The Snowy Winter

This chapter describes the author's experience while staying on Cape Cod to finish a novel. The best moment came when the author was standing alone out on Coast Guard Beach — on almost the exact spot where the naturalist-writer Henry Beston lived for a year in his outermost cabin on Cape Cod's ocean shore — when the young snowy owl rose off the tundra-like marsh with a black duck in its talons. The duck hung down limp below the owl, and below that the duck's lifeless feet hung down even lower, like damaged landing gear. The author saw a couple who attempted to follow the owl. The couple were not birders, but they were considerate, giving the owl plenty of space. “Radiant” is a word the author had been using a lot during their last few days of owl-watching, though mostly to describe the white unworldly shine of the snowy owl's feathers.

Evaluation of Seagrass and Seaweed Species Diversity, Abundance, and Human Activities Endangering their Existence at Indian Ocean Shore at Kigamboni in Dar es Salaam City, Coastal Zone of Tanzania

An evaluation of seagrass and seaweed species diversity, abundance, and the human activities endangering their existence were conducted at the Kigamboni Indian ocean shore in Dar es Salaam city. The study aimed to determine the abundance, diversity of seagrasses and seaweeds and to identify human activities undertaken in the study area. A transect was set within the study area where plots of 10 m x 10 m (100 m2) were established at an interval of 100m. The encountered seagrass and seaweed species were identified for their scientific names to species level and whenever it was not possible, a specimen was collected and taken to the University of Dar es Salaam Herbarium (DSM) for identification. The species were also counted and recorded as per their number of stems. H’ was applied to calculate the Shannon Wiener Index of Diversity. Also, relative abundance (RA) was calculated. A total of 17 species from 14 genera were identified. The calculated H’ was 2.0309, an implication of high seagrass and seaweed species diversity. The identified human activities were fishing and swimming. Of those activities, bait collection (33.89%) was the most dominant while swimming had 33.33%, fishing had 16.67% and marine gravel had 11.11%. Kigamboni ocean shore comprises of high species diversity of seagrass and seaweed species, facing severe damage from human disturbances. This study recommends for sustainable management of the ocean shore through education, protection strategy to ensure the survival of the existing seagrasses and seaweed species.

EFFECT OF LAKE WORTH AND SOUTH LAKE WORTH INLETS ON THE MOVEMENT OF LITTORAL MATERIAL

Lake Worth and South Lake Worth Inlets are artificial inlets connecting Lake Worth with the Atlantic Ocean. They are located on the east coast of Florida about 70 miles north of Miami and 300 miles south of Jacksonville. Lake Worth is a salt-water sound extending in a north-south direction, generally parallel to the ocean shore, as shown on figure 1. It is separated from the ocean by a barrier beach, 250 feet to about 3,600 feet wide and up to about 25 feet in elevation. The barrier beach is composed principally of sand, a portion of which is artificial fill over former low-lying marshy areas. There are occasional outcroppings of coquina rock on the barrier beach and in the offshore area. In this locality the offshore bottom is rather steep; the 100-fathom depth, lying closer to the shore than along other parts of the Atlantic coast, is about 5-1/2 miles offshore at Lake Worth Inlet.

VIRGINIA BEACH SAND SIZE AS BASIS FOR DESIGN OF ON-SHORE DREDGED MATERIAL DISPOSA

Analyses of sand samples collected along and across the Atlantic Ocean shore of Virginia Beach, Virginia, suggest that sand placed on the shore should have a minimum median diameter of 0.20 mm to efficiently benefit the beach. Size analyses and shoreline change data show that the existing long-term beach replenishment by mechanical bypassing across Rudee Inlet and by truck-hauled sand from land sources is effective and necessary to maintain the shore along the commercial segment of Virginia Beach. The data also indicate that the northern segment of Virginia Beach shore, occupying more than half the distance between Rudee Inlet and Fort Story, is gaining sand. About two million cubic meters of sand to be dredged from the Atlantic Ocean Channel offshore of Virginia Beach will be suitable for placement on the beach.