DV-16-07 Northeastern Coastal Station Alliance intertidal temperature monitoring proof of concept: What can Tidbit data loggers tell us about coordination and collaboration?

November 8, 2018

Caitlin Cleaver
Hurricane Island Foundation

Small field stations in the Gulf of Maine formed the Northeastern Coastal Stations Alliance (NeCSA) to collaborate with data collection and data sharing across the stations, and to enhance training opportunities and public outreach to communicate the implications of environmental change in the Gulf of Maine. The ten Maine field stations in NeCSA—from the Isles of Shoals to Great Wass Island (and two additional field stations in Canada)—range in capacity, structure and mission.

As part of this project, researchers distributed temperature loggers and simple deployment protocols to the field stations within NeCSA and hosted an instructional workshop to describe the standardized deployment and best practices for data sharing. The funds supported material distribution and a training webinar. At Schoodic, the subsequent data collection involved 15 Earthwatch citizen scientists. This grant allowed NeCSA to move closer to a protocol that can be implemented across sites, with varying degrees of on-the-ground personnel and varying background knowledge. “We are thrilled to have this product that’s getting better and better with each iteration (I don’t think we’re done iterating yet!). And even more thrilled to have a partnership to support each other in moving this work forward,” said Webber.

Sea Grant funds: $3,000