiating new monitoring activities to accelerate implementation of the regional OCA monitoring plan 

The goal of this project is to identify thermal microhabitats within which shell-forming organisms like mussels and oysters that are vulnerable to ocean and coastal acidification might take refuge from low pH conditions, and to assess the potential buffering capacity of different habitat types to extreme heat and extreme cold events. We will deploy 10 microsensors within each of three sites within each of five National Estuarine Research Reserve (NERR) sites, characterizing the average and extreme temperatures within rocky and muddy substrates (marsh) sites. Because data can be downloaded from any cell phone, we will also work with each NERR education coordinator to establish citizen science protocols that complement ongoing work.