REON Study Documents the Impacts of Hurricane Irene on the Hudson; Q&A; with Dr. James Bonner

Hurricane Irene made landfall in New York on August 28, 2011. The storm mobilized Hudson River sediments and their associated contaminants, including toxins, such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), pathogens and excess nutrients, which were stirred up with river mud and washed down from the surrounding land, tributaries and wetlands of the watershed.

A driving force behind the deployment of Beacon Institute’s River and Estuary Observatory Network (REON) is Dr. James S. Bonner’s dictum that large episodic events are responsible for the majority of changes on the Hudson.  But because they are unpredictable and occur only a fraction of the time, understandng their function and impact requires a monitoring presence that is full-time. Bonner is Beacon Institute's chief research officer.

Dr. James S. Bonner is Beacon Institute's chief research officer and a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Clarkson University

REON was in operation during Irene. The results of data collected were just published in the April edition of the journal Environmental Engineering Science. “Impacts of an extreme weather-related episodic event on the Hudson river and Estuary,” by Mohammad S. Islam, REON project manager, Bonner, Christopher S. Fuller, andWilliam Kirkey, demonstrates that inland flooding, caused by Irene, resulted in dramatic increases in the suspended sediment concentrations throughout the Hudson and Mohawk Rivers and the Hudson River estuary. So powerful were the Hudson's flood waters they even overpowered the normal inland tidal influence in the estuary.

We talked with Jim Bonner about the work.

John Cronin:  How does this research by the REON team help us better understand the workings and behavior of the Hudson River and estuary?

Jim Bonner:  The storm related sediment load from Irene represented a major fraction of the river’s annual total sediment load. The observed changes in sediment transport illustrate important mechanisms with respect to the river’s water quality especially considering that many relevant contaminants, for example PCBs, tend to bind and accumulate in aquatic sediments. When such contaminated sediments are re-suspended during a flood event, they can be transported downstream, effectively extending the area contaminated and potentially affecting larger wildlife and human populations.  

JC:  The interaction of the Hudson's net downriver flow with the ocean's tidal push inland is a fascinating aspect of the estuary's mechanics. How was that affected by Irene? 

JB:  The effects of the flood flows extended well into the estuarine sections where the flood flows dampened and/or over whelmed tidal flows that normally demonstrate a characteristic upstream flow during a flood tide. Notable effects from this flood mechanism included suppression of tidally induced sediment resuspension and a shift in the salt front toward the Atlantic. The occurrence of significant shifts in normal salinity gradient may affect the distribution of estuarine species. 

Based on my communications with NOAA, 50% of the flooded shoreline was a result of freshwater flow from the Hudson.

JC:  What questions for further research were revealed by the study?

JB:  Further study is required to differentiate the source of the observed sediment as either water shed (i.e. tributary) input or in-situ sediment resuspension. Such information would be valuable toward developing strategies to mitigate mobilization of potentially contaminated sediments (e.g. capping) and/or minimizing erosion in upstream stream reaches through better management practices such ensuring the existence of stream bank buffer zones in agricultural areas. 

JC:  Did you gain insights into a next generation of innovations that are necessary?

JB:  To fully characterize the relevant environmental forces responsible for the observed effects requires a comprehensive long-term high frequency monitoring program to provide data at relevant time and space scales to detect the frequency, extent, and magnitude of the measured parameters of interest (for example water temperature, acidity, water flow rate, water velocity, sediment size and concentration etc.).  Integration of REON data with geospatially (i.e. GIS) represented data, for example land type/use, may allow determination of important causal relationships. 

JC:  There is increasing concern that climate change will create more severe and frequent storm events. Sea level rise is a certainty. What is the role of REON?

JB:  REON and similar observatories will be critical to quantitatively document the changes allowing resource managers to effectively make informed decisions regarding the sustainable use and protection of our valuable natural resources.  It is widely accepted that storm Intensity, duration and frequency will have significant impact on water resources.   

A Meeting in Hell: Shane's Norway Diary, Part 4

Have you ever found yourself sitting in a meeting with that growing and uncomfortable feeling that you should have had something prepared? That, unfortunately, was how I spent my morning… trying to look cool and engaged during those well-polished presentations of industrial research and development partners, while all the time realizing that the order of presentations around the table was rapidly… approaching… me! UGH!

