Project Title: Northeast Regional Ocean Council (NROC): Initiating new monitoring activities to accelerate implementation of the regional Ocean and Coastal Acidification monitoring plan
Duration: October 2025 – October 2026
Funding Source: NERACOOS
Principal Investigator: Brian Helmuth, Northeastern University
Contact: b.helmuth@northeastern.edu
Project Description: The goal of this project is to identify thermal microhabitats within which shell-forming organisms 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 NERR sites, including Waquoit Bay, for a total of 30 sensors per NERR and 150 across the network. Replicate sensor deployments of ElectricBlue ENVloggers will help to characterize the mean and extreme temperatures within hard substrate and soft substrate (marsh) intertidal sites, as well as shallow water sites where eelgrass either currently or historically has existed. Because data can be downloaded from any cell phone, we will also work with the NERR education coordinator to establish citizen science protocols that complement ongoing work at the Waquoit Bay NERR.
