What is Snapshot Day? An estuary wide sampling event for students, teachers and educators. What makes it so special? Same Day Sampling - A single Fall Date is selected for the event - 10/2/07 this year Support - Teachers and Student groups are MATCHED with Environmental Educators for support and equipment needs  Place Based - students sample at a river site close to their school-building a connection sites are marked  on the map. System wide - Students learn how their sampling site relates to the whole Estuary System Based - Sampling focuses on the whole estuary as an interrelated system -includes Biological, Chemical, Physical parameters Standardized protocols - flexible but established for support and consistency of data Studying Trends - Support website of historic sampling data allows an examination of system trends Real field sampling experience for students Application of learned concepts in a hands on experience Involved in Real Science Students collect samples for real scientists. Scientist can benefit from the same day multiple site data collection opportunities. Students data contributes to real science. Chlorophyll - River productivity Students filter water samples to collect chlorophyll for an estuary wide data set. Samples are visually compared in the field and then returned to Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory for analysis using a spectrophotometer. Sediment Core analysis - XRF Sediment push cores are collected, described and bagged by the students. Samples are returned to Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory for metals analysis using X-Ray Florescence. Selected metal levels can be an indicator of human impacts. Trace Metal Studies - through water sample collection- Students collect filtered water samples for Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute. Scientists there are extracting trace metals uranium, rhenium, molybdenum, major cations and anions to establish the contributions of the Hudson in the ocean budget of these metals as part of a climate study. Chemistry * Biology * Physical * Site Description * Shipping Teacher Support What tools and materials are available to educators? Pre-event workshops- instruct educators in use of equipment, lesson plans, and field trip management…and they’re fun! Held at various locations throughout the estuary Educator Partners- dozens of non-profit organizations and agencies provide facilities, river access, and education specialists. This network provides the backbone of Snapshot days organization. Webpage- includes many resources teachers can use throughout the year, including fish keys, maps, photographs, and more… On-Line Overview- slide show provides overview of the Hudson, details on data collection, and the big day itself. Protocols- careful sampling instructions, data sheets, and explanations of the science behind the Snapshot. Careful recording is a foundation of good student science. HOW TO GET INVOLVED: Log on to: Contact Margie Turrin at or Chris Bowser at Lesson Plans: Snapshot Day Continues into the Classroom Students can use the data they collect, as well as a database of other sites and previous years, in a variety of science-based, multidisciplinary lesson plans available on-line. Here are a few samples : physical data sheet Good times and great training Albany New York City A Day in the Life of the Hudson River Estuary New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Snapshot Day: