Suspended-sediment concentrations from water samples collected in Bellingham Bay, Washington, USA, 2019 to 2021

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Frequently anticipated questions:


What does this data set describe?

Title:
Suspended-sediment concentrations from water samples collected in Bellingham Bay, Washington, USA, 2019 to 2021
Abstract:
Water samples were collected in Bellingham Bay, Washington, USA on 14 days from July 30, 2019, to April 15, 2021. The water samples were collected from a small vessel near pre-established USGS instrument moorings using a van Dorn water sampler. These data were collected to support studies of sediment delivery, transport, deposition, and resuspension in this Pacific Northwest estuarine embayment.
Supplemental_Information:
Additional information about the field activities from which these data were derived is available online at:
https://cmgds.marine.usgs.gov/fan_info.php?fan=2019-638-FA https://cmgds.marine.usgs.gov/fan_info.php?fan=2019-653-FA https://cmgds.marine.usgs.gov/fan_info.php?fan=2019-665-FA https://cmgds.marine.usgs.gov/fan_info.php?fan=2020-605-FA https://cmgds.marine.usgs.gov/fan_info.php?fan=2021-601-FA https://cmgds.marine.usgs.gov/fan_info.php?fan=2021-618-FA
Any use of trade, product, or firm names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.
  1. How might this data set be cited?
    Nowacki, Daniel J., vanArendonk, Nathan R., Stevens, Andrew W., Grossman, Eric E., and Tan, Angela C., 20230218, Suspended-sediment concentrations from water samples collected in Bellingham Bay, Washington, USA, 2019 to 2021: data release DOI:10.5066/P96EH1MS, U.S. Geological Survey, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, Santa Cruz, California.

    Online Links:

    This is part of the following larger work.

    Nowacki, Daniel J., vanArendonk, Nathan R., Stevens, Andrew W., Grossman, Eric E., and Tan, Angela C., 2023, Oceanographic and water-quality measurements collected in Bellingham Bay, Washington, USA, 2019 to 2021: data release DOI:10.5066/P96EH1MS, U.S. Geological Survey, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, Santa Cruz, CA.

    Online Links:

  2. What geographic area does the data set cover?
    West_Bounding_Coordinate: -122.612889
    East_Bounding_Coordinate: -122.485953
    North_Bounding_Coordinate: 48.764537
    South_Bounding_Coordinate: 48.715133
  3. What does it look like?
  4. Does the data set describe conditions during a particular time period?
    Beginning_Date: 30-Jul-2019
    Ending_Date: 15-Apr-2021
    Currentness_Reference:
    ground condition at time data were collected
  5. What is the general form of this data set?
    Geospatial_Data_Presentation_Form: comma-delimited text
  6. How does the data set represent geographic features?
    1. How are geographic features stored in the data set?
      This is a Point data set. It contains the following vector data types (SDTS terminology):
      • Point (164)
    2. What coordinate system is used to represent geographic features?
      Horizontal positions are specified in geographic coordinates, that is, latitude and longitude. Latitudes are given to the nearest 0.000001. Longitudes are given to the nearest 0.000001. Latitude and longitude values are specified in Decimal degrees. The horizontal datum used is D_WGS_1984.
      The ellipsoid used is WGS_1984.
      The semi-major axis of the ellipsoid used is 6378137.000000.
      The flattening of the ellipsoid used is 1/298.257224.
  7. How does the data set describe geographic features?
    Attribute table
    Table containing attribute information associated with the dataset (Source: Producer defined)
    FAN ID
    Unique U.S. Geological Survey field activity identifier (Source: producer defined) Unique identifier for the U.S. Geological Survey field activity. Links to information about each field activity are found in the Supplemental Information section of this metadata.
    Sample ID
    Name of sample (Source: producer defined) Unique identifier for the sample used given in the field
    Lab ID
    Name of sample identifier in BELXY format, where X is a number 1–5 indicating locations of time-series moorings or a letter A–C indicating the sequential deployment in the corresponding time-series data, and Y is either a hyphen and sequential sample number or, for 12 of the samples, an indicator BOTT or SURF to denote whether the sample was collected near the sea bed or water surface. (Source: Producer defined) Unique identifier for the sample given during analysis in the lab
    Date Collected
    Date of sample collection in mm/dd/yyyy format (Source: producer defined)
    Range of values
    Minimum:7/30/2019
    Maximum:4/15/2021
    Units:Dates in mm/dd/yyyy format
    Time (UTC)
    Time of sample collection in HH:MM:SS format relative to UTC (Source: producer defined)
    Range of values
    Minimum:00:00:00
    Maximum:23:59:59
    Units:Times in HH:MM:SS format
    Latitude
    Latitude of sample in decimal degrees. “n/a” indicates that no latitude coordinate was collected for the sample. (Source: producer defined)
    Range of values
    Minimum:48.715133
    Maximum:48.764637
    Units:decimal degrees
    Longitude
    Longitude of sample in decimal degrees. “n/a” indicates that no longitude coordinate was collected for the sample. (Source: producer defined)
    Range of values
    Minimum:-122.612889
    Maximum:-122.485953
    Units:decimal degrees
    Additional Sample Info
    freehand description of additional information about a sample (Source: producer defined) freehand text field to document field notes
    Processing Notes
    any notes from the sediment lab technician (Source: producer defined) freehand text field to document lab notes
    Suspended Sediment Concentration mg/L
    concentration of suspended sediment found in sample. (Source: producer defined)
    Range of values
    Minimum:1.58
    Maximum:132.82
    Units:milligrams per liter
    Turbidity NTU
    measurement of water turbidity obtained at time of sample collection. (Source: producer defined)
    Range of values
    Minimum:0.82
    Maximum:66.95
    Units:nephelometric turbidity units (NTU)
    Entity_and_Attribute_Overview: The first line of the csv file is a header line.
    Entity_and_Attribute_Detail_Citation: U.S. Geological Survey

Who produced the data set?

