Improving Off-Season Research Access to Shoals Marine Laboratory, Appledore Island, Maine

康奈尔大学获得了一笔赠款，用于开发对浅滩海洋实验室的淡季访问，该实验室是缅因湾阿普普罗尔岛上的一个季节性野外站，占地95英亩，并与新汉普郡大学(http://www.sml.cornell.edu/).)合作自1973年在该岛建立研究设施以来，由于缺乏可靠的电源和有限的海上通道，该岛从9月到5月一直禁止研究活动。该项目包括增加大容量的电池存储容量，以增加可以在岛上进行的研究和培训的广度。电力系统的改进将通过不间断电源可靠地满足500平方英尺干燥实验室的休赛期住房和实验室需求，不间断电源由可由现有风能和太阳能电源充电的非常大的电池阵列组成。该系统安装在现有主发电机附近的位置将利用中央电路，目标是为岛上的24座建筑和设施发展一个绿色电网。通过这些改进，在阿普莱索尔岛进行研究的全季通道将增加研究人员和学生的SML有效性，他们研究鸟类栖息地的利用和迁徙，港口和灰海豹等海洋哺乳动物的季节分布和繁殖，以及海洋无脊椎动物幼虫的潮间带定居模式。这些改进还将使SML继续在可持续工程方面取得进展，减少其碳足迹，并限制其燃料支出。向淡季研究人员和学生开放SML将扩大新的和/或扩大对该岛动植物及其独特位置和各种实地考察地点的研究的机会。例如，阿普莱诺尔环志站已经运营了25年多，环志了10万多只鸟，但受限于只有从春末到初秋才能进入岛屿。夏季对岛上大黑嘴鸥(Larus Marinus)和鲱鸥(L.argentatus)种群的深入研究将扩大到冬季更密集的迁徙和栖息地利用研究。另一个正在开发的研究领域涉及缅因州南部海湾的灰海豹(Halichoerus Grypus)和港海豹(Phoca Vitulina)。观察附近种群繁殖行为的关键月份是从12月到4月，此时唯一的途径是从大陆进行长途旅行，因此进入阿普雷诺尔岛的淡季通道将使全年开始监测这些种群成为可能。

Cornell University is awarded a grant to develop off-season access to the Shoals Marine Laboratory (SML), a seasonal field-station on 95-acre Appledore Island in the Gulf of Maine and co-operated with the University of New Hampshire (http://www.sml.cornell.edu/). Since inception of research facilities at the island in 1973, the island has been closed to research activity from September to May due to lack of reliable power sources and limited sea access. This project involves adding large battery storage capacity to increase the breadth of research and training that can be undertaken at the island. The improvements to the electrical system will reliably provide for offseason housing and laboratory needs at a 500 square foot dry laboratory via an uninterruptible power supply consisting of a very large array of batteries chargeable by existing wind and solar power sources. The location of the system's installation near existing main generators will take advantage of centralized circuits with the goal of developing a green grid for the 24 buildings and facilities on the island.All-season access for research on Appledore Island via these improvements will increase the effectiveness of SML to researchers and students who study bird habitat utilization and migration, seasonal distribution and reproduction of marine mammals such as harbor and gray seals, and intertidal settlement patterns of marine invertebrate larvae. The improvements will also enable SML to continue progress in sustainable engineering, reducing its carbon footprint, and limit its fuel expenditures. Opening SML to off-season researchers and students will expand opportunities for new and/or expanded studies of the flora and fauna of the island and its unique location and access to a variety of field sites. For example, the Appledore Banding Station has operated for more than 25 years and banded more than 100,000 birds, yet is limited by only having island access from late spring to early fall. Intensive research on the populations of great black backed gulls (Larus marinus) and herring gulls (L. argentatus) on the island during the summer will be expanded to more intensive migratory and habitat usage studies over the winter months. Another developing research area concerns gray seals (Halichoerus grypus) and harbor seals (Phoca vitulina) in the southern Gulf of Maine. The critical months for observing reproductive behaviors of the nearby population span from December through April, when the only access is long trips from the mainland thus offseason access to Appledore Island will make it possible to begin monitoring this population throughout the year.