Every fall, over 5,000 students of all ages from across New York State participate in Day in the Life of the Hudson Harbor, a field-based event where they celebrate and learn about the river and its unique estuary. The event, which is coordinated by the Hudson River Estuary Program and Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, is made possible thanks to data that HRECOS provides.
The event aims to build estuary literacy and stewardship by connecting students with the river and giving them first-hand experience with field-based data collection. The data is then used by environmental education partners, teachers, and students in future education efforts and archived to be able to look back over time or across sites and contribute to a larger understanding of the estuary.
“It really makes science come alive for the students,” says Margie Turrin from the Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory, one of the event’s co-leads. “Students can build predictions that sometimes play out and sometimes do not, and they can question why, building hypotheses. Our hope is that these experiences inspire interest and love for the Hudson River and a sense of environmental stewardship in future generations.”
HRECOS data is particularly well-suited for the event because it is continuous and place-based. It allows students to look at a year’s worth of data that was collected in their backyard. The HRECOS system also helps to showcase the river’s dynamism, as it collects data from freshwater, brackish, and saltwater sites. It also provides a layer of oxygen and water temperature to show how they relate.
“HRECOS isn’t a massive system,” says Turrin. “It’s smaller and more locally based, which helps students connect to the data and teaches them how to use this type of tool, which is more doable, before looking at larger systems.”
Students leave the event understanding how the data they collected fits into a larger picture. They learn how these instruments can be used to build future predictions, plan models, look at the past, and understand the role of instrumentation, all of which is built using HRECOS data.
“The local data turns on a lightbulb for many students who attend the event,” says Chris Bowser, education coordinator at the Hudson River Reserve. “It helps them realize that the estuary in their backyard is alive, dynamic, and nutrient-rich, rather than just murky or muddy like they previously thought.”
The event is hosted at 90 different sites throughout the Hudson River Estuary from south of New York Harbor to the headwaters in the Adirondack Mountains and continues to grow every year.
