CUNY oceanography students learn by doing

Dr. K. Schnaars Uvino’s CUNY Oceanography students visit the Marsh to observe and record what they see in the wrack line along the shore. Then they get their hands dirty to help with the clean up effort, a project which will be ongoing for many years to come. I was heartened that the students noticed the huge amounts of plastic and polystyrene debris in the environment. Perhaps seeing the human refuse that clogs the planet's natural systems will lead to revised consumption habits...like trying to avoid [as much as possible] buying products that are packaged in one-use plastics.

All but the last four images are a photo essay created by Erin Rodriguez (third from the right).

Fredericka Dauvergne, Tyerence E. Brown, Ozana Gutierrez, Rachel Brander, Erin Rodriguez, Julia Marrone, and Rob Casimiro (left to right).

Kim-Nora explaining where to look for the wrack line and how to log observations of what’s found there.

 

Tyerence E. Brown doing a stellar clean up job in Rocky Point Marsh.

Rob Casimiro focuses on the small details of liberating the Marsh from human debris.

Fredericka Dauvergne…probably wondering which of the thousands of pieces of plastic to pick up first.

Fredericka Dauvergne, Tyerence E. Brown, and Rob Casimiro (left to right).

High of 47 °F | Humidity (avg) 48% | Wind @ 9 mph (NW) | High Tide 4.9 ft. @ 6:14 AM | Moon 88% visible.

Shervin visits Rocky Point Marsh to survey Sandy damage

First cleanup after Sandy

Looking west at the unwelcome gifts brought by Hurricane Sandy. Some of this debris, mostly plastics and lumber, was carefully arranged in large piles on the perimeter of the marsh. This causes a bit of a set back in terms of the tremendous progress that's been made over the past two years.

Looking west ... a closer look at what we will begin to tackle.

This is where I asked a group of CUNY oceanography students (who came out on a field trip) to help clean the area of plastic bags clinging to the trees.

The difference can been seen, after a couple hours of work.

Kathleen Schnaars-Uvino, Professor of Biology at the School of Professional Studies with her Oceanography students. They surveyed the beach habitat, as well as helped out with the cleanup effort to rid the marsh of post Hurricane Sandy debris.

High of 42 °F | Humidity (avg) 58% | Wind @ 15 mph (NW) | High Tide 4.9 ft. @ 11:44 AM | Moon 70% visible.

Rocky Point Marsh Post-Sandy by Frank De Sisto

Original tidal estuary entrance; note peat deposits in foreground from older beach migration. Looking in-land, 0802hrs., Nov. 11, 2012.

Original tidal estuary entrance; it is now wider than it previously was. Looking towards Jamaica Bay, 0802hrs., Nov. 11, 2012

Original tidal estuary entrance; note peat deposits at right as well as stratified sand and eroded dune line, at left. Looking East, 1421hrs., Nov. 23, 2012.

Original tidal estuary entrance, with micro-surge (at left). Looking towards Jamaica Bay, 1558hrs., Nov. 23, 2012.

Original tidal estuary entrance, with micro-surge detail (at left). Looking towards Jamaica Bay, 1558hrs., Nov. 23, 2012.

Original tidal estuary entrance (at left), with branches. Looking East, 1005hrs., Nov.11, 2012.

New tidal estuary entrance, with dune over-wash fan (at center). Looking inland, 0806hrs., Nov.11, 2012.

New tidal estuary entrance, with dune over-wash fan (at center): note sand deposits from destroyed dune line, center, to upper right. Looking towards Jamaica Bay, 0900hrs., Nov. 11, 2012.

New tidal estuary entrance, with dune over-wash fan (from left, to center); note sand deposits from destroyed dune line, center to upper right. Looking West, 0857hrs., Nov. 11, 2012.

Dune over-wash fans, with rills from subsequently retreating water. Note stressed, but still intact American Beach Grass, showing the direction of the tidal surge. Looking inland, 0839hrs., Nov. 11, 2012.

Dune over-wash fans, with rills from subsequently retreating water. Note stressed, but still intact American Beach Grass, showing the direction of the tidal surge. Looking inland, 0840hrs., Nov. 11, 2012.

Dune over-wash fans, with tracks from Quad-type ATV. Note the dune over-wash fan, running down center of image, indicating the location of the former dune line. Looking East, 1425hrs., Nov. 23, 2012.

Marsh interior. Looking inland, 0858hrs., Nov. 11, 2012.

Marsh interior showing twin drainage culverts. Looking inland, 1058hrs., Nov.11, 2012.

Marsh interior showing redistributed lumber. The wooden platform at center formerly resided atop the culverts seen in previous image. 1050hrs., Nov. 11, 2012.

More redistributed lumber, this time on the Western rim of the marsh. Many of the clearings inside the tree-line are now chocked with lumber, plastic and natural debris. 0857hrs., Nov. 11, 2012.

Looking out past the marsh, across Jamaica Bay, with Brighton Beach in the far background. Note collection of debris on ridge as well as damaged pier, out past the stone jetty. 0855hrs., Nov.12, 2012.

Life after Hurricane Sandy

Since the Rockaway peninsula residents experienced unprecedented property damage due to Hurricane Sandy I was interested to see what changes had taken place in the marsh. Strangely, all of the massive piles of wood (and other) debris that accumulated from our many volunteer cleanup efforts over the past two years…were completely gone. Not a remnant lay in sight. But where did it all go?

The police had set up a checkpoint on the main boulevard along the peninsula. So instead of going through the hassle of driving through slow-moving traffic, we walked along the shoreline to reach the marsh.

Looking south from the bay side you can see there is a new channel, which hopefully will allow the marsh to flood more easily during high tides. The original channel (not pictured) is now much wider and deeper, which means there are now two channels into the marsh from the bay.

Looking north toward the bay. The dunes that acted as a flood barrier are now much flatter. And the new channel is visible from here.

These channels (above and below) are also viewed looking north.

The next three images show a landscape that is unrecognizable due to the absence of the many piles of debris that disappeared during the recent hurricane.

This area on the west side of the marsh might be where some of our collected debris got transferred to.

High of 52 °F | Humidity (avg) 52% | Wind @ 16 mph (NW) | High Tide 5.2 ft. @ 10:59 AM | Moon 86% visible.