Construction has begun on the repair and enhancement of the Chesapeake Biological Laboratory's research pier in Solomons, which was heavily damaged by Hurricane Irene in 2011. The pier has been the site of both research and outreach activities since it was built more than 65 years ago.
"The renovation of the pier provides us with an enhanced and expanded platform from which to monitor environmental change and variation," said Tom Miller, director of the Chesapeake Biological Laboratory. "The data collected from sensors mounted on the pier will provide information that will help our researchers and will be used in outreach activities with the local community."
School groups have spent time on the pier learning about the organisms that make the Chesapeake Bay home, and scientists have measured the temperature and salinity of the water from its pilings since 1938, shortly after the pier was built.
CBL fisheries scientist Dave Secor recently put all the water quality data together from the 65-year period to find a significant warming trend of nearly 3 degrees F in the waters where the Patuxent River meets the Chesapeake Bay. The five warmest years occurred during the last two decades.
Warmer temperatures will most likely affect species that are critically dependant upon the temperature inside the Bay, he noted, like striped bass, as well as species that are more susceptible to disease in warmer weather, like the Eastern Oyster.
"If you looked at a shorter data set -- like one from the 60s -- it wouldn't show this trend," said Secor. "It shows you have to stay with something for a fairly long time to observe climate change. The pier now represents a central climate observatory in the Chesapeake Bay region.”
Citizen scientists can view live water quality data from the pier here.
When completed by December 2013, several new pilings and all of the decking on the pier will have been replaced. Additionally, the pump house at the end of the pier will be upgraded and new pumps installed to increase the reliability of the water supply to the Truitt and Fisheries Research labs.
The pier will also host new instrumentation including instruments to measure water temperature, salinity and dissolved oxygen levels. Other instruments will measure atmospheric conditions including the ability to measure carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases such as methane in the air.
Reconstruction of the pier is being funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation as a part of the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act of 2009.
