Citation:
Citation_Information:
Originator: Bradford Butman
Originator: P.S. Dalyander
Originator: M.H. Bothner
Originator: Jonathan Borden
Originator: M.A. Casso
Originator: B.T. Gutierrez
Originator: M.E. Hastings
Originator: F.L. Lightsom
Originator: M.A. Martini
Originator: E.T. Montgomery
Originator: R.R. Rendigs
Originator: W.S. Strahle
Publication_Date: 2009
Title:
Long-Term Oceanographic Monitoring in Massachusetts Bay (1989-2006) for Assessment of the Transport and Fate of Sediments and Associated Contaminants
Publication_Information:
Publication_Place: Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center, Woods Hole, MA
Publisher: U.S. Geological Survey, Coastal and Marine Geology Program
Online_Linkage: http://stellwagen.er.usgs.gov/mbay_lt.html
Description:
Abstract:
Long-term oceanographic observations made in western Massachusetts Bay at long-term site LT-A (42 degrees 22.6 minutes N., 70 degrees 47.0 minutes W.; nominal water depth 32 meters) from December 1989 through February 2006 and long-term site B LT-B (42 degrees 9.8 minutes N., 70 degrees 38.4 minutes W.; nominal water depth 22 meters) from October 1997 through February 2004 are presented here. The observations were collected as part of a U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) study designed to understand the transport and long-term fate of sediments and associated contaminants in Massachusetts Bay. The observations include time-series measurements of current, temperature, salinity, light transmission, pressure, oxygen, fluorescence, and sediment-trapping rate. About 160 separate mooring or tripod deployments were made on about 90 research cruises to collect these long-term observations. This report presents a description of the 17-year field program and the instrumentation used to make the measurements, an overview of the data set, more than 2,500 pages of statistics and plots that summarize the data, and the digital data in Network Common Data Form (NetCDF) format.
This research was conducted by the USGS in cooperation with the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority and the U.S. Coast Guard. For more information on the field operations associated with data collection:
http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=1989-035-FA http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=1990-002-FA http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=1990-016-FA http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=1990-041-FA http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=1991-005-FA http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=1991-016-FA http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=1991-036-FA http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=1992-002-FA http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=1992-008-FA http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=1992-026-FA http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=1992-029-FA http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=1992-032-FA http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=1993-002-FA http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=1993-003-FA http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=1993-011-FA http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=1993-024-FA http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=1993-031-FA http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=1994-015-FA http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=1994-019-FA http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=1994-022-FA http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=1994-035-FA http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=1994-040-FA http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=1995-017-FA http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=1995-022-FA http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=1995-032-FA http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=1995-035-FA http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=1995-038-FA http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=1995-039-FA http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=1996-007-FA http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=1996-012-FA http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=1996-019-FA http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=1996-023-FA http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=1996-049-FA http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=1997-015-FA http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=1997-016-FA http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=1997-017-FA http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=1997-029-FA http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=1997-043-FA http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=1997-044-FA http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=1998-011-FA http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=1998-019-FA http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=1998-028-FA http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=1998-044-FA http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=1999-007-FA http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=1999-008-FA http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=1999-009-FA http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=1999-021-FA http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=1999-040-FA http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=2000-002-FA http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=2000-003-FA http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=2000-004-FA http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=2000-048-FA http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=2000-062-FA http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=2000-066-FA http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=2000-085-FA http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=2001-022-FA http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=2001-023-FA http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=2001-024-FA http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=2001-051-FA http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=2001-061-FA http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=2001-068-FA http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=2001-069-FA http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=2001-080-FA http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=2001-085-FA http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=2001-086-FA http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=2002-026-FA http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=2002-044-FA http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=2002-045-FA http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=2002-046-FA http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=2002-048-FA http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=2002-056-FA http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=2002-064-FA http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=2003-028-FA http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=2003-031-FA http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=2003-057-FA http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=2004-016-FA http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=2004-023-FA http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=2004-026-FA http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=2004-032-FA http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=2004-065-FA http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=2005-003-FA http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=2005-022-FA http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=2005-023-FA http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=2005-025-FA http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=2005-038-FA http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=2003-003-FA
Purpose:
The long-term oceanographic observations were designed to understand the transport and long-term fate of sediments and associated contaminants in Massachusetts Bay. Site LT-A is located approximately 1 km south of the new ocean outfall that began discharging treated sewage effluent from the Boston metropolitan area into Massachusetts Bay on September 6, 2000. Site LT-B is located about 28 km southeast of the new outfall in the direction of the mean current in Massachusetts Bay. The observations document sediment resuspension and transport, and seasonal and inter-annual changes in currents, hydrography, and suspended-matter concentration. They also provide observations for testing numerical models of circulation and transport.
