Hydrodynamic time-series data from Whale's Tail South marsh in Eden Landing Ecological Reserve in Alameda County, CA in 2021 and 2022

Four quadpod platforms were deployed in South San Francisco Bay adjacent to the Whale's Tail marsh. Three sites, BMV, MEN, and MES included a Nortek single point acoustic doppler velocimeter each with a Seapoint turbidity meter, and one BML contained Sequoia Scientific Laser In-situ scattering and transmissometry (LISST) particle size analyzer and an RBR Virtuoso single-channel data logger with Seapoint turbidity meter. All turbidity meters were equipped with a Zebra-Tech hydrowiper to prevent biofouling. Two sites, BMV and MEN, included an RBR CTD.

Three platforms TCE, TCM, and TCW, each consisting of a Nortek Aquadopp acoustic doppler profiler with a Seapoint turbidity meter attached to a grate placed directly on the bottom surface, were deployed in tidal creeks of the Whale's Tail marsh. All turbidity meters were equipped with a Zebra-Tech hydrowiper to prevent biofouling.

Two transects of instrumentation BT1-BT5 and CT1-CT4 were deployed on the marsh surface: the five BT instrument platforms were located on a transect perpendicular to the bay shoreline, and four CT instrument platforms located on a transect perpendicular to the tidal creek. All transect instrument sites included a Seapoint Turbidity meter logged by an RBR Virtuoso single-channel data logger, as well as an RBR logger measuring pressure attached to rebar above the marsh surface. RBR temperature loggers were placed directly on the marsh surface in seven of these locations at BT3, BT4, BT5, CT1, CT2, CT3 and CT4. In addition, one platform consisting of a Nortek Aquadopp acoustic doppler profiler with a Seapoint turbidity meter was attached to a grate placed directly on the bottom surface in the bay shallows at MEV. All seapoint turbidity meters were equipped with Zebra-Tech hydrowipers to prevent biofouling.

Deployed one weightstand (flat weight with center pole)with an RBR bursting pressure sensor, extending the Bay Transect at BT0 offshore.

One platform BML including the Sequoia Scientific Laser In-situ scattering and transmissometry (LISST) particle size analyzer was retrieved from San Francisco Bay. The data from the retrieved instruments were post-processed using manufacturers software packages and USGS MATLAB codes.

All remaining instruments were retrieved from both San Francisco Bay and Whale's Tail marsh and tidal creeks. The data from the retrieved instruments were post-processed using manufacturers software packages and USGS MATLAB codes.

Three platforms each consisting of a Nortek Aquadopp acoustic doppler profiler with a Seapoint turbidity meter attached to a grate placed directly on the bottom surface were deployed in tidal creeks of the Whale's Tail marsh TCE, TCM, and TCW. All turbidity meters were equipped with a Zebra-Tech hydrowiper to prevent biofouling.

Four quadpod platforms were deployed in South San Francisco Bay adjacent to the Whale's Tail marsh. Three sites BMV, MEN, and MES included a Nortek single point acoustic doppler velocimeter each with a Seapoint turbidity meter, and one BML contained Sequoia Scientific Laser In-situ scattering and transmissometry (LISST) particle size analyzer and an RBR Virtuoso single-channel data logger with Seapoint turbidity meter. All turbidity meters were equipped with a Zebra-Tech hydrowiper to prevent biofouling. Two of the sites BMV and MEN included an RBR CTD. A weightstand (flat weight with center pole) with an RBR pressure sensor was deployed in the bay shallows offshore along the Bay transect at BT0.

Two transects of instrumentation BT1-BT5 and CT1-CT4 were deployed on the marsh surface: the five BT instrument platforms were located on a transect perpendicular to the bay shoreline, and the four CT instrument platforms located on a transect perpendicular to the tidal creek. All transect instrument sites included a Seapoint Turbidity meter logged by an RBR Virtuoso single-channel data logger, as well as an RBR logger measuring pressure attached to rebar above the marsh surface. RBR temperature loggers were placed directly on the marsh surface in seven of these locations at BT3, BT4, BT5, CT1, CT2, and CT4. In addition, one platform consisting of a Nortek Aquadopp acoustic doppler profiler with a Seapoint turbidity meter was attached to a grate placed directly on the bottom surface in the bay shallowsat MEV. All seapoint turbidity meters were equipped with Zebra-Tech hydrowipers to prevent biofouling.

Deployed one RBRduet pressure and temperature logger on the marsh surface in Cargill Marsh at CAR.

Instruments were retrieved from both marsh-top transects BT1-BT5, CT1-CT4 and the marsh edge station at MEV. The data from the retrieved instruments were post-processed using manufacturers software packages and USGS MATLAB codes.

Tidal creek stations were recovered at TCE, TCM, and TCW. The data from the retrieved instruments were post-processed using manufacturers software packages and USGS MATLAB codes.

Bay platforms were recovered from BT0, BML, BMV, MEN, and MES. The data from the retrieved instruments were post-processed using manufacturers software packages and USGS MATLAB codes.

Station CAR in Cargill marsh was recovered. The data from the retrieved instrument was post-processed using manufacturers software packages and USGS MATLAB codes.

Data were accumulated into NetCDF files. During post-processing, data collected before deployment and after recovery were removed from the time series for the nortek velocimeter and acoustic doppler profiler data. Bad data points identified by 1) the deployment and recovery times, 2) data flagged as erroneous by the manufacturer, 3) amplitude or correlation values outside of predetermined quality thresholds for the velocimeter, were removed as were data where the pressure was measured at less than 0.01m and corrected for atmospheric pressure. The files include data of intermittent poor quality due to interference by vegetation caught on frames. In a few datasets with persistent vegetative interference the compromised data were removed, as noted in the associated metadata. Turbidity data are raw unless otherwise noted and include high values that may be attributable to vegetation. For each sensor, a linear least-squares regression with intercept of zero was made between the turbidity values (in NTU or volts) and sample suspended sediment concentration (SSC) values (in milligrams per liter) from in situ measurements coincident to water sample collection. These constants are available as a support file in this data release Regression_constants_for_converting_turbidity_to_SSC(mg_per_L).csv. Use of all data requires careful assessment of data quality. LISST volume concentrations are most accurate when the optical percent transmission is above 30, as light passing through the sample volume is unlikely to be scattered by more than one particle. Low quality LISST data at the end of a few files were removed, however some bad data are still present in the files and therefore judgment should be applied when using them, as with all other data files. Pressure and temperature logger data is raw unless noted in the netcdf file metadata as the removal of bad data is highly interperative and may result in a loss of information.

Wave statistics (Root-mean square (RMS) wave height, representative period, peak period, representative bottom orbital velocity, and representative orbital velocity direction) were calculated from the bursts of velocity and pressure measured by the ADVs, following the spectral method described in Wiberg and Sherwood (2008). For these calculations, the low- frequency cutoff was set to 1/6 s-1 and the burst-specific high-frequency cutoff was set to hf = (9.81/(4*pi*depth))0.5, where depth is meters of water above the sensor.

Files were named with a convention that uses a 12- to 15-digit alpha-numeric code. The first three characters for this dataset are all 'WTS' or 'WTW' indicating summer or winter deployment for the experiment name; the fourth and fifth positions represent the calendar year in which the data were collected (21, 2021); the sixth, seventh and eighth characters are an alphanumeric code for the site name (MEN, BT0, etc.); the ninth and tenth characters represent the instrument position on the platform, where 01 is the top-most. The instrument number was omitted for MET, the meteorological station. For the WTS nortek vector data, 'A' or 'B' is appended to indicate the time series was split into parts due to a change in the platform orientation during instrument maintenance. Next is a two- or three-character code for the instrument type (vec, Norteks Acoustic Doppler Velocimeter; aq, Nortek aquadopp acoustic doppler current profile; pt, RBRs bursting pressure sensor with temperature; pr, RBRs pressure sensor; t, RBRs temperature sensor; ctd, RBRs conductivity, temperature, and depth logger; tu, RBRs Virtuoso turbidity logger; ls, Sequoia Scientifics LISST). There are an additional 2 to 3 characters for instruments that collect in a bursting pattern to indicate whether the file includes the burst data (-b) or the statistics and/or singular observations of the burst (-s). This indicator is omitted if there is no bursting pattern. Similarly, a (-wv) suffix indicates this is wave property data from the instrument. Information on the files available and the data in each file is listed in the WTS_file_table.csv for the summer data and the WTW_file_table.csv for the winter data.

The netcdf files were compressed and combined in zipped files. Files were grouped by time period for summer (WTS21) and winter (WTW21) and further divided by primary instrument type to facilitate user access. Suffixes follow the nomenclature defined above for filenames including s a two- or three-character code for the instrument type (vec, Norteks Acoustic Doppler Velocimeter; aq, Nortek aquadopp acoustic doppler current profile; pt, RBRs bursting pressure sensor with temperature; pr, RBRs pressure sensor; t, RBRs temperature sensor; ctd, RBRs conductivity, temperature, and depth logger; tu, RBRs Virtuoso turbidity logger; ls, Sequoia Scientifics LISST).

Edits were made to correct spelling in author name. No data were changed. The metadata available from a harvester may supersede metadata bundled within a download file. Users are advised to compare the metadata date of this file to any similar file to ensure they are using the most recent version. (scochran@usgs.gov)