News and Events for Nantucket Island
When we talk about climate change on Nantucket, the conversation often revolves around rising sea levels, erosion, increased storms, and storm surge. Lately, though, we have been seeing another effect of climate change in the form of warming ocean waters.
by Catherine Macallister Purple flags were flying high at Nantucket beaches as summer waters warm up these past few weeks, indicating hazardous marine life in the water. In this case the hazard was jellyfish. These non-vertebrae, no-brained creatures are gelatinous zooplankton, and they happen to be the topic for an […]
• by Dr. Sarah Oktay, Director, University of Massachusetts Nantucket Field Station • Bioluminescence is the creation of light by a chemical reaction by a creature. One of the many benefits of living on Nantucket is that we get to experience bioluminescence from many sources, not the least of which […]
• by Dr. Sarah D. Oktay, Managing Director UMass Boston Nantucket Field Station • As a washashore myself, I hope I am a little more welcome than this week’s creature. Two weeks ago, two Clean Team volunteers helping out on a Madaket Beach clean-up (www.ackcleanteam.org) came upon a relatively common […]
by Dr. Sarah D. Oktay Managing Director UMass Boston Nantucket Field Station As the summer temperatures warm up our harbor and offshore waters, floating translucent creatures begin to crowd our shores and become a concern for swimmers. Unfortunately, as ocean waters warm world-wide and we continue to over-fish or endanger […]
