My first week back from vacation was pretty busy and I couldn't be happier about it! Monday we were able to deploy the last stream gauge and soon enough we will be able to collect data from all of them. We have stream gauges in both the Kromma Kill and Patroon Creek Watersheds. We also have access to data collected by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) from October 2002 to September 2008 in the Patroon Creek. The main parameters we are focusing on with these gauges are discharge and specific conductance. Discharge is the volume of water that passes a specific point over a period of time. Specific conductance is the ability for water to conduct an electrical current and can be used to determine the total dissolved solids concentration of ions in solution. Our goal is to compare the data between the two watersheds, along with comparing present data in Patroon Creek with data collected at least eight years ago.
When we weren't out in the field I was analyzing the USGS data online. They have measurements of discharge, temperature, and specific conductance from 2002 to 2008. Data was taken every day for those years and I was able to download it for analysis. I calculated the average of every parameter for each year and compiled that data into a summary chart. Then I was able to graph these points to show trends for discharge, temperature, and specific conductance. I found that average discharge has been steadily increasing from 2002 to 2008, average temperature has been increasing very little, and average specific conductance has decreased starting in 2002 but started to increase in 2007. Even though we are collecting data eight years later, hopefully we will be able to explain these trends better and see what has been occurring in the Patroon Creek these past years.
On Thursday we started collecting sediment samples from the Patroon Creek Watershed. We will be testing these samples for heavy metals using x-ray fluorescence technology in our SAInT Center. I have absolutely no idea how to use this technology or how it will tell us what is in the soil so training next week will be very helpful! I'm really excited to see how this technology works and what I'll find in these samples.
Next week we will also be working with the DEC for macroinvertebrate sampling. We'll be teaching a group of community members how they can help the DEC with water quality testing by collecting macroinvertebrate samples. Needless to say I'm really excited for the weeks to come! It was great being in the field as much as we were this week and I'm really looking forward to taking a look at the data we have.
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