NASA Satelite picture of Connecticut River flowing into LI Sound after Irene

Ka1oxd

Ka1oxd

New Member
Nov 19, 2009
1,071
Connecticut River at Portland Riverside Marina
Boat Info
1988 Sea Ray 340 Sundancer
Engines
7.4l inboards
I had to share this with the group. This picture is from Sept 2, the day before I brought my boat back up the Connecticut River after being forced out from the flood waters in Portland Connecticut the day after Irene. A group of boats were allowed safe harbor at Between the Bridges Marina for a week for free until we could make it to the home port. The picture is worth a thousand words. Thanks NASA.

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/view.php?id=52059
 
I'm wondering if that will make the jacka$$ that sits in that railroad bridge box be nicer...
 
Why is the Thames river dumping dark colored stuff out when your river is dumping mud? Does anyone know what that is?
 
tdschafer said:
Why is the Thames river dumping dark colored stuff out when your river is dumping mud? Does anyone know what that is?
Click to expand...

I suspect the Thames River is actually issuing clean water with a different reflectivity to sediment filled water. The lakes are a similar colour to the Thames River. As the Thames River flows out to the south, it mixes with Connecticut River sediment and this mixing appears to be assisted by north/south tidal flows. Where the water hasn't mixed ( the dark coloured stuff) is in fact new issues of clean water out of the Thames.


Terry
 
Ka1oxd said:
This picture is from Sept 2, the day before I brought my boat back up the Connecticut River after being forced out from the flood waters in Portland Connecticut the day after Irene.

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/view.php?id=52059
Click to expand...

Here's the pic for the Hudson / New York Harbor. It's not nearly as dramatic, though. http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=51975

There are still a lot of logs and debris in the Hudson, at least up towards Haverstraw; it feels like you are playing dodge 'em on the water. I was surprised to find nothing in the sea strainers, though, just the silt in the water which is too fine to be strained out. New impellers for next year is probably a good idea for me, the boat is 3 years old and they haven't been changed.
 
Last edited:
I think the biggest issue with the CT river is that it runs from Canada through VT to the sound. Lots of mud from several states have flowed down and this is the result of it. I was at my marina Friday night (could not get to the boat due to additional flood from this weeks rain) and it was not as muddy as the week before. Mother Nature will clean this up with time. The debris I think will be around for the rest of this season.
 
tdschafer said:
Why is the Thames river dumping dark colored stuff out when your river is dumping mud? Does anyone know what that is?
Click to expand...

According to Suzanne O'Connell, a geologist from Wesleyan University, the torrent of water coursing through the Connecticut River basin runs over a landscape that was once submerged under Glacial Lake Hitchcock. As it runs down from the highlands and coastal plains to Long Island Sound, the river can pick up fine sediment "that is so perfect for farming or for adding suspended sediment to a river." In the wake of Irene, the turbidity (muddiness) of the water, as measured at Essex, Connecticut, was 50 times higher than before the storm

To the east, the Thames River appears to be carrying very little sediment at all on September 2. According to O'Connell, the Thames "drains glaciated terrain, so fine sediment was removed long ago." Most of the land surface in the Thames basin is "just bedrock, till, and glacial erratics." Unlike the Connecticut, areas within the Thames watershed only received 2 to 4 inches of rain in most location
 
Couldn't get out to my boat this week either... Well without a row boat or dinghy.

The river right after the storm was not only brown and full of debris, it had a metallic sheen to it. I spent a couple of days going out to and from the boat (on three anchors away from the slips as they went under) and the water was just gross.

Now there is a 30'+ long tree trunk in the slip next to me, and a few good sized logs lodged under my boat. The river will be a mess until the end of the season. Sad, I was hoping to get a couple of nice weekends in.
 
