Chris Evangelista Two MRRI staff members have recently obtained their Operator of Uninspected Passenger Vessels (OUPV) licenses, also known as a “Six-Pack” license. This credential, issued by the U.S. Coast Guard, required them to pass rigorous exams covering safety, seamanship, maritime laws, navigation, and chart plotting. The license allows them to captain vessels carrying up to six … Read more
At the 2024 American Geophysical Union (AGU) Meeting (December 9-13, 2024), Ying ‘Cheryl’ Yao, Chief Chemist and Laboratory Supervisor at the Meadowlands Research and Restoration Institute (MRRI), presented the institute’s research titled “Distributions and Partitioning of Airborne Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) in the Urban Atmosphere of Northern New Jersey.” The research highlights the significant … Read more
The picture shows an MRRI scientist in 2024 with a device designed to measure the relative elevation change of wetland sediments. The device is a Surface Elevation Table (SET) Rod SET, created by Donald Cahoon at USGS. It is used in 22 states in the U.S. and 22 countries worldwide. The SET provides a nondestructive … Read more
Hotel Northampton, Northampton, MA, hosted the joint meeting of the National Wetland Managers’ (NAWM) Mid-Atlantic Wetlands Workgroup (MAWWG) and the New England Biological Assessment of Wetlands Workgroup (NEBAWWG) between November 12 and 14. NAWM, a non-profit organization established in 1983, has been tirelessly promoting and enhancing protection and management of wetland resources. The organization’s goal … Read more
MAC URISA’s (Urban and Regional Information Systems Association, Mid-Atlantic Chapter) Bi-Annual Conference is the largest GIS conference in the Mid-Atlantic region. It hosts a comprehensive, multi-day conference that showcases outstanding and innovative uses of GIS technologies in the Mid-Atlantic Region. The program provides participants with hours of learning and networking opportunities to update GIS professionals … Read more
Last week MRRI’s GIS Specialist Christopher Blackley attended the New Jersey Association for Floodplain Management 19th annual conference in Atlantic City, New Jersey. This conference brings together over 500 flood management experts from a variety of backgrounds to collaborate and share their experiences with mitigating floods. On the first day Christopher attended Flood Management Training … Read more
MRRI scientists attended Restore America’s Estuaries 2024 Coastal & Estuarine Summit in Arlington, VA, October 6-11, 2024. The five day summit brought together national and international experts on tidal and coastal wetland restoration. Amidst a diverse schedule, wetland practitioners, academics, environmental lawyers and policy makers discussed current successes and future possibilities in sustainable wetland restoration … Read more
The New Jersey Sports & Exposition Authority (NJSEA) has upgraded the Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) system to the latest technology for the Meadowlands Research & Restoration Institute (MRRI) laboratory. From July 8-10, 2024, a field engineer from Agilent Technologies installed the new Agilent 7850 ICP-MS and provided training on this state-of-the-art instrument and … Read more
A recent study funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) aims to understand mineral formation in the oxygen-depleted sediments of the Hackensack estuary. The recently approved NSF proposal (worth $551,795) focuses on the concept of “reverse weathering”, which involves the creation of clay minerals from eroded terrestrial minerals in marine sediments. This research has significant … Read more
The 2023 water quality data collected in the Meadowlands Lower Hackensack Estuary has been checked with QA/QC procedures and shared with US EPA through national Water Quality Exchange (WQX). The Meadowlands Research & Restoration Institute (MRRI) has been sharing water quality data collected within the District since 2016. The water quality monitoring project was established … Read more