Historical News
Water Column Profiles
R/V Monitor's Blog
On Wednesday, September 12th, the crew of the R/V Monitor was out on the upper Bay collecting nutrients and plankton samples, taking Secchi Disk and Par sensor water clarity measurements, conducting water column profiles using the Seabird instrument, and conducting real-time surface mapping of water quality parameters, including dissolved oxygen, chlorophyll, water temperature, salinity, and pH, all in an effort to document water quality improvements associated with NBC construction projects. Sara captained the boat while monitoring professionals Mike and Fern collected the samples and data. It was a cool and foggy day with no wind and calm waters. The boat run was ended a bit earlier than usual due to lightening in the area. The photo below features NBC's Bullock Reach fixed site monitoring buoy as observed this foggy day.
R/V Monitor's Blog
On Thursday, September 6th, the crew of the R/V Monitor was out on the upper Bay collecting bacteria samples, taking Secchi Disk and Par sensor water clarity measurements, conducting water column profiles using the Seabird instrument, and conducting real-time surface mapping of water quality parameters, including dissolved oxygen, chlorophyll, water temperature, salinity, and pH, all in an effort to document water quality improvements associated with NBC construction projects. In addiiton, the Seekonk River temporary fixed monitoring site was serviced this day. Sara captained the boat while monitoring professionals Heather and Mike collected the samples and data, and serviced the fixed monitoring site. The day began overcast but became sunny by mid-morning. It was very hot and humid, with no wind and calm waters. The photo below features dragon boats at the Division Street dock.
Surface Mapping
Data was collected on September 12, 2018 while the R/V Monitor was underway collecting nutrient samples and performing vertical profiles in the Providence River estuary. The chlorophyll concentrations were fair in areas surveyed. From north to south, average chlorophyll concentrations were as follows: Edgewood Shoals area (6.18 µg/l), Pawtuxet River area (5.41 µg/l), and the Lower Providence River (6.78 µg/l). Overall, chlorophyll ranged between 1.70 µg/l and 30.70 µg/l with an overall average of 6.37 µg/l. The chlorophyll data from this date is presented in the map below:
Water Column Clarity
Water clarity was measured at five locations in the Providence River on September 12, 2018. There was 2.04 inches of precipitation in the five days prior to sampling, including 0.85 inches on the day of sampling. Overall, average water clarity increased substantially over the previous week from 1.4 m to 2.4 m, and was shown to have increased at all sites. The largest increase of 1.50 m occurred at Bullock Reach. Secchi depth ranged from 1.8 m at Pawtuxet Cove to 3.2 m at Bullock Reach. There was evidence of a north to south water clarity gradient.
