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 Preshow #1 Bay SaltReturn to index of stories... |
Now on New Hampshire Outlook: The impact of the recent floods on the ten thousand acre eco-system. We head out with scientists on the waters of Great Bay to find out. Also ahead: |
| Preshow #2 Crops Return to index of stories... |
What the recent heavy rains mean for this year's growing season. And later: |
| Preshow #3 NHskies Return to index of stories... |
In this month's New Hampshire skies how to take pictures of your favorite celestial spot in the sky. |
| Hello/Intro Great Bay Return to index of stories... |
Hello. I'm Beth Carroll. Welcome to New Hampshire Outlook. As people throughout New Hampshire continue to clean up from last month's floods, scientists too are hard at work. Researchers are looking at the effects the flood had on the Seacoast's Great Bay. The estuary, a delicate blend of fresh and salt water, was deluged with fresh water run off during the storms. As Outlook's Phil Vaughn found out the impact this had on the bay might surprise you. |
| Great Bay Salt/Rain Return to index of stories... |
Great Bay Floods Aerial shot/dissolve to bay shots N1- From the air, Great Bay is simply 10,000 acres of tidal water. Get up close however and it's anything but simple. Art - "Most ecologists will tell you these are the nursery areas for most of the off shore fisheries - they're productive environments." N2- Art Matherson is a scientist at the University of NH's Jackson Lab. This is where he's worked for more than 40 years. He's one of several researchers who needs to know what's going on around Great Bay. Art - "I've seen some positive and negative changes, if you think historically - 100 yrs ago its much better than it was." Shot of Ru and Art walking on to dock N3- Forty years is a lot of time to study a body of water and perhaps Art has seen it all. But in May, when the floods came, Great Bay changed. Shot of Ru holding water sample N4- Ru Morrison and fellow UNH researcher Joe Salisbury have seen the effects that this have had on this. Joe - "We had record PCO2 values, which means that the carbon dioxide was very high. It's the result of all bi-carbon products that got washed off the land." Ru - "The main thing we saw was the change in salinity. Normally it's 1/3 ocean water and 2/3 fresh. During the floods, all the water came from the river - this turned into a river and was no longer an estuary up here." N5- Here's how it happened. Five fresh water rivers dump into Great Bay. During the week of rain and floods, they purged themselves of huge amounts of water. How much is anyone's guess. Ru - "Unfortunately we don't know how much because the gauge stopped working because the discharge was so extreme." N6- This photograph taken from space shows something that these guys have never seen before, a plume of fresh water extending 15 km out into the ocean. Joe- "It's very unusual. Usually it mixes in - not this time, so it was a pretty big event." N6- This -- is the real watchdog on the bay. It's a floating laboratory that measures a variety of things including water temperature and salt levels. Ru- "This is the Great Bay buoy, it gets information about the quality of water in Great Bay - it takes readings every half hour and sends it back by wireless." Cut to shot of Ru walking into lab Ru- "This is where it is received and you can see it here on the computer…." N7- So what does this mean to the things that live in and around this bay? Joe- "I'm not an expert in animals and plants - I can say from a metabolism point of view we've seen tremendous variability that was not expected. Whether the oxygen level is so low now to suppress life, I don't know." N8- But this man does. Win Watson is a zoologist with UNH. He's made a career of studying how lobsters live and die. Win - "I think what ever happened has already happened. I suspect that a large majority of the lobsters in Great Bay met their demise. When the salinity drops below 10 parts per 1000, most of them pass. And 5 ppt almost guarantees it. It's been below five for days during the last storm." N8b - Fleeing the bay, says Watson wasn't much of an option for the lobsters. What energy they had was used to filter out deadly, fresh water ions. Win - "So lobsters could have moved back to higher salinity, but they couldn't do both." Art - "If an organism lives here permanently it has to be adapted to everything that comes at it. If it's a migratory organism it comes and goes like a lobster you can have some real problems." N9- Watson believes that shellfish survived. What surprised him was that horseshoe crabs may have as well. Win - "Horseshoe crabs - I can't believe they made it. I had some in a cage down here and they survived. So even though they couldn't move away, they survived. They're just better adapted for this." N10- And, there's some other good news. Art - "Some organisms like eel grass a sub-tidal flowering plant probably has benefited from fresh water in that one of its major pathogens is sensitive to fresh water, so some of the wasting diseases that causes eel grass to die back can be diminished by fresh water." Sound of waves on shore N11- As for the damage, time, tides and dry weather should take care of that. Ru - "It should be about a week or so for the salinity to return to normal as long as it continues to be good weather like this." N12 - For NH Outlook, I'm Phil Vaughn. |
| Tag Great Bay/Salt Return to index of stories... |
If you want to monitor Great Bay's environment along with UNH scientists, just go to our website nhptv.org/outlook and log on. |
| Intro Crops & Rain Return to index of stories... |
