Publication Date:
2022-05-26
Description:
© The Author(s), 2021. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Jakuba, R. W., Williams, T., Neill, C., Costa, J. E., McHorney, R., Scott, L., Howes, B. L., Ducklow, H., Erickson, M., & Rasmussen, M. Water quality measurements in Buzzards Bay by the Buzzards Bay Coalition Baywatchers Program from 1992 to 2018. Scientific Data, 8(1), 2021: 76, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-021-00856-4.
Description:
The Buzzards Bay Coalition’s Baywatchers Monitoring Program (Baywatchers) collected summertime water quality information at more than 150 stations around Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts from 1992 to 2018. Baywatchers documents nutrient-related water quality and the effects of nitrogen pollution. The large majority of stations are located in sub-estuaries of the main Bay, although stations in central Buzzards Bay and Vineyard Sound were added beginning in 2007. Measurements include temperature, salinity, Secchi depth and concentrations of dissolved oxygen, ammonium, nitrate + nitrite, total dissolved nitrogen, particulate organic nitrogen, particulate organic carbon, ortho-phosphate, chlorophyll a, pheophytin a, and in lower salinity waters, total phosphorus and dissolved organic carbon. The Baywatchers dataset provides a long-term record of the water quality of Buzzards Bay and its sub-estuaries. The data have been used to identify impaired waters, evaluate discharge permits, support the development of nitrogen total maximum daily loads, develop strategies for reducing nitrogen inputs, and increase public awareness and generate support for management actions to control nutrient pollution and improve water quality.
Description:
We thank the more than 1,500 volunteer Baywatchers citizen monitors who helped collect this information over 27 years. Since its inception, funding for this program has been provided through grants from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Buzzards Bay municipalities, private foundations, and members of the Buzzards Bay Coalition. Thank you to Paul Lefebvre for producing the station map. Amy Costa of the Center for Coastal Studies kindly provided data for comparison. Brian Howes of the School for Marine Science and Technology, University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth kindly provided the data for West Falmouth Harbor collected through the Falmouth Pond Watchers program. We thank the Marine Biological Laboratory and the Woodwell Climate Research Center for support to C. Neill, R. McHorney and L. Scott.
Repository Name:
Woods Hole Open Access Server
Type:
Article
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