Cut Update!

The Pond was cut this past Saturday, November 16th, 2019, at the start of a 3-day Nor’easter by Paul Bagnall and his team. It remains open as of the writing of this post. Pond height dropped from 3.6 feet above sea level to 1.8 feet in the first 24 hours. We braved a Nor’Easter on Monday to check on the opening, but hopefully you enjoy this video someplace warm and dry!

https://www.instagram.com/p/B5BQgu5lvxr/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
View from the barrier beach looking westward across the still-wide and flowing cut.
The ocean was flowing into the Pond on Monday, despite the strong northeast wind. View from the Pond shore looking westward across the cut.


The first phase of the cut was a success, in that the elevation of the Pond dropped. The second phase of a cut is the recharging of the Pond with salty and clean seawater during the tidal flush. We will know more about the success of the opening in terms of tidal flushing in the next couple of days.  Increasing the salinity is critical for the health of eelgrass. Prior to the cut the salinity was about 15 ppt (parts per thousand) throughout most of the Pond.

We will be out on the water tomorrow, Wednesday, to collect water quality data. The salinity data combined with a few more days of elevation data, will help us to evaluate how effective of a flush the Pond is receiving. Fingers crossed for a good one.