Why did sea surface temperatures go up when summer air temperatures did not? This perplexing question arose after last summer’s unusual findings. Ocean surface water temperatures off Boston, Portsmouth, and Portland were nearly two degrees Fahrenheit warmer than usual, aligning with the long-term trend of increasingly warm conditions primarily driven by climate change. To understand…
In August 1817, the learned men of the Linnaean Society of New England had studied their Bestiaries, ancient, illustrated volumes of all the animals. They set out from Boston for Gloucester’s high rocky shore to survey the seascape. There, they found what they were looking for. The sea serpent was a “60 to 100-foot long, black, shiny,…
As if the ocean wasn’t scary enough, some of its dangerous inhabitants lurk unseen beneath the surface. And they’re not only limited to oceans but also rivers, ponds, and other bodies of water. Micro-pests have a significant impact on other water creatures as well as humans, sometimes causing serious illnesses. Here’s how micro-pests are tracked…
Introduction / Overview The Shaftsbury Solar Project is in Shaftsbury, Vermont, saddled between Hale Mountain and Harrington Cobble, on a property with 182 acres of mostly gently rolling fields and forests. Approximately 104 acres have been proposed for development into a solar electric generation facility. Solar panels for 20 MW electric generation will be placed…
With climate change, a 1% increase in watts per square meter of heat energy is warming the ocean, causing seawater to swell, currents to flow stronger, and greater storms to rage. Ancient Greeks believed Oceanus, the ocean river, separated the known world from the unknown where sea monsters like the Kraken dwell. The ocean remains…
Last summer, Boston suffered more than 20 inches of rain. This record, set when the weather service began rainfall records in 1872, was only surpassed in 1955 when two hurricanes brought 25 inches of rain. An estimated 1.5 billion gallons of water sluiced off the land, overwhelmed sewage treatment facilities, and surged raw sewage into…
The Problem The North Atlantic right whale is a critically endangered whale. In the 1970s, with the first whale watches, there were estimated to be 350 right whales, and the population was growing. Then, in 2017, right whales took a turn for the worse. By 2020, the population had fallen to 338 right whales, with…
The tall ship Tecla, a Dutch North Sea sailing herring dragger built in 1915, was bound for Tenerife in the Spanish Canary Islands. It was tied by three heavy hawser lines to the ferry quay in Ullapool, Northwest Scotland, a town of white-washed buildings packed together for the herring fishery. We were ready to sail…
