Using acoustic instruments on shallow draft-boats, the Seafloor Mapping Program at the Center for Coastal Studies in Provincetown Massachusetts has been collecting data throughout coastal New England, including Nantucket, since 2010. These maps are useful to quantitatively assess submerged coastal resources, such as eelgrass, shellfish beds, and other benthic habitats, helping scientists better understand coastal change on land and sea; and locating and characterizing hazardous marine debris and, of course, shipwrecks! Come see what the sonar hears.
Dr. Mark Borrelli is a Coastal Geologist. He is the Director of the Coastal Processes and Ecosystems Laboratory, or CAPE Lab, a joint research effort between the School for the Environment within the University of Massachusetts at Boston and the Center for Coastal Studies in Provincetown, Massachusetts. His research interests include coastal sedimentary processes, in general, and understanding how storms, sea level rise and anthropogenic impacts affect the coast, in particular.