Characterizing freshwater and nutrient fluxes to West Falmouth Harbor, Massachusetts

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Frequently anticipated questions:

What does this data set describe?

Title:
Characterizing freshwater and nutrient fluxes to West Falmouth Harbor, Massachusetts
Abstract:
These data present oceanographic and water-quality observations made at 4 locations in West Falmouth Harbor and 3 in Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts. While both Buzzards Bay and West Falmouth Harbor are estuarine embayments, the input of freshwater on the eastern margin of Buzzards Bay is largely due to groundwater. In West Falmouth Harbor, the groundwater that seeps into the harbor is characterized by relatively high levels of nitrate, originating from the Falmouth Wastewater Treatment Plant. This high nitrate load has modified the ecology of the harbor, and may be a significant source of nitrate to Buzzards Bay during seasons with low biological nitrate uptake. The USGS undertook these measurements to improve understanding of circulation, residence time, and water quality in the harbor and bay. For more information on the field operations associated with data collection: http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=2009-060-FA http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=2009-063-FA http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=2009-065-FA http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=2009-076-FA http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=2009-077-FA http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=2009-080-FA http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=2010-030-FA http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=2010-031-FA http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=2010-032-FA http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=2010-037-FA http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=2010-058-FA http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=2010-085-FA
  1. How might this data set be cited?
    Ganju, Neil K, Dickhudt, Patrick J., and Montgomery, Ellyn T., 2011, Characterizing freshwater and nutrient fluxes to West Falmouth Harbor, Massachusetts: U.S. Geological Survey, Coastal and Marine Geology Program, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center, Woods Hole, MA.

    Online Links:

  2. What geographic area does the data set cover?
    West_Bounding_Coordinate: -70.6251
    East_Bounding_Coordinate: -70.7255
    North_Bounding_Coordinate: +41.7374
    South_Bounding_Coordinate: +41.7374
  3. What does it look like?
  4. Does the data set describe conditions during a particular time period?
    Beginning_Date: Jul-2009
    Ending_Date: Nov-2010
    Currentness_Reference:
    ground condition of data collection
  5. What is the general form of this data set?
  6. How does the data set represent geographic features?
    1. How are geographic features stored in the data set?
    2. What coordinate system is used to 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? (may include formal authors, digital compilers, and editors)
    • Neil K Ganju
    • Patrick J. Dickhudt
    • Ellyn T. Montgomery
  2. Who also contributed to the data set?
    Funding was provided by the U.S. Geological Survey Coastal and Marine Geology Program. Access to privately owned sites was graciously provided by Jonathan Harley of the Chapoquoit Island Association, Alan Rottenberg, and Michael Jackson. The captain and crew of the R/V Tioga skillfully deployed and recovered tripods in Buzzards Bay. Jonathan Borden, Marinna Martini, Brandy Armstrong, Robert Barton, and Christine Sabens assisted instrument preparation, maintenance, field operations and logistics. Faculty and staff of the Massachusetts Maritime Academy, especially Tom Pham and William Klimm, assisted with instrument deployments in Cape Cod Canal. Charles Worley and Michael Casso of the USGS deployed the ADCP on the rudder of the T/S Kennedy.
  3. To whom should users address questions about the data?
    Neil K. Ganju
    U.S. Geological Survey
    384 Woods Hole Road
    Woods Hole, MA
    United States

    (508) 457-8700 x2252 (voice)
    nganju@usgs.gov

Why was the data set created?

This dataset provides measurements from an estuarine field study that occurred in the summers of 2009 and 2010. The data were collected in support of efforts to model the circulation and nutrient fluxes in the harbor and bay. The background and experimental setup are described in the open file report "Summary of oceanographic and water-quality measurements in West Falmouth Harbor and Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts, 2009-2010", http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2011/1113/. The locations, deployment depths, sensor type and parameters measured during the deployment are shown in the table displayed by the Basic Sampling Interval link (http://stellwagen.er.usgs.gov/wfal-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. The data files are accessible by clicking the file name or via OPeNDAP at http://stellwagen.er.usgs.gov/opendap/WFAL/.

