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Lava Beds National Monument Water Quality
Due to the lack of surface water in the monument, water quality monitoring at Lava Beds is limited to ice cave resources. Water quality indicators that are monitored include pH, alkalinity, dissolved oxygen, ammonia nitrogen, free carbon dioxide, nitrite nitrogen, hardness and chloride. Climatic influences affect ice cave development and ice level fluctuation. Monitoring is also conducted on ice level fluctuation over time. Data from this project is correlated with climate data to better understand how ice caves are affected by the changes in climate.
Maine ocean islands provide the only nesting sites for Atlantic puffins in the United States. Eastern Egg Rock in the midcoast region, Seal Island and Matinicus Rock at the mouth of Penobscot Bay, and Machias Seal Island and Petit Manan Island off the downeast coast provide habitat for more than 4,000 puffins each summer.