MRRI’s ballooning campaign for the summer of 2015 has begun with acquisitions from Fish Creek, Hawk property and River Bend. The goal is to acquire high resolution true color aerial images of marsh surfaces in the Meadowlands estuary. This season more than 300 acres of marsh surface are planned to be photographed from a tethered … Read more
As green leaves emerge and plants start photosynthesizing early in the growing season there is a shift from a winter condition where marsh ecosystems emit C02 to a growing season condition where marsh ecosystems capture more atmospheric C02 that they emit. In other words, ecosystems shift from being a source of C02 during the winter … Read more
Parts of the towns of little Ferry, Moonachie and Carlstadt are located in a low lying basin of the Hackensack River Estuary with an historical original elevation of about 1.5 feet above sea level. During super storm Sandy, flood waters from the sea surge moved over berms and tide gates and up tidal creeks and … Read more
The NJDEP’s mapping contest is an old tradition among map makers in the State of New Jersey. This year marked the 28th annual event with nearly 100 participants from NJ State agencies, County and academia. Michael Stepowyj of MRRI (NJSEA) took the overall Gail P. Carter Award for “Best Application of Science and GIS”. Michael … Read more
Working in tandem with Riverkeeper and our Commission’s Parks Department, the MRRI GIS team has developed an interactive web mapping application that details a boating trail along the Hackensack River within our district. The map application was created with ArcGIS Online services and includes the main path, secondary paddling trails, and seventeen points of interest … Read more
Dr. Richard Shaw, the State Soils Scientist from USDA-NRCS and his staff along with Kathleen Strakosch Walz, a wetland ecologist from the Office of Natural Lands and Management, NJDEP visited one of MRRI’s sediment elevation tables monitoring sites in anticipation of a marsh soil mapping project. According to Dr. Shaw “The objective of this project … Read more
Environment scientists from the Meadowlands Environmental Research Institute (MRRI) visited the installations of the Urban Ocean Observatory at the Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken. Data from MRRI’s water elevation monitoring stations in the lower Hackensack River estuary are now contributing real-time water elevation information to the Davidson Laboratory Storm Surge Warning System. As a … Read more
MRRI has been awarded an EPA grant in the amount of $215,239 to conduct a study titles Benthic Biodiversity and Benthic Pollutants in Emergent Marshes of the NJ Meadowlands. The proposed study will look at benthic diversity and population density at two wetland sites and contaminant loads associated with the benthic community at three other … Read more
Steven Cohen demonstrated to MRRI Staff the latest drone technology for acquisition of aerial imagery and video. Steve coordinates the Unmanned Autonomous Vehicle (UAS) and Mechatronics Education STEM GPS program at Bergen County Community College (BCC). A future collaboration between MRRI and this program would involve on the one hand, the transfer of drone technology … Read more
On October 21, 2014 MRRI hosted a USAID-funded Vietnam Forests and Deltas Program facilitated by the Coastal Resources Center of the University of Rhode Island. The objective of the study tour is to provide opportunities for Vietnamese officials and leaders to consider broader adaption strategies for rivers and deltas. USAID encourages the tour participants to … Read more