​Fourteen river stations and seven bay stations were sampled for nutrients at the surface and an additional bay station was sampled at the surface at bottom on August 2nd, 2017. Each of the bay stations was sampled at the surface and at the bottom. The five days prior to sampling were dry, with only trace rainfall recorded at TF Green. Among the river stations, the lowest total nitrogen (TN) was observed on the Moshassuck River at Higginson Ave. at 531 ppb; the lowest total dissolved nitrogen (TDN) was observed at th Ten Mile River at Omega Pond site at 405 ppb; and the lowest dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) was observed at the Warren Resovior/Kickemuit River site at <13 ppb. The highest nitrogen concentrations for TDN and DIN were measured on the Ten Mile River at Central Ave with 1,590 ppb for TDN and 1,280 ppb DIN; the highest TN was measured at the Taunton River with 1,890.
Among the surface bay stations, TN ranged from 1,650 ppb at Phillipsdale Landing to 718 ppb at Conimicut Point, generally following a north to south gradient of decreasing concentration. TDN and DIN were highest at Pawtuxet Cove (1,020 ppb and 635 ppb, respectively). TDN was lowest at Edgewood Yacht Club with 186 ppb and DIN was lowest at Pomham Rocks with a concentration of 24 ppb. DIN was generally low with many sites below 30 ppb.
Chlorophyll a was generally elevated at all locations andranged from 9.9 µg/L at Conimicut Point to a maximum of 111.1 µg/L at Pomham Rocks. Edgewood Yacht Club had similarly high (above 25 µg/L) chlorophyll concentrations, indicative of a phytoplankton bloom in the middle of the survey region. Overall, chlorophyll a averaged 42.8 µg/L, indicating chlorophyll blooms around much of the upper bay.
Results from nutrient sampling completed on August 17 and August 30 are pending analysis from the NBC Laboratory. The next anticipated nutrients sampling data is September 13th.