This dataset contains more than 500 files providing the observations collected from December 1989 through February 2006. The background and experimental setup are described in the open file report "Long-Term Oceanographic Observations in Massachusetts Bay, 1989-2006", on line at:
http://pubs.usgs.gov/ds/74/. The locations, deployment depths, sensor type and parameters measured during the deployment are presented by site in the table displayed by the Basic Sampling Interval links (
http://stellwagen.er.usgs.gov/mbay_lt-a.html and
http://stellwagen.er.usgs.gov/mbay_ltb-a.html). The basic sampling interval data files are provided at the rate at which the sensor made observations- no temporal averaging, filtering or subsampling was done. Hourly averaged and low pass filtered data are also available for some files. The data files are available for download by clicking the file name in the table or via OPeNDAP and THREDDS at
http://stellwagen.er.usgs.gov/opendap/MBAY_LT/ and
http://stellwagen.er.usgs.gov/opendap/MBAY_LTB/.
Time_Period_of_Content:
Time_Period_Information:
Range_of_Dates/Times:
Beginning_Date: 1989
Ending_Date: 2006
Currentness_Reference:
Ground condition of data collection; Platforms were deployed with instruments at several depths for 3 to 6 months sequentially over 26 years. The duration of data in individual files is the length of the deployment, but segments can be concatenated to make a nearly continuous time-series of measurements. There may also be periods where data is missing due to sensor sensor failure.
Status:
Progress: Complete
Maintenance_and_Update_Frequency: None
Spatial_Domain:
Bounding_Coordinates:
West_Bounding_Coordinate: -071.000000
East_Bounding_Coordinate: -070.500000
North_Bounding_Coordinate: +42.500000
South_Bounding_Coordinate: +42.000000
Keywords:
Theme:
Theme_Keyword_Thesaurus: USGS Metadata Identifier
Theme_Keyword: USGS:ea5b7f34-84aa-4720-aa9f-fb290088d507
Theme:
Theme_Keyword_Thesaurus: None
Theme_Keyword: Oceanographic observations
Theme_Keyword: Current
Theme_Keyword: Temperature
Theme_Keyword: Salinity
Theme_Keyword: Light transmission
Theme_Keyword: Beam attenuation
Theme_Keyword: Pressure
Theme_Keyword: Sediment-trapping rate
Theme_Keyword: Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP)
Theme_Keyword: Oxygen
Theme_Keyword: Fluorescence
Theme_Keyword: 1989-035-FA
Theme_Keyword: 1990-002-FA
Theme_Keyword: 1990-016-FA
Theme_Keyword: 1990-041-FA
Theme_Keyword: 1991-005-FA
Theme_Keyword: 1991-016-FA
Theme_Keyword: 1991-036-FA
Theme_Keyword: 1992-002-FA
Theme_Keyword: 1992-008-FA
Theme_Keyword: 1992-026-FA
Theme_Keyword: 1992-029-FA
Theme_Keyword: 1992-032-FA
Theme_Keyword: 1993-002-FA
Theme_Keyword: 1993-003-FA
Theme_Keyword: 1993-011-FA
Theme_Keyword: 1993-024-FA
Theme_Keyword: 1993-031-FA
Theme_Keyword: 1994-015-FA
Theme_Keyword: 1994-019-FA
Theme_Keyword: 1994-022-FA
Theme_Keyword: 1994-035-FA
Theme_Keyword: 1994-040-FA
Theme_Keyword: 1995-017-FA
Theme_Keyword: 1995-022-FA
Theme_Keyword: 1995-032-FA
Theme_Keyword: 1995-035-FA
Theme_Keyword: 1995-038-FA
Theme_Keyword: 1995-039-FA
Theme_Keyword: 1996-007-FA
Theme_Keyword: 1996-012-FA
