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98 in the Shade

Arborists measure the girth of a massive copper beech tree on Challenger Drive on the WHOI village campus that has provided the Woods Hole community with shade and inspiration for nearly 150 years. The tree recently fell victim to a bark canker and had to be taken down. Much of the tree will live on as wooden bowls and furniture made by local artists and craftsman, and some of it has been “donated” to science: the WHOI NOSAMS facility will measure the radiocarbon in the tree as a point of reference, or standard, for other carbon dating done at the facility.(Photo by Tom Kleindinst, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)