A Trip to the Eastern Shore Provides Fresh Perspective on Continuous Monitoring

During our recent visit to Chestertown, Maryland, we found the perfect confluence of past, present and future. Founded in 1706, the town has a colonial history so rich, one half expects to see George Washington himself strolling the brick sidewalks. It’s also home to Washington College and the Semans-Griswold Environmental Hall, a state-of-the-art facility recently constructed on the shores of the Chester River to house the Center for Environment & Society and accommodate the college’s growing environmental programs.

We spent much of our time in the building’s Watershed Innovation Lab, where we were privileged to get a first-hand glimpse into the future of continuous water monitoring. Our host, Chief Innovation Officer Doug Levin, known to his students as Dr. Doug, showed us several of his ingenious solutions designed to “take the pulse” of the water with sensors deployed from buoys and monitored with unmanned, underwater vehicles that can patrol the waters 24/7.

Levin’s Basic Observation Buoy (BOB) is one innovation we know well, designed as it was to deploy with our Aqua TROLL multiparameter sondes and VuLink telemetry. We had a chance to talk through the specifics of the technology and see it in action.

We also had ample opportunity to take photos on the river. Our brilliant photographer, Noah Starling, made great use of the early morning and late afternoon hours to capture some stunning images. We were even able to draft our product manager Steve Sewell, “Dr. Doug,” and a few of his students to model for us.

The icing on the Chestertown cake was a trip to Foreman’s Branch Bird Observatory (FBBO), where Field Ecologist Maren Gimpel and FBBO Director Jim Gruber told us about their work to monitor the seasonal movements of migratory birds. We were amazed to learn that during a single migration they can catch and band more than 10,000 songbirds. The FBBO has been gathering and sharing avian data since 1998—another excellent example of continuous environmental monitoring that provides a detailed picture of change over time.

Once we’d each had an opportunity to release a banded bird back into the wild, it was time to head to the airport. Chestertown had made an impression. We were struck by its historic charm, impressed by the smart students, teachers and scientists working to solve current and future environmental challenges, and proud to see our instrumentation playing a key role in their important work to protect our water resources.