Theme_Keyword: 1996-019-FA
Theme_Keyword: 1996-023-FA
Theme_Keyword: 1996-049-FA
Theme_Keyword: 1997-015-FA
Theme_Keyword: 1997-016-FA
Theme_Keyword: 1997-017-FA
Theme_Keyword: 1997-029-FA
Theme_Keyword: 1997-043-FA
Theme_Keyword: 1997-044-FA
Theme_Keyword: 1998-011-FA
Theme_Keyword: 1998-019-FA
Theme_Keyword: 1998-028-FA
Theme_Keyword: 1998-044-FA
Theme_Keyword: 1999-007-FA
Theme_Keyword: 1999-008-FA
Theme_Keyword: 1999-009-FA
Theme_Keyword: 1999-021-FA
Theme_Keyword: 1999-040-FA
Theme_Keyword: 2000-002-FA
Theme_Keyword: 2000-003-FA
Theme_Keyword: 2000-004-FA
Theme_Keyword: 2000-048-FA
Theme_Keyword: 2000-062-FA
Theme_Keyword: 2000-066-FA
Theme_Keyword: 2000-085-FA
Theme_Keyword: 2001-022-FA
Theme_Keyword: 2001-023-FA
Theme_Keyword: 2001-024-FA
Theme_Keyword: 2001-051-FA
Theme_Keyword: 2001-061-FA
Theme_Keyword: 2001-068-FA
Theme_Keyword: 2001-069-FA
Theme_Keyword: 2001-080-FA
Theme_Keyword: 2001-085-FA
Theme_Keyword: 2001-086-FA
Theme_Keyword: 2002-026-FA
Theme_Keyword: 2002-044-FA
Theme_Keyword: 2002-045-FA
Theme_Keyword: 2002-046-FA
Theme_Keyword: 2002-048-FA
Theme_Keyword: 2002-056-FA
Theme_Keyword: 2002-064-FA
Theme_Keyword: 2003-028-FA
Theme_Keyword: 2003-031-FA
Theme_Keyword: 2003-057-FA
Theme_Keyword: 2004-016-FA
Theme_Keyword: 2004-023-FA
Theme_Keyword: 2004-026-FA
Theme_Keyword: 2004-032-FA
Theme_Keyword: 2004-065-FA
Theme_Keyword: 2005-003-FA
Theme_Keyword: 2005-022-FA
Theme_Keyword: 2005-023-FA
Theme_Keyword: 2005-025-FA
Theme_Keyword: 2005-038-FA
Theme_Keyword: 2006-003-FA
Theme_Keyword: U.S. Geological Survey
Theme_Keyword: USGS
Theme_Keyword: Coastal and Marine Geology Program
Theme_Keyword: CMGP
Theme_Keyword: Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center
Theme_Keyword: WHCMSC
Theme_Keyword: netCDF
Theme:
Theme_Keyword_Thesaurus: ISO 19115 Topic Category
Theme_Keyword: oceans
Theme_Keyword: geoscientificInformation
Theme_Keyword: climatologyMeteorologyAtmosphere
Theme:
Theme_Keyword_Thesaurus: USGS Thesaurus
Theme_Keyword: navigational data
Theme_Keyword: marine geophysics
Place:
Place_Keyword_Thesaurus: None
Place_Keyword: Massachusetts Bay
Place_Keyword: Massachusetts
Place_Keyword: Boston Massachusetts
Place_Keyword: Massachusetts Water Resources Authority ocean outfall
Place_Keyword: Western Massachusetts Bay
Place_Keyword: Gulf of Maine
Place_Keyword: North America
Place_Keyword: United States
Temporal:
Temporal_Keyword_Thesaurus: None
Temporal_Keyword: 1989-2006
Access_Constraints: none
Use_Constraints:
Public domain data are freely redistributable with proper metadata and source attribution. Please recognize the U.S. Geological Survey (and any cooperators you feel should be recognized) as the originator of the dataset.
Biological fouling often degrades light transmission data after several months of deployment. Organisms grow on the transmissometer lenses and gradually block light transmission, which results in a gradual increase of the beam-attenuation coefficient. This drift occurs more quickly and is more severe at shallower depths. The attenuation data plots have not been corrected for biological fouling and should be interpreted with care.