Woody said:
According to Suzanne O'Connell, a geologist from Wesleyan University, the torrent of water coursing through the Connecticut River basin runs over a landscape that was once submerged under Glacial Lake Hitchcock. As it runs down from the highlands and coastal plains to Long Island Sound, the river can pick up fine sediment "that is so perfect for farming or for adding suspended sediment to a river." In the wake of Irene, the turbidity (muddiness) of the water, as measured at Essex, Connecticut, was 50 times higher than before the storm

To the east, the Thames River appears to be carrying very little sediment at all on September 2. According to O'Connell, the Thames "drains glaciated terrain, so fine sediment was removed long ago." Most of the land surface in the Thames basin is "just bedrock, till, and glacial erratics." Unlike the Connecticut, areas within the Thames watershed only received 2 to 4 inches of rain in most location
Click to expand...

Thank you for the excellent explanation!
 
Ka1oxd said:
25thmustang, I feel your pain. I am at Portland Riverside Marina, where are you located? I know Seaboard has its problems as well.
Click to expand...

Im just north of you at the small boat club right before the railroad bridge. Actually, where I anchored my boat just after Irene, was right on the inside bend before your place.

I thought all was well when the storm ended, and everything looked good. Never imagined the level of flooding, and that we are still experiencing it.
 
So you are at the Meriden Yacht Club. I headed down to Old Saybrook on Monday after Irene since the marina told us to get out. They did not know if the docks and pillions were going to hold. I found safe harbor at Between the Bridges Marina. The owner let us stay on the gas docks for free for a week. Brought the boat back up Sept 3. Left he owner with 2 30 packs of beer for a thank you. I will be out this weekend, or at least at the dock. If you are out on on the river, look for the name of my boat "Are You Ready" and say hi!
 
Ka1oxd said:
So you are at the Meriden Yacht Club. I headed down to Old Saybrook on Monday after Irene since the marina told us to get out. They did not know if the docks and pillions were going to hold. I found safe harbor at Between the Bridges Marina. The owner let us stay on the gas docks for free for a week. Brought the boat back up Sept 3. Left he owner with 2 30 packs of beer for a thank you. I will be out this weekend, or at least at the dock. If you are out on on the river, look for the name of my boat "Are You Ready" and say hi!
Click to expand...

Yes the Meriden Motorboat Club.

A fellow member at the club keeps his boat down at Between the Bridges and said there was a LOT of debris down that way, and a boat or two actually sank after the storm/flooding. I can't confirm if that's true or not.

I will be at the boat tonight, possibly head down that way this weekend. I think I have seen your boat docked at the marina.
 
I brought my boat from Deep River up to Petzolds for the storm. Actually pulled the boat. It was back in the water today and I hope to bring it back down on Friday. Nice and slow of course! Hopefully neither of you had any damage.
 
I can confirm the following at Between the Bridges, one boat sank and one had damage. The one that sank looked like the swim platform got stuck under the dock with storm surge coming in. so it was in a bow up configuration. The other boat, the storm surge was so high on the pilings and the wind caused the rub rail to come down on the piling which put a big hole in the hull, but it did not sink. That is what I saw and I was talking to the captain of the latter. And yes there was lots of debris floating around and piling in between the boats and the fingers. But they were working hard to bring everything back to shape.
 
As I flew back to NY today from Boston I could very clearly see the large brown muck injected into the Sound from the CT River. I wonder how long it will take fro the Sound to cleanse itself of all that silt.
 
Ka, Mustang...looks like we're neighbors. We're on C Dock at Yankee. We went out for a short run Sunday. Lots of mud but the debris has dropped off a lot.
Our boat is ths Sadie Lucile.
 
Nice to see some CT River boaters!

I was on the boat this past Wednesday night into thursday morning. Had to move a slip over and remove a tree from under the boat. I actually was going to drive the boat out of the slip, but after walking it over, I am very glad I chose not to. The log that I thought was next to the boat, was actually under the boat. Had I ran it and put her in gear, there would have been prop damage. All was well, we got the log out and away, and even cleaned out a few bucket loads of debris from the north slips.

I'm hoping to get out and use the boat some soon, before the cold air really hits.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Forum statistics

Threads
113,241
Messages
1,429,113
Members
61,122
Latest member
DddAae
Back
Top