Wireless video cameras have been installed in a salt marsh in Essex Bay, MA to monitor invasive green crab activity. There is a concern that green crab burrows are exacerbating salt marsh erosion. With the threat of sea-level rise, salt marshes are already at risk, so the compounded impact of green crab burrowing could be considerable. This project is using two video cameras to capture real-time imagery with high temporal resolution of crab activity and marsh bank changes. A daylight-only camera will provide a wide-angle view of the marsh bank, and a second camera with nighttime infrared capability will be focused at close range at the edge of the marsh bank during low tides. Both cameras will be deployed for 6 months or longer, spanning spring and summer 2014.

During the winter, the cameras are focused on studing the role of ice in destabilizing marsh banks. Ice wedges in cracks on marsh banks are an interesting phenomenon that has been assumed but not studied in detail. The high-resolution camera images will help understand this natural forcing.

Project team: Alyssa Novak (lead investigator, BU), Peter Phippen (coastal resources coordinator, Mass Bays), Ben Wetherill (environmental sensor technology consultant). The cameras were built and configured by Ben Wetherill.

For more information, visit ACASAK Technologies.

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