Appledore Island (July 25th)

Joined: 23 Mar 2004 Posts: 72

Today Jack was busy out on a flight, and Nicola had work to do, so it was arranged that my husband and I would be sent out to and island in the Isles of Shoals called Appledore for a tour of the UNH equipment that is being used to take measurements there.

In order to get out to Appledore, we had to take a Ferry from Portsmouth to Star Island. Most of the other people on the Ferry got off at Star Island to tour this very historic place. This island was one of the earliest settlements in the United States! There is about 400 years of history on the island.

We got to tour Star Island, but after we went to Appledore. The ride to Appledore was fun and felt adventurous- we rode in a small inflatable boat with a motor on the back. These boats are called Zodiacs. They go pretty fast, so it was a neat experience. At Appledore, we were given a tour of the UNH equipment. Much of the equipment was the same as what we saw on the Ron Brown, which is not surprising because they are looking for the same things at all of the sites. They do this so that they have several sets of data for the same areas, so that they can be compared and checked for accuracy.

All of UNH’s (University of New Hampshire- where Jack works) equipment on Appledore is held in this tower. This tower served as a lookout for German submarines during WWII. Now, it has been taken over by researchers who have equipment on every floor, including the roof!

When we finished touring the UNH lab, we decided to take a walk around the island. As we walked, I noticed some people sitting on the rocks near the shore. Since there were very few people on the island, I knew they must be doing some type of scientific research, so I decided to check it out. It turns out that one of the women was a teacher- from WISCONSIN! She was doing volunteer work for a group called EarthWatch. She was helping out with an experiment involving crabs and snails. The group was watching a particular population of crabs and snails to see what would happen if the crabs were not eaten by seagulls. Would the snail population decrease quickly? They also were monitoring what size snails the crabs prefer to eat- small, medium, or large. Since this experiment is being done in their natural habitat, the crab population had to be protected from preditors, mainly the seagulls. This woman’s job was to scare away the seagulls.

After our time on Appledore, we took the Zodiac back to Star Island, and toured the island until the ferry came to pick us up. Since the ferry took 11/2 hours to get to Star Island, and (of course) the same to get back to the mainland, this trip made our day pretty full.

Tomorrow I will get on the DC-8 to see what a “lab in the sky” looks like!

Until then-

Nikki