Checklist for Potomac/Mid-Atlantic Hydrologic Observatory

 

Name:  Tom Jordan, Don Weller, Pat Neale, Jess Parker, possibly others

Institution: Smithsonian Environmental Research Center

 

Number of watersheds:

 

We currently have 11 active monitoring stations within the Potomac HO region.  Nine of these are within the 25km2 Rhode River watershed on the western shore of Chesapeake Bay south of Annapolis.  These watersheds are part of SERCıs Smithsonian-owned long-term study site.  Our ongoing monitoring builds on a 30+ year data record.  Two other active stations are in the nearby Patuxent watershed.

 

For each watershed where monitoring is going on, provide the following (copy to additional pages as needed)

 

Geographic coordinates for a reference point in the watershed or at the basin outlet:

Rhode River (RR) watershed approximate center: 76deg34minW, 38deg53min N

Patuxent (Pax) watershed approximate center: 76deg42minW, 38deg48min N

            mainstem Pax at Governorıs Bridge Road (station at 76.693748 W, 38.950645 N)

            Western Branch at Upper Marlboro (station at 76.746986        W, 38.819305N)

 

Number of sites being monitored within the watershed, with the range or average size of drainage areas (where relevant):

RR watershed‹9 sites, range from 6 ha to 1000 ha (average size 225 ha)

Pax watershed 2 sites:

            mainstem Pax at Governorıs Bridge Road (908 km2)

            Western Branch at Upper Marlboro (234 km2)

 

Parameters being monitored

(list by category, e.g. streamflow; groundwater levels; meteorological variables ­ precip, relative humidity, wind speed, components of radiation balance; temperature; water quality constituents ­ nutrients, metals, organics, microorganisms, etc.; if there are different suites monitored at different sites, give approximate number of sites where each group of parameters is being monitored)

RR watershed*

streamflow, meteorological variables, bulk and wet atmospheric deposition chemistry, stream water quality, components of radiation

Pax watershed:

streamflow and stream water quality (TSS, NO3, THN4, TKN, PO4, TP, OrcC, Alkalinity, pH, conductivity, Si)

r

 

*more details on RR measurements:

streamflow (stage height every 5 or 15 min)

stream water quality (TSS, pH, alkalinity, conductivity, NO3, NH4, TKN, PO4, TP, OrgC, Si)

atmospheric deposition chemistry by storm (volume, and dry/wet deposition concentrations of NO3, NH4, TKN, pH, TP, TPO4, conductivity, alkalinity)

meterological variables (daily min/max temp, daily precip, daily pan evap., hourly temperature summary, hourly precipitation summary, hourly wind speed summary, hourly barometric pressure summary

 

radiation variables ­ visible and UVB radiation

heat balance data ­ (frmo 1990ıs, not ongoing)

throughfall, stemflow data ­ (from 1990ıs not ongoing)

 

Period(s) of record:

Rhode River stream monitoring, weather, and atmospheric deposition ­ 1974 to present

Pax watershed stream monitoring ­ July 1997 to present

 

Frequency of record:

RR ­ stream discharge every 5 or 15 min, volume integrated water chemistry weekly; atmospheric deposition by storm

Pax ­ stream discharge every 5 min, volume integrated water chemistry weekly

 

Titles of current project or projects or scientific and management objectives of monitoring:

Long-term monitoring of the Rhode River watershed (a suite of ongoing projects supported by the Smithsonian Institution).

Analysis of Rhode River watershed data (along with watershed data from other locations) is supported by another suite of ongoing projects supported by EPA, NOAA, and NSF).  We can supply more information on these other projects if you really need it.

The long-term Rhode River program seeks to document patterns of temporal and spatial variability in ecological fluxes and to determine what controls that variability.

 

Ongoing monitoring of the Patuxent watershed is supported by Tom Jordanıs NSF project ³Collaborative Research: Across the salinity transition-- Changes in N and P biogeochemistry along an estuarine salinity gradient.²

 

Names of Principal Investigators on current projects:

Tom Jordan (watershed and water quality monitoring, atmospheric deposition monitoring, watershed data analysis)

Don Weller (watershed data analysis and watershed modeling)

Jess Parker (throughfall and stemflow data, heat balance data)

Pat Neale (radiation data)