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Newsletter - Plymouth State University
N OVEMBER 2012, N O 1 The Lotic Volunteer Temperature, Electrical Conductivity, and Stage Sensing Network A LoVoTECS Newsletter by Mark Green Welcome to our newsletter! This is the first in what will become quarterly updates about the happenings in our Lotic Volunteer Temperature, Electrical Conductivity, and Stage Sensing network (LoVoTECS). We will use this forum to update our partners on activities within the network and provide statewide syntheses of the the data you are collecting. But first, a little bit about who we are. LoVoTECS is funded by the National Science Foundation through a cooperative agreement to the New Hampshire Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) program. The network is being coordinated by a group of researchers, staff, and students at Plymouth State University – and implemented by our broad group of partners, including educators, researchers, government agencies, non-profit organizations, and citizen scientists. Our goal is to improve our understanding of New Hampshire’s water resources and help develop a technically advanced workforce by providing educational opportunities to interact with large data sets. We will accomplish this by building a state-of-the-art, broad scale and high-frequency hydrologic sensing network using simple sensors operated by a diverse group of partners. We are grateful for your collaboration and are excited to improve hydrologic knowledge and scientific training in New Hampshire. Mark is an Assistant Professor of Hydrology at Plymouth State University’s Center for the Environment. September K-12 Teacher Workshop by Doug Earick of data, and an overview of the research scope of the LoVoTECS project. Teacher Workshop: Doug Earick, Errin Volitis, Sandy Amborn, and Ashley Hyde took part in a hands-on LoVoTECS teacher workshop on Saturday, September 22 at Prospect Mountain High School in Alton. The workshop was the first of a series of training sessions for teacher volunteers involved in the program, and included instruction in the set-up and use of water quality sensors, analysis and application In attendance were seven middle school / high school teachers and two college-level instructors, each having volunteered to have themselves and their classes involved in the project through the collection of data at their respective school sites. Schools from Pittsburg, Keene, Prospect Mountain, Plainfield, Dover, and Newport were represented, as well as New England College and Great Bay Community College. Newletter from the LoVoTECS Network - Plymouth State University and NH EPSCoR m LoVoTECS T 603-960-4413 B Email Page 1 project. Future workshops will focus on the development of curriculum and student research opportunities. Doug is a Research Assistant Professor at Plymouth State University’s Center for the Environment. Now that the beloved hammer drill has fallen silent, a plan has been devised for winter data collection. Starting the week of November 10th the loggers will capture data at a 15-minute interval during the winter months and well into May of 2013. Providing safe access and weather conditions, volunteers will continue to visit their sites monthly; although field measurements and data downloading may not be possible volunteers will make a visual check that their loggers are secure. While logger security and data collection is very important to us, volunteer safety is our highest priority. In locations where it is impractical to secure the loggers, they will be removed and stored until conditions allow for reinstallation. Errin is a Hydrologic Technician at Plymouth State University’s Center for the Environment. Sally Jean from Keene State Coll., Marshall Davenson from Keene H.S., Sandy Amborn from UNH, and Ashley Hyde from Plymouth State U. look at an area map as they plan a sensor deployment. Network Growth by Errin Volitis With the last leaves hanging delicately to the trees and the impending first statewide blanket of snow we have concluded our sensor installation for the year. To date, the sensor network is 90 percent installed with the remaining sites being of two categories; large river sites requiring specialized housing or specific strategic geographic locations for the statewide network. Although we are no longer recruiting for volunteers to host sensors in local streams and rivers, we still have opportunities for becoming involved in the program. Along with the collection of the stream sensor data we have a pilot project to monitor electrical conductance of precipitation statewide. A few weeks ago, Ashley Hyde and I placed simple rain gauges in our own back yards and tried a variety of rain collectors to test methods for statewide use. We aim to have 10 to 12 precipitation sites statewide; the collected data will be used to understand the electrical conductivity of precipitation in the State, which will help us interpret the stream and river data that is already being collected. Please contact us for additional information or to become enrolled in this branch of the Current sensor locations around New