My summer with SSFRP-Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory

Summer Experience at the Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory:
To begin with, I didn't expect to get a job working with Columbia to conduct research on the Hudson River. Let alone enjoy it so much. Although I joined the program half way through. It was an experience that I very much wish to do next year, and possibly have a career in.

The SSFRP had 9 teams each with a different task at their disposal. I was placed into the Sediment team, which focused on sediment accumulation in Piermont Marsh. The team was created in 2014 roughly around the same time the Tappan Zee bridge. Sediment accumulation in the Marsh is an important factor in the environment because sediment accumulation helps the Marsh keep up with rising sea. There are three creeks in the Piermonet Marsh, Sparkill, Tidal, and Crumkill. We had markers to see if there would be a difference in sediment accumulation at different points in the creek. There 12 samples taken from both the north and south side of each creek, excluding Sparkhill's north side as there were houses in the area.

The data that was collected shows that overall the Marsh had accumulated an average of 17mm of sediments 5 meters in then 16.48mm of sediments 25 meters in. Additionally these samples had underwent XRF testing, which is done to see if the sediments had heavy metal contents within them. Prior to testing, the samples were kept in a cold room to preserve moisture and slow down biodegrade in the samples till testing were ready.

Additionally to the testing of sediment samples, 3 cores samples were taken to test our hypothesis on whether or not Modern times are producing more pollutants than pre-industrial times. We had taken Core samples at Tallman Mountain. Tidal Creek, and the Hudson River. For these samples, they also followed the same processes as the sediment samples. But the cores had gone through PAH and PCB testings, but sadly these results will not become available until the fall after the program had ended.

This picture shows a majority of the sediment:
The man sitting is Robert Newton, who played a major role in allowing this program in running.