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The LUMCOM facility sits high about the ground to avoid regular flooding. A room designed for experimental research at the LUMCOM facility. This equipment was on the first floor and was moved to the second floor due to increasing frequency of flooding. Brian Roberts, associate director of science at LUMCON explains where many of his research experiments are done in the marsh behind the facility. Brian Roberts, associate director of science at LUMCON. Murt Conover, associate director of education and outreach at LUMCON. A picture depicting a flood hung on a bulletin board inside the LUMCON facility. The LUMCON facility is built 18 feet above ground and built to withstand 250 mph winds yet rising sea levels are starting to damage the building. A measuring device hangs in the main entrance of the LUMCON building to track how high flood waters get. Cracks in the floor of the LUMCON facility resulting from continual flooding and subsidence which is compromising the building’s infrastructure. Sarah Catherine Leblanc, an LSU masters student majoring in coastal ecology measures and documents mussels for her thesis research project. Amanda Fontenot, an environmental monitoring tech at the LUMCON facility worked in her office. Billy Moore, a lab tech at the LUMCON facility goes fishing after work off the facilities’ dock. The LUMCON facility’s docks have been rebuilt many times due to rising sea levels.

“A marine laboratory 85 miles southwest of New Orleans was designed to be a fortress against extreme weather. But the water is coming. Around the country, from New Jersey to Massachusetts, Virginia to Oregon, education centers and marine laboratories like this one are bracing against rising seas and a changing climate. The assault from climate change is slower but more relentless than any storm, and will ultimately do more damage. It threatens researchers’ ability to study marine environments up close at a time when it’s more vital than ever to understand them.” — John Schwartz

Marine Labs on the Edge of Extinction for The New York Times

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