Salinity measured by instruments on tripods during 1989-1996, were erroneously low by as much as one practical salinity unit by the end of the 4-month deployments, due to fouling of the conductivity cells. Tripod conductivity data apparently were affected by a slow, gradual build-up of a biological film on the electrodes and also occasional sudden depositions of a significant volume of material (possibly sediments) inside the measurement volume of the conductivity cell. In June 1996 (mooring 470), Sea-Bird pumps were added to the MIDAS to flush the conductivity cell prior to making a measurement, reducing the effect of deposits on the conductivity measurements. The salinity data should be used and interpreted with care.
Point_of_Contact:
Contact_Information:
Contact_Person_Primary:
Contact_Person: Bradford Butman
Contact_Organization: U.S. Geological Survey
Contact_Address:
Address_Type: mailing and physical address
Address:
U.S. Geological Survey Woods Hole Science Center 384 Woods Hole Road
City: Woods Hole
State_or_Province: Massachusetts
Postal_Code: 02543-1598
Contact_Voice_Telephone: 508 548-8700 x2212
Contact_Electronic_Mail_Address: bbutman@usgs.gov
Data_Set_Credit:
For their outstanding logistical support in collecting the oceanographic data in this report, we thank crews of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutters White Heath and Marcus Hanna and their captains Michael Frias, Buddy Blackburn, Vernon Shay, Peter Boardman, Richard Foy, Thomas Dickey, and Paul Dupuis. The USGS and the USCG safely conducted more than 90 cruises to deploy and recover hundreds of individual instruments on about 160 separate moorings to obtain this long-term data set. Mike Bothner was chief scientist on the USCG cruises. Fran Lightsom, Mary Hastings, and Ellyn Montgomery processed the time-series data. William Strahle, Marinna Martini, and Jonathan Borden oversaw the preparation and deployment of the physical oceanographic instrumentation. Michael Casso and Rick Rendigs oversaw collection and analysis of the the sediment-trap data. Ben Gutierrez helped in the preparation of version 1 of this report. Dann Blackwood took many of the photographs in this report. Bob Barton, Dann Blackwood, Jon Borden, Michael Casso, Jessica Cote, Ray Davis, Peter Gill, Joe Newell, Carol Parmenter, Andre Ramsey, Rick Rendigs, Steve Ruane, and Richard Signell carried out the work at sea, ashore, and in the laboratory. Rick Rendigs, Dan Blackwood, Larry Ball, Steve Cross, and Ken Parolski aided in the successful recovery of several bottom tripod systems by diving when the primary recovery system failed. Donna Newman and Jennifer Martin did the html coding. Mike Connor, Ken Keay, Wendy Leo, Mike Mickelson, and Andrea Rex provided guidance from MWRA. Neil Ganju and Erin Twomey (USGS) provided helpful reviews of this report. Frank Marachi, captain of the fishing vessel Christopher Andrew, provided assistance and valuable local knowledge on a number of cruises. This research was partially supported by a Cooperative Research Agreement between the U.S. Geological Survey and the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority and by an Interagency Support Agreement with the U.S. Coast Guard.
Cross_Reference:
Citation_Information:
Originator: E.T. Montgomery
Originator: M.A. Martini
Originator: F.L. Lightsom
Originator: Bradford Butman
Publication_Date: 2009
Title:
Documentation of the U.S. Geological Survey Oceanographic Time Series Measurement Database
Series_Information:
Series_Name: Open-File Report
Issue_Identification: 2007-1194
Publication_Information:
Publication_Place: Reston, VA
Publisher: U.S. Geological Survey
Online_Linkage: https://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/ofr20071194
Cross_Reference:
Citation_Information:
Originator: B. Butman
Originator: P.S. Dalyander
Originator: M.H. Bothner
Originator: J. Borden
Originator: M.A. Casso
Originator: B.T. Gutierrez
Originator: M.E. Hastings
Originator: F.L. Lightsom
Originator: M.A. Martini
Originator: E.T. Montgomery
Originator: R.R. Rendigs
Originator: W.S. Strahle
Publication_Date: 2009
Title:
Long-Term Oceanographic Observations in Massachusetts Bay, 1989-2006
Series_Information:
Series_Name: Data Series
Issue_Identification: 74
Publication_Information:
Publication_Place: Reston, VA
Publisher: U.S. Geological Survey
Online_Linkage: http://pubs.usgs.gov/ds/74/