WATER QUALITY
LET'S TALK ABOUT WATER QUALITY
For over a decade the GTM NERR has been monitoring seasonal changes in water quality and weather within the Tolomato, Matanzas, and Pellicer Creek estuaries as part of the National Estuarine Research Reserve’s (NERRs) System-Wide Monitoring Program (SWMP). The goal of the SWMP is to measure short-term variability and long-term changes in the estuary to gain a better understanding of how our estuaries function, change over time, and to predict how coastal systems respond to natural and human-induced change. SWMP is implemented at each of the 29 NERRs across the country, using standardized protocols and instruments so we are all collecting the same type of data, just in different places!
WHAT ARE WE MEASURING?
WATER QUALITY
Automated instruments are deployed at four sites throughout the GTMNERR (Pine Island, San Sebastian, Fort Matanzas, and Pellicer Creek) and continuously record data every 15 minutes!​​
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Collected parameters include:
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Water Temperature
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Salinity
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Conductivity
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Dissolved Oxygen
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Turbidity
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pH
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Water Depth
METEOROLOGICAL
Atmospheric conditions are continuously monitored at a weather station in Pellicer Creek, which records the data every 15 minutes.
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Collected parameters include:
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​Air Temperature
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Wind Speed
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Wind Direction
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Barometric Pressure
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Precipitation
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Relative Humidity
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Photosynthetically Active Radiation (PAR)
NUTRIENTS
​​ In addition to the automated water quality instruments, monthly nutrient, bacteria, and chlorophyll a grab samples are collected at those same four sites as well as monthly diel (over a 24-hour period) samples at Pellicer Creek.
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Collected parameters include:
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Nitrite
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Nitrate
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Ammonium
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Total Kjeldahl nitrogen
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Orthophosphate
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Total phosphorus
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Total suspended solids
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Chlorophyll a
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Phaeophytin
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Fecal coliforms
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Dissolved organic carbon
INTERESTED IN ACCESSING THE NERRS SWMP DATA?
Check out the links below:
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Other SWMP resources: