Sonde data to characterize physical and chemical water column properties of flooded caves (Ox Bel Ha and Cenote Crustacea) within the coastal aquifer of the Yucatan Peninsula, Quintana Roo, from December 2013 to January 2015

Frequently anticipated questions:

• What does this data set describe?
  1. How might this data set be cited?
  2. What geographic area does the data set cover?
  3. What does it look like?
  4. Does the data set describe conditions during a particular time period?
  5. What is the general form of this data set?
  6. How does the data set represent geographic features?
  7. How does the data set describe geographic features?
• Who produced the data set?
  1. Who are the originators of the data set?
  2. Who also contributed to the data set?
  3. To whom should users address questions about the data?
• Why was the data set created?
• How was the data set created?
  1. From what previous works were the data drawn?
  2. How were the data generated, processed, and modified?
  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?
  2. How accurate are the geographic locations?
  3. How accurate are the heights or depths?
  4. Where are the gaps in the data? What is missing?
  5. How consistent are the relationships among the data, including topology?
• How can someone get a copy of the data set?
  1. Are there legal restrictions on access or use of the data?
  2. Who distributes the data?
  3. What's the catalog number I need to order this data set?
  4. What legal disclaimers am I supposed to read?
  5. How can I download or order the data?
• Who wrote the metadata?

What does this data set describe?

1. How might this data set be cited?
   Brankovits, David, Pohlman, John W., and Jennifer A. O'Keefe Suttles, 20220915, Sonde data to characterize physical and chemical water column properties of flooded caves (Ox Bel Ha and Cenote Crustacea) within the coastal aquifer of the Yucatan Peninsula, Quintana Roo, from December 2013 to January 2015: data release DOI:10.5066/P91D2OUN, U.S. Geological Survey, Coastal and Marine Geology Program, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center, Woods Hole, MA.

   Online Links:

   • https://doi.org/10.5066/P91D2OUN
   • https://www.sciencebase.gov/catalog/item/6306a177d34e3b967a8bd9e6

   Other_Citation_Details:

   Collected in support of PhD thesis research of David Brankovits, Texas AM University

   This is part of the following larger work.
   Brankovits, David, Pohlman, John W., Lapham, Laura L., Casso, Michael, Mann, Adrian G., and Jennifer A. O'Keefe Suttles, 2022, Water column properties and temporal hydrologic and chemical records from flooded caves (Ox Bel Ha and Cenote Crustacea) within the coastal aquifer of the Yucatan Peninsula, Quintana Roo, from December 2013 to January 2015: data release DOI:10.5066/P91D2OUN, U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, VA.

   Online Links:

   • https://doi.org/10.5066/P91D2OUN
   • https://www.sciencebase.gov/catalog/item/625579ffd34e21f8276f4872

   Other_Citation_Details:

   Suggested citation: Brankovits, D., Pohlman, J.W., Lapham, L.L., Casso, M., Mann, A.G., and O'Keefe Suttles, J.A., 2022, Water column properties and temporal hydrologic and chemical records from flooded caves (Ox Bel Ha and Cenote Crustacea) within the coastal aquifer of the Yucatan Peninsula, Quintana Roo, from December 2013 to January 2015: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/P91D2OUN.

2. What geographic area does the data set cover?

   West_Bounding_Coordinate: -87.5693
   East_Bounding_Coordinate: -87.4166
   North_Bounding_Coordinate: 20.2829
   South_Bounding_Coordinate: 20.1084
   

3. What does it look like?

   https://www.sciencebase.gov/catalog/file/get/6306a177d34e3b967a8bd9e6?name=sonde.jpg&allowOpen=true (JPEG)

   Depth profiles of salinity and dissolved oxygen (DO) from the water column of Cenote Odyssey and Cenote Naach Wennen Ha (Tulum, Mexico) in 2014 and 2015.

4. Does the data set describe conditions during a particular time period?

   Calendar_Date: 04-Dec-2013

   Currentness_Reference:

   ground condition

5. What is the general form of this data set?

   Geospatial_Data_Presentation_Form: tabular digital data
   

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 (6026)
   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 0.00001. Longitudes are given to the nearest 0.00001. Latitude and longitude values are specified in Decimal degrees. The horizontal datum used is World Geodetic System 1984.
      The ellipsoid used is WGS 84.
      The semi-major axis of the ellipsoid used is 6378137.
      The flattening of the ellipsoid used is 1/298.257.
      
7. How does the data set describe geographic features?

   all.csv

   Data from diver sonde deployments in Cenote Crustacea and the larger Ox Bel Ha cave network (locations: Cenote Jailhouse, Cenote Odyssey, Cenote Naach Wennen Ha). The profiles were conducted along vertical descents in the water column of the caves using a EXO1 multi-parameter datasonde (Dec 2013) and a YSI XLM-600 datasonde (Aug 2014 and Jan 2015). There are a total of 6026 data records in the dataset. (Source: U.S. Geological Survey)

   Location

   The surface location where the measurements were taken. Cenote Jailhouse, Cenote Odyssey, Cenote Naach Wennen Ha, and Cenote Crustacea are entry pools (flooded sinkholes) provided access to the studied flooded caves. (Source: U.S. Geological Survey) Character set (text).

   Latitude

   Longitude of location as determined by Garmin GPSmap 60CSx GPS in decimal degrees. (Source: U.S. Geological Survey)

   Range of values
   Minimum:	20.17
   Maximum:	20.781
   Units:	decimal degrees

   Longitude

   Longitude of location as determined by Garmin GPSmap 60CSx GPS in decimal degrees. (Source: U.S. Geological Survey)

   Range of values
   Minimum:	-87.49
   Maximum:	-86.947
   Units:	decimal degrees

   Station

   Text description of sampling location within cave passage. (Source: U.S. Geological Survey)

   Value	Definition
   JAH-S0	JAH-S0 is located approximately 15 meters from the entrance pool (flooded sinkhole) in the fresh/brackish water portion of the main passage.
   JAH-S1	JAH-S1 is found in the main corridor approximately 50 meters upstream from the entrance pool in the freshwater layer.
   JAH-S2	JAH-S2 is found in the main corridor where the passage connects to a deeper passage network approximately 70 meters upstream from the entrance pool. Halocline between fresh/brackish and saline waters are accessible at this station.
   JAH-S3	JAH-S3 is found in the deeper corridor more than 100 meters upstream from the entrance pool in the saline groundwater layer.
   ODY-S0	ODY-S0 is found in the main corridor located near the entrance pool (flooded sinkhole) in the freshwater.
   ODY-S1	ODY-S1 is found in the main corridor located approximately 20 meters upstream from the entrance in the freshwater.
   ODY-S2	ODY-S2 is found in the main corridor located approximately 50 meters upstream from the entrance in the saline groundwater.
   NWH-S0	NWH-S0 is the passage descending from the entrance pool to the main corridor.
   NWH-S1	NWH-S1 is found in the main corridor located approximately 50 m downstream from the entrance in the fresh/brackish water.
   NWH-S2	NWH-S2 is found in the main corridor located approximately 70 meters downstream from the entrance in the brackish water.
   CRU-S0	CRU-S0 is found near the entrance pool (flooded sinkhole) towards the downstream passage in the fresh/brackish water layer.
   CRU-S1	CRU-S1 is found in the main corridor 10 to 50 meters downstream from the entrance pool.
   CRU-S2	CRU-S2 is found in the main corridor more than 50 m downstream from the entrance pool and near the second opening.
   CRU-S3	CRU-S3 is found in the main corridor more than 70 meters downstream from the entrance pool where passage drops deeper into the saline groundwater section.

   Date

   Calendar date sonde data were obtained in the format MM/DD/YYYY (Source: U.S. Geological Survey) Character set (text).

   Time

   Time of day, local time, Central Standard Time (CST) in HH:MM:SS 24-hour format. (Source: U.S. Geological Survey) Character set (text).

   Depth(m)

   Water depth measured by 600XLM (+/-0.12 meters) or EXO2 (+/-0.10 meters) (Source: U.S. Geological Survey)

   Range of values
   Minimum:	0.139
   Maximum:	22.99
   Units:	meter

   Temp(degC)

   Water temperature measured by 6560 sensor on 600XLM (+/-0.15 degree Celsius) or conductivity/temperature sensor (599827) on EXO1 (+/-0.2) degree Celsius) (Source: U.S. Geological Survey)

   Range of values
   Minimum:	23.74
   Maximum:	31.96
   Units:	degrees Celsius

   Salinity(psu)

   Salinity is calculated from conductivity and temperature measured by 6560 sensor on 600XLM (+/-1% of reading or 0.1 psu, whichever is greater) or conductivity/temperature sensor (599827) on the EXO1 (+/- 2% of reading or 0.2 psu, whichever is greater) (Source: U.S. Geological Survey)

   Range of values
   Minimum:	0.17
   Maximum:	38.34
   Units:	unitless

   pH

   Hydrogen ion concentration (expressed as pH) as measured by 6561 sensor on 600XLM (+/-0.2 units) or pH sensor (599702) on EXO1 (+/-0.2 units) (Source: U.S. Geological Survey)

   Range of values
   Minimum:	6.58
   Maximum:	8.15
   Units:	unitless

   ORP(mV)

   Oxidation reduction potential measured by ORP sensor on XLM600 (+/-20 milliVolts [mV]) or pH/ORP sensor (599705) on EXO1 (+/-20 milliVolts [mV]) (Source: U.S. Geological Survey)

   Range of values
   Minimum:	-137.8
   Maximum:	406.6
   Units:	millivolts (mV)

   ODO(%sat)

   Dissolved oxygen measured by 6562 Rapid Pulse Sensor on 600XLM (+/-2% of reading or 2% air saturation, whichever is greater) or optical dissolved oxygen sensor (599100-01) on EXO2 (+/-1% of reading or 1% of air saturation, whichever is greater) (Source: U.S. Geological Survey)

   Range of values
   Minimum:	-0.3
   Maximum:	85.8
   Units:	percent saturation

   ODO(mg/L)

   Dissolved oxygen measured by 6562 Rapid Pulse Sensor on 600XLM (+/-0.2 mg/L or 2% of reading, whichever is greater) or Optical dissolved oxygen sensor (599100-01) on EXO2 (+/-0.1 mg/L or 1% of reading, whichever is greater) (Source: U.S. Geological Survey)

   Range of values
   Minimum:	-0.02
   Maximum:	6.31
   Units:	milligrams per liter (mg/L)

   DO(microM)

   Calculated dissolved oxygen concentration calculated from DO mg per liter (Source: U.S. Geological Survey)

   Range of values
   Minimum:	-0.63
   Maximum:	197.19
   Units:	micromolar

   Entity_and_Attribute_Overview:

   The dataset contains one Excel file with 10 tabs (sonde_2013-2015.xlsx), and 10 CSV files each corresponding to the similarly named tab in the spreadsheet (see list below). The first row (header line) of the CSV file contains the column labels (and is the same information as these attributes). The first row of the Excel spreadsheet contains a header line that includes a short description of the project and the years the data were obtained, the second row indicates the logger utilized, the third row is the column label with special characters, and the fourth row is the column label without special characters (and it corresponds with the first row of the CSV file). Additionally, a browse graphic (sonde.jpg) and the CSDGM metadata in XML format are provided. The list of tabs (sheets) in the Excel file and the CSV files are organized as follows:
   Sheet 'all' corresponds to CSV file all.csv and it contains all data records.
   The following 9 sheets and 9 CSV files are separated by the time and place of the sonde deployment:
   Sheet 'JAH_Dec13' corresponds to CSV file JAH_Dec13.csv;
   Sheet 'ODY_Dec13' corresponds to CSV file ODY_Dec13.csv;
   Sheet 'NWH_Dec13' corresponds to CSV file NWH_Dec13.csv;
   Sheet 'CRU_Aug14' corresponds to CSV file CRU_Aug14.csv;
   Sheet 'JAH_Aug14' corresponds to CSV file JAH_Aug14.csv;
   Sheet 'ODY_Aug14' corresponds to CSV file ODY_Aug14.csv;
   Sheet 'NWH_Aug14' corresponds to CSV file NWH_Aug14.csv;
   Sheet 'ODY_Aug14' corresponds to CSV file ODY_Aug14.csv;
   Sheet NWH_Aug14 corresponds to CSV file NWH_Aug14.csv.

   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)
   • David Brankovits
   • John W. Pohlman
   • Jennifer A. O'Keefe Suttles
2. Who also contributed to the data set?
3. To whom should users address questions about the data?
   U.S. Geological Survey

   Attn: John W. Pohlman

   Research Geochemist

   384 Woods Hole Rd

   Woods Hole, MA
   

   USA

   508-548-8700 x2213 (voice)

   508-457-2310 (FAX)

   jpohlman@usgs.gov

Why was the data set created?

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: 2016 (process 1 of 1)

   The YSI EXO1 sonde (used in Dec 2013) and the YSI 600-XLM sonde (used in Aug 2014 and Jan 2015) were both calibrated according to manufacturer specifications. Sonde profiles were measured along vertical depth profiles in the water column of the caves and cenotes (entrance pools) with a measurement frequency of 0.25 – 2 Hertz (Hz). The sonde was carried by the lead diver, slowly descending (2-4 centimeter per second [cm/s]) and advancing with the probes projecting forward to ensure an undisturbed profile of the water column. Data was downloaded using KOR software by David Brankovits (supervised by John Pohlman) and processed within Microsoft Excel. Person who carried out this activity:
   

   U.S. Geological Survey

   Attn: John W. Pohlman

   Research Geochemist

   384 Woods Hole Rd Suite

   Woods Hole, MA
   

   USA

   508-548-8700 x2213 (voice)

   jpohlman@usgs.gov

3. What similar or related data should the user be aware of?
   Brankovits, David, Pohlman, John W., and Lapham, Laura L., 2022, Oxygenation of a karst subterranean estuary during a tropical cyclone: Mechanisms and implications for the carbon cycle: Limnology and Oceanography DOI:10.1002/LNO.12231, Wiley, Hoboken, NJ.

   Online Links:

   • https://doi.org/10.1002/LNO.12231

   Other_Citation_Details: This is the publication these data in the data release support.
   

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

1. How well have the observations been checked?
   The accuracy of each attribute is determined by a sensor specific to that attribute, which is provided in the process step for each measurement
2. How accurate are the geographic locations?
   The horizonal position (coordinates) of the entrance pools of the cave locations (Cenote Crustacea, Cenote Jailhouse, Cenote Odyssey, and Cenote Naach Wennen Ha) were obtained with a Garmin GPSmap 60CSx GPS, which has a positional accuracy of less than 10 meters. Coordinates for the sampling stations where the individual water profiles were collected are not available because the GPS does not operate in overhead or underwater settings. The bounding coordinates provided in this data release incorporate the horizontal extent of the passages investigated in this study. However, as stated previously, the precise locations of the passages are unknown.
3. How accurate are the heights or depths?
   The accuracies of the vertical (depth) measurements are +/-0.12 m for the 600XLM and +/-0.10 m EXO2.
4. Where are the gaps in the data? What is missing?
   All data collected are represented here.
5. How consistent are the relationships among the observations, including topology?
   Data from the various sondes were processed in the same manner by the same individual (David Brankovits under the supervision of john Pohlman). Although two different sondes were used to collect the data they utilized the same sensors with similar accuracies (reported below) and were calibrated in the same way to insure cross-sensor agreement.

How can someone get a copy of the data set?

1. Who distributes the data set? (Distributor 1 of 1)
   
   U.S. Geological Survey - ScienceBase

   Denver Federal Center, Building 810, Mail Stop 302

   Denver, CO
   

   1-888-275-8747 (voice)

   sciencebase@usgs.gov
2. What's the catalog number I need to order this data set? The sonde dataset contains the following files: sonde_2013-2015.xlsx (which includes 10 tabs), 10 CSV files (each corresponding to the similarly named tab in the spreadsheet: all.csv; JAH_Dec13.csv; ODY_Dec13.csv; NWH_Dec13.csv; CRU_Aug14.csv; JAH_Aug14.csv; ODY_Aug14.csv; NWH_Aug14.csv; ODY_Aug14.csv; NWH_Aug14.csv), a browse graphic (sonde.jpg), and FGDC CSDGM metadata in XML format.
3. What legal disclaimers am I supposed to read?
   Neither the U.S. Government, the Department of the Interior, nor the USGS, nor any of their employees, contractors, or subcontractors, make any warranty, express or implied, nor assume any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, nor represent that its use would not infringe on privately owned rights. The act of distribution shall not constitute any such warranty, and no responsibility is assumed by the USGS in the use of these data or related materials. Any use of trade, product, or firm names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.
4. How can I download or order the data?
   • Availability in digital form:

     Data format:	The sonde dataset contains the data in XLSX and CSV format along with associated metadata. in format XLXS (version Microsoft Excel For Mac version 16.60) Size: 2
     Network links:	https://sciencebase.gov/catalog/file/get/6306a177d34e3b967a8bd9e6 https://sciencebase.gov/catalog/item/6306a177d34e3b967a8bd9e6 https://doi.org/10.5066/P91D2OUN

     Data format:	The sonde dataset contains the data in XLSX and CSV format along with associated metadata. in format CSV (version Microsoft Excel For Mac version 16.60) Size: 2
     Network links:	https://sciencebase.gov/catalog/file/get/6306a177d34e3b967a8bd9e6 https://sciencebase.gov/catalog/item/6306a177d34e3b967a8bd9e6 https://doi.org/10.5066/P91D2OUN

   • Cost to order the data: None.

5. What hardware or software do I need in order to use the data set?
   The data are available in XLSX and CSV formats. The user must have software capable of reading the data formats.

Who wrote the metadata?

Dates:

Last modified: 19-Mar-2024

Metadata author:

U.S. Geological Survey

Attn: John Pohlman

Research Geochemist

384 Woods Hole Rd.

Woods Hole, MA

508-548-8700 x2213 (voice)

508-457-2310 (FAX)

whsc_data_contact@usgs.gov

Contact_Instructions:

The metadata contact email address is a generic address in the event the person is no longer with USGS. (updated on 20240319)

Metadata standard:

FGDC Content Standards for Digital Geospatial Metadata (FGDC-STD-001-1998)