The heavy rain has put a damper on the spring growing season around NH. Farmers are struggling with the lack of spring sun and saturated fields. Outlook's Chip Neal caught up with UNH Cooperative Extension small fruits and vegetables specialist Becky Grube at the UNH Horticultural Farm to talk about the impact the rain has had on crops. |
| Tag Crops & Rain Return to index of stories... |
New Hampshire's Commissioner of Agriculture Steve Tayler says "it is still too early to know the economic impact from the rain." He also points out the logging industry has suffered with all of the water. Taylor says the woods are so muddy workers can't get the logs out. |
| Intro NH Skies June Return to index of stories... |
Finally, it's time for Outlook's Chip Neal to find out what's new in the New Hampshire skies. Chip met up with John Gianforte , an astronomy instructor with Granite State College and co-founder of the Astronomical Society of Northern New England, at the UNH Observatory in Durham. They talked about a comet, and also how to take pictures of the moon. |
| Tag NH Skies June Return to index of stories... |
To read more on astronomy -- you can look for John Gianforte's monthly column in Foster's Daily Democrat called "Scanning the Heavens." It runs the first Tuesday of the month. You can also check out our website NHPTV.org/Outlook for a link to the UNH Observatory that has a listing of their public sessions and more. |
| Web Pointer Return to index of stories... |
Just a reminder on our website you can watch New Hampshire Outlook online on demand. You can find streaming video of ALL of our Outlook broadcasts. |
| key: Environment Return to index of stories... |
NEW HAMPSHIRE OUTLOOK Air Date/Time: 6/14/06 HOST: Beth Carroll Length: 8:00 minutes Now on New Hampshire Outlook, the impact of the recent floods on the ten thousand acre eco-system.We head out with scientists on the waters of Great Bay to find out. Also ahead what the recent heavy rains mean for this year's growing season. And later: In this month's New Hampshire skies how to take pictures of your favorite celestial spot in the sky. Hello. I'm Beth Carroll. Welcome to New Hampshire Outlook. As people throughout New Hampshire continue to clean up from last month's floods, scientists too are hard at work. Researchers are looking at the effects the flood had on the Seacoast's Great Bay. The estuary, a delicate blend of fresh and salt water, was deluged with fresh water run off during the storms. As Outlook's Phil Vaughn found out the impact this had on the bay might surprise you. PRODUCER/REPORTER: Beth Carroll / Phil Vaughn NAME OF PARTICIPANTS: Art Matherson\UNH Research Scientist , Joe Salisbury\UNH Research Scientist , Ru Morrison\UNH Assistant Research Professor , Courtesy Winsor "Winn" Watson |
| key: Consumer Return to index of stories... |
NEW HAMPSHIRE OUTLOOK Air Date/Time: 6/14/06 HOST: Beth Carroll Length: 7:30 minutes Now on New Hampshire Outlook, the impact of the recent floods on the ten thousand acre eco-system.We head out with scientists on the waters of Great Bay to find out. Also ahead what the recent heavy rains mean for this year's growing season. And later: In this month's New Hampshire skies how to take pictures of your favorite celestial spot in the sky. The heavy rain has put a damper on the spring growing season around NH. Farmers are struggling with the lack of spring sun and saturated fields. Outlook's Chip Neal caught up with UNH Cooperative Extension small fruits and vegetables specialist Becky Grube at the UNH Horticultural Farm to talk about the impact the rain has had on crops. PRODUCER/REPORTER: Beth Carroll / Chip Neal NAME OF PARTICIPANTS: Becky Grube\UNH Cooperative Extension |
| key: Education Return to index of stories... |
NEW HAMPSHIRE OUTLOOK Air Date/Time: 6/14/06 HOST: Beth Carroll Length: 9:00 minutes Now on New Hampshire Outlook, the impact of the recent floods on the ten thousand acre eco-system.We head out with scientists on the waters of Great Bay to find out. Also ahead what the recent heavy rains mean for this year's growing season. And later: In this month's New Hampshire skies how to take pictures of your favorite celestial spot in the sky. Finally, it's time for Outlook's Chip Neal to find out what's new in the New Hampshire skies. Chip met up with John Gianforte , an astronomy instructor with Granite State College and co-founder of the Astronomical Society of Northern New England, at the UNH Observatory in Durham. They talked about a comet, and also how to take pictures of the moon. PRODUCER/REPORTER: Beth Carroll / Chip Neal NAME OF PARTICIPANTS: John Gianforte\Astronomy Instructor |
| key: UNH Return to index of stories... |
NEW HAMPSHIRE OUTLOOK Air Date/Time: 6/14/06 HOST: Beth Carroll Length: 7:30 minutes Now on New Hampshire Outlook, the impact of the recent floods on the ten thousand acre eco-system.We head out with scientists on the waters of Great Bay to find out. Also ahead what the recent heavy rains mean for this year's growing season. And later: In this month's New Hampshire skies how to take pictures of your favorite celestial spot in the sky. The heavy rain has put a damper on the spring growing season around NH. Farmers are struggling with the lack of spring sun and saturated fields. Outlook's Chip Neal caught up with UNH Cooperative Extension small fruits and vegetables specialist Becky Grube at the UNH Horticultural Farm to talk about the impact the rain has had on crops. PRODUCER/REPORTER: Beth Carroll / Chip Neal NAME OF PARTICIPANTS: Becky Grube\UNH Cooperative Extension |
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Tonight on New Hampshire Outlook: Join us tonight at 7:30 only on New Hampshire Public Television. |
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