Hampshire and four sites in the Plum Island Ecosystem Long Term Ecological Research site in Massachusetts. Newletter from the LoVoTECS Network - Plymouth State University and NH EPSCoR m LoVoTECS T 603-960-4413 B Email Page 2 Current list of LoVoTECS sites. Site Name Beaver Brook Bogle Brook Beaver Brook Beaver Brook Burley Demerrit Blood Brook Blood Brook Back Lake Brook Back Lake Brook Bellamy River Bellamy River Baker St. Storm Sewer Bartlett Water Supply Clay Brook Clay Brook Clay Brook Cart Creek Creamery Brook Creamery Brook Cedar Swamp Douglas Brook Emerson Brook Ipswich Dam Israel River Israel River Johnson Brook Moose River Moose River Mad River Mad River Contocook Contocook Contocook Contocook Otter Brook Ossipee River Pine Bend Brook Piscataquog Piscataquog Piscataquog Parker Dam Pine River Alton Stream Alton Stream Pemigewasset River Piscataquog Pemigewasset River Perry Stream Perry Stream Piscataquog River Rand Brook Red Hill River Sawmill Brook Saddleback Abbreviation BBD BBK BBU BBW BDC BDD BDU BLD BLU BRD BRU BSW BWS CBD CBT CBU CCK CRD CRU CSP DGB EMB IDM IRD IRU JOB MOD MOU MRC MRL NEA NEB NED NEU OBG OSS PBB PBD PBI PBU PDM PIN PME PMW PRF PRG PRP PSD PSU PWU RBH RHS SBK SBM Location Keene Peterborough Keene Keene Lamprey River Plainfield Plainfield Pittsburg Pittsburg Dover Dover Keene Bartlett Plymouth Plymouth Plymouth Plum Island LTER Sandwich Sandwich Lamprey River Albany Stark Plum Island LTER Jefferson Jefferson Stark Randolph Randolph Waterville Valley Waterville Valley Henniker Henniker Henniker Henniker Peterborough Freedom Livermore New Boston Manchester New Boston Plum Island LTER Effingham Alton Alton Franklin Goffstown Plymouth Pittsburg Pittsburg Weare Francestown Sandwich Plum Island LTER Newletter from the LoVoTECS Network - Plymouth State University and NH EPSCoR m LoVoTECS T 603-960-4413 B Email Sensor Host Organization Keene HS Otter Brook Farm Keene HS Plymouth State Univ. Univ. of NH Plainfield Plainfield Pittsburg School Pittsburg School Dover Middle School Dover Middle School Plymouth State Univ. U.S. Forest Service Plymouth State Univ. Plymouth State Univ. Plymouth State Univ. Univ. of NH Sandwich Middle School Sandwich Middle School Univ. of NH U.S. Forest Service NH Fish and Game Univ. of NH Israel R. Volunteer Advisory Group Israel R. Volunteer Advisory Group NH Fish and Game Plymouth State Univ. Plymouth State Univ. Rey Center Rey Center New England Coll. New England Coll. New England Coll. New England Coll. Otter Brook Farm Green Mtn Conservation Group U.S. Forest Service PRLAC PRLAC PRLAC Univ. of NH Green Mtn Conservation Group Prospect Mtn High School Prospect Mtn High School Plymouth State Univ. PRLAC Plymouth State Univ. NH Dept of Environmental Services NH Dept of Environmental Services Trout Unlimited St. Anselm College Plymouth State Univ. of NH Univ. of NH Page 3 Site Name Dead Diamond River Swift Diamond River School House Brook Slide Brook Belnap Woods Mill Brook Swift River Sugar River North Sugar River South Swift River Whittle Brook Wednesday Hill Brook 1 Continued from previous page Abbreviation Location Sensor Host Organization SCD Errol Dartmouth Coll./NH Fish and Game SCS Errol Dartmouth Coll./NH Fish and Game SHB Francestown St. Anselm College SLB Stark NH Fish and Game SQB Holderness Squam Lakes Association SQM Holderness Squam Lakes Association SRM Albany U.S. Forest Service SRN Newport Newport School SRS Newport Newport School SRU Bartlett U.S. Forest Service WBG Goffstown PRLAC WHB Lamprey River Univ. of NH Data from September When we calculate median water temperature and specific conductivity for sensors in September, the following Data have been piling up as the network grows, and picture appears. We are going to be making such comso we have been busy doing quality assurance checks and parisons to understand how different rivers and streams developing ways to analyze so much data. We will be compare and why they are different. This is vital to besending you summaries of your individual sites and using ing able to understand baseline function of streams in the this newsletter to provide comparisons of sites around State, and then understand human impacts. the State. 1000 500 BSW BBW 200 BBD CRDOBW 100 CRU SRS BBU SRN WBG SQB BLD MOU BLU PMW PBI NEU NED NEB PRG NEA PWU 50 SQM OSS MOD SRU MRC BBK PME SLB SRM IRU JOB MRL OBG PIN IRD DGB EMB PBB 20 Median Sp. Conductivity (µS/cm) by Mark Green BWS 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 Median Water Temperature (°C) Median water temperature and specific conductance for LoVoTECS sites during September 2012. The three-letter codes are site identifiers. The data identify a general pattern of increasing specific conductance with increasing water temperature. There appear to be three corners to the data cloud: the yellow area is a storm sewer in Keene (as warm and polluted we might see in the flowing waters of NH), the blue area represents outlets from lakes, and the grey area is forested mountain streams. These data are preliminary. Newletter from the LoVoTECS Network - Plymouth State University and NH EPSCoR m LoVoTECS T 603-960-4413 B Email Page 4
