Instrument check at a tidal creek, Falmouth, MA

Meagan Gonneea checks on instruments at a tidal creek in Great Pond, Falmouth, MA. Daily tides drive exchange between coastal wetlands and adjacent estuaries. Here we have instrumented a tidal channel to measure those fluxes over a tidal cycle. When the marsh floods, material is imported from the estuary. Biogeochemical cycles within the wetland, driven by plants and microbes in the soil, can alter that material prior to export back to the estuary. Coastal wetlands are critical coastal boundaries.