Its not like I made some critical error, overlooked some important instructions for the meeting, or didn’t think to prepare – it just never crossed my mind to put together a presentation of my own. The thing is, there are some cultural differences and nuances in the translation between English and Norwegian that sometimes lead to problems. In this case, the meeting schedule distributed to us this morning had changed slightly from the one sent to us two days before the meeting.

The old schedule had two hours of presentations by industrial research partners.

The new schedule had two hours of presentations of industrial and research partners – Yikes!

Adding to my confusion, I had spent the week working with my colleague at SINTEF on ideas and a framework for his presentation on our work package. That was scheduled for the afternoon. The idea of me leading a short presentation regarding my own research hadn’t been brought up!

What did come up was a discussion on our decision support tool that will “advance to the next level” our capacity to predict the best locations for seaweed cultivation. 

Very cleverly, my colleague dreamt up a new name for the tool using the following, well conceived, logic:

Start at “Seaweed” à or in English, “C-weed” à advance to the next level à  “D-weed”!

He surprised me with this new name proudly displayed across the top of his new decision support tool framework.

Okay…

I didn’t have the heart to say anything to him, but as hard as I tried, I couldn’t stifle that awkward giggle...

While I felt a little guilty about that later, he did in the end spend some time on Google and perusing the Urban dictionary trying to understand my reaction.

He decided to change the name to “Dynaweed” for the presentation, and it was received spectacularly. 

So you may be wondering how my own presentation turned out? Well after sweating for two hours and praying to the clock gods to speed the hands of time to conveniently leave none for me, it turns out that presentations were, indeed, only supposed to be led by our industrial partners (whew!) Never needed one in the first place!

I had a meeting in Hell today, led by SINTEF.

You just can’t make these things up.

In fact, I was surprised to learn that we live rather close to Hell. It was a short bus ride to just south of the Trondheim, Airport. The conference hotel in Hell was rather nice, actually, with a lovely lunch buffet.

The next time someone says that they won’t do something until Hell freezes over, feel free to use this picture to your full advantage.

El Buho Real: Shane's Norway Diary, Part 3; "I Left My Heart in Madrid."

As a special mid-semester treat, I spent an amazing week in Madrid, Spain! The springtime in Norway is riddled with holidays and breaks, so we took advantage of this to visit our long-time friends and my band mate, John Collins, from the Bee Children, who are spending the year in Madrid mentoring a student exchange program. 

It was amazing to get a break from the ice and snow, to spend some time at the cafés outdoors enjoying tapas, the beautiful springtime sun, and the great Madrid nightlife. 

The best part… we managed to pull off an acoustic gig at El Buho Real – a long standing and wonderful music venue in the heart of Madrid! 

Instead of writing a lengthy post, I decided to provide some of our music from the evening. Considering it was recorded on a cell phone in front of us, I think the quality of the recording actually turned out pretty good!

Dejé mi corazón en Madrid para volver a la hermosa Norge

To listen to Bee Children tunes, scroll down this article on Watermarkblog.org

Forsythia are in Bloom; Shad are on the Run

There was a time when every river town in the Hudson Valley was home to commercial shad fishermen. The appearance of their boats and nets on local shores was a certain sign spring had arrived. Tradition taught that the first run of American shad left the Atlantic to spawn in the river’s fresh water reaches when the forsythia were in bloom in late March – early April. Dogwoods signaled the middle of the run. The final run of shad, the largest of the fish, according to Hudson rivermen, occurred when the lilac flowered in mid-May. 

In 2010, New York State halted commercial fishing of American shad because of collapsing populations in the river and on the coast. Shad spend most of their lives at sea following an isotherm of 13 to 18 degrees Celsius, moving south and north as the Atlantic waters warm and cool. They migrate up estuaries from the St. Johns in Florida to the St. John in New Brunswick and each in between. George Washington once had a commercial shad fishing operation on the Potomac.

No one reason has yet been identified for the collapse of the fishery. It is possible the blame is shared amongst many causes including: power plant cooling water intakes such as those at Indian Point; a coastal intercept fishery that captures the shad before they can migrate; and zebra mussels that rob the estuary of vital nutrients. 

More on Hudson River fisheries here.