  1. Who are the originators of the data set? (may include formal authors, digital compilers, and editors)
    • Daniel J. Nowacki
    • Nathan R. vanArendonk
    • Andrew W. Stevens
    • Eric E. Grossman
    • Angela C. Tan
  2. Who also contributed to the data set?
  3. To whom should users address questions about the data?
    U.S. Geological Survey, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center
    Attn: PCMSC Science Data Coordinator
    2885 Mission Street
    Santa Cruz, CA

    831-427-4747 (voice)
    pcmsc_data@usgs.gov

Why was the data set created?

These data were collected as part of the USGS Coastal Habitats in Puget Sound 2.0 (CHIPS 2.0) project to support studies of sediment delivery, transport, deposition, and resuspension in the Nooksack River–Bellingham Bay system.

How was the data set created?

  1. From what previous works were the data drawn?
  2. How were the data generated, processed, and modified?
    Date: 15-Apr-2021 (process 1 of 3)
    Water samples were collected from July 30, 2019, to April 15, 2021 using a van Dorn water sampler. Samples were generally collected 50 centimeters above the seabed. Sampling positions were recorded using a hand-held global navigation satellite system (GNSS) receiver. Samples were placed in cold storage until processed.
    Date: 06-May-2021 (process 2 of 3)
    The suspended sediment concentrations of the samples were determined in the USGS Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center sediment lab. Suspended sediment concentrations were determined by filtering a known volume of sample through a pre-weighed filter, which is then dried and reweighed to determine the mass of suspended sediment on the filter.
    Date: 06-May-2021 (process 3 of 3)
    Suspended sediment concentrations were calculated by subtracting the weight of the filter from the weight of the reweight (post filtering) filter. The resulting weight (in milligrams) is divided by the volume of sample filtered (in liters) to get the concentration of suspended sediments.
  3. What similar or related data should the user be aware of?

How reliable are the data; what problems remain in the data set?

  1. How well have the observations been checked?
    No formal attribute accuracy tests were conducted. Data fall within expected ranges. Duplicates were run for most samples and results generally were similar. When duplicates did not match, additional duplicates were run. Notes for specific samples are available in the Processing Notes.
  2. How accurate are the geographic locations?
    A formal accuracy assessment of the horizontal positional information in the data set has not been conducted. The stated accuracy of the GPS unit used to geolocate the instrument package is 3 to 5 m, 95 percent typical.
  3. How accurate are the heights or depths?
  4. Where are the gaps in the data? What is missing?
    Dataset is considered complete for the information presented, as described in the abstract. Users are advised to read the rest of the metadata record carefully for additional details. Additional turbidity data are available in the companion data set “Oceanographic time-series measurements collected in Bellingham Bay, Washington, USA, 2019 to 2021”.
  5. How consistent are the relationships among the observations, including topology?
    No formal logical accuracy tests were conducted. Occasionally a GPS waypoint or time was not collected; more information for these samples is available in Additional Sample Info.

How can someone get a copy of the data set?

Are there legal restrictions on access or use of the data?
Access_Constraints None
Use_Constraints USGS-authored or produced data and information are in the public domain from the U.S. Government and are freely redistributable with proper metadata and source attribution. Please recognize and acknowledge the U.S. Geological Survey as the originator of the dataset and in products derived from these data.
  1. Who distributes the data set? (Distributor 1 of 1)
    U.S. Geological Survey - CMGDS
    2885 Mission Street
    Santa Cruz, CA

    831-427-4747 (voice)
    pcmsc_data@usgs.gov
  2. What's the catalog number I need to order this data set? These data are available in csv format (bbay_ssc_data.csv) accompanied by CSDGM FGDC-compliant metadata
  3. What legal disclaimers am I supposed to read?
    Unless otherwise stated, all data, metadata and related materials are considered to satisfy the quality standards relative to the purpose for which the data were collected. Although these data and associated metadata have been reviewed for accuracy and completeness and approved for release by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), no warranty expressed or implied is made regarding the display or utility of the data on any other system or for general or scientific purposes, nor shall the act of distribution constitute any such warranty.
  4. How can I download or order the data?
    • Availability in digital form:
      Data format: Data contained in comma-delimited text files. in format comma-delimited text (version Microsoft Excel for Mac Version 16.67 (22111300)) Size: 0.018
      Network links: https://doi.org/10.5066/P96EH1MS
    • Cost to order the data: None.

  5. What hardware or software do I need in order to use the data set?
    These data can be viewed with any software capable of viewing text files.

Who wrote the metadata?

Dates:
Last modified: 18-Feb-2023
Metadata author:
U.S. Geological Survey, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center
Attn: PCMSC Science Data Coordinator
2885 Mission Street
Santa Cruz, CA

831-427-4747 (voice)
pcmsc_data@usgs.gov
Metadata standard:
Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata (FGDC-STD-001-1998)

This page is <https://cmgds.marine.usgs.gov/catalog/pcmsc/DataReleases/CMGDS_DR_tool/DR_P96EH1MS/bbay_ssc_metadata.faq.html>
Generated by mp version 2.9.51 on Fri Feb 24 09:53:00 2023