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: 2010 (process 1 of 5)
    FIELD PROGRAM: Instruments to measure water flow, conductivity, temperature, surface wave characteristics, near-bottom turbulence, suspended sediment concentrations, and nutrients were deployed and recovered at 4 locations in West Falmouth Harbor and 3 locations in Buzzards Bay. In Buzzards Bay (2009 only): Platform 862 was deployed on the west side of the Cape Cod Canal adjacent to Massachusetts Maritime. Platform 859 was deployed in the middle of the bay at: 41.6346, -70.7255. Measurements include currents, waves, temperature, salinity, pressure, light attenuation and dissolved oxygen. Platform 860 was deployed to the southeast of the bay at 41.5607, -70.6780. Measurements include currents, waves, temperature, salinity, pressure, light attenuation and dissolved oxygen. In West Falmouth Harbor (2010 only): Biological fouling on sensors often degrades acoustical and optical data quality during deployment. Organisms grow on the instrument transducers and gradually block acoustical pulses and light transmission, These instruments were serviced regularly to clean the transducers and recalibrate where needed. Where possible adjustments to correct for effects of biofouling were made; uncorrectable points were removed. Platforms 887, 888, and 901 were deployed at the mouth of the harbor, nominally 41.6063, -70.6512. Measurements include currents, temperature, salinity, pH, chlorophyll-a, dissolved oxygen and pressure. Platforms 885 and 886 were deployed at the junction site where the two arms of the harbor meet, nominally 41.6045, -70.6440. Measurements include currents, temperature, salinity, pH, chlorophyll-a, dissolved oxygen and pressure. Platforms 882, 883, and 884 were deployed at Mashapaquit Creek, nominally 41.6089, -70.6371. Measurements include currents, temperature, salinity, pH, chlorophyll-a, nitrate, dissolved oxygen and pressure. Platform 900 was deployed in the south arm at 41.6014, -70.6462. Measurements include currents, dissolved oxygen and temperature.
    Date: 2010 (process 2 of 5)
    DATA PROCESSING Data processing was conducted using the proprietary software for each instrument, and (or) specialized software developed by the USGS. The proprietary software was often used to download data from the instruments and export the data to ASCII-files. Post-processing of the raw binary or ASCII files was accomplished using USGS software developed in the MATLAB (http://www.mathworks.com/) programming language. As part of the processing, instrument-specific formats were converted to the EPIC-standard NetCDF format (http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/epic/) and scientific units. Data were carefully checked for inconsistencies, time drift, and other problems and then edited if needed. The beginning and end of each data series were truncated to remove data collected out of water. After final editing, the best basic version of the data file that includes all variables recorded at the basic sampling interval (the fastest rate at which the sensor sampled) is published. Person who carried out this activity:
    Ellyn Montgomery
    U.S. Geological Survey
    384 Woods Hole Road
    Woods Hole, MA
    United States

    508-457-8700 x2356 (voice)
    emontgomery@usgs.gov
    Date: 12-Jul-2016 (process 3 of 5)
    Edits to the metadata were made to fix any errors that MP v 2.9.32 flagged. This is necessary to enable the metadata to be successfully harvested for various data catalogs. In some cases, this meant adding text "Information unavailable" or "Information unavailable from original metadata" for those required fields that were left blank. Other minor edits were probably performed (title, publisher, publication place, etc.). The online link to the experiment was added to the identification section. Fixed the online link to a cross-reference. The metadata date (but not the metadata creator) was edited to reflect the date of these changes. The metadata available from a harvester may supersede metadata bundled within a download file. Compare the metadata dates to determine which metadata file is most recent. Person who carried out this activity:
    U.S. Geological Survey
    Attn: VeeAnn A. Cross
    Marine Geologist
    384 Woods Hole Rd.
    Woods Hole, MA

    508-548-8700 x2251 (voice)
    508-457-2310 (FAX)
    vatnipp@usgs.gov
    Date: 20-Jul-2018 (process 4 of 5)
    USGS Thesaurus keywords added to the keyword section. Person who carried out this activity:
    U.S. Geological Survey
    Attn: VeeAnn A. Cross
    Marine Geologist
    384 Woods Hole Road
    Woods Hole, MA

    508-548-8700 x2251 (voice)
    508-457-2310 (FAX)
    vatnipp@usgs.gov
    Date: 08-Sep-2020 (process 5 of 5)
    Added keywords section with USGS persistent identifier as theme keyword. Person who carried out this activity:
    U.S. Geological Survey
    Attn: VeeAnn A. Cross
    Marine Geologist
    384 Woods Hole Road
    Woods Hole, MA

    508-548-8700 x2251 (voice)
    508-457-2310 (FAX)
    vatnipp@usgs.gov
  3. What similar or related data should the user be aware of?
    Montgomery, E.T., Martini, M.A., Lightsom, F.L., and Butman, Bradford, 2008, Documentation of the U.S. Geological Survey Oceanographic Time Series: Open-File Report 2007-1194, U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, VA.

    Online Links:

    Ganju, N.K., Dickhudt, P.J., Thomas, J.A., Borden, J., C.R.Sherwood, Montgomery, E.T., Twoomey, E.R., and Martini, M.A., 2011, Summary of oceanographic and water-quality measurements in West Falmouth Harbor and Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts, 2009-2010: Open-File Report 2011-1113, U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, VA.

    Online Links:

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?
    The West Falmouth and Cape Cod Canal deployment locations were measured by a hand-held GPS (Garmin GPS C76). The positions in Buzzards Bay were obtained from the R/V Tioga's positioning system (http://www.whoi.edu/page.do?pid=8435).
  3. How accurate are the heights or depths?
    Some sensors were mounted on floating docks, so their depths change with the tides. Instruments mounted on the seafloor have depth accuracy of 1 cm.
  4. Where are the gaps in the data? What is missing?
    The data have been edited to remove outlying points and data recorded when the instruments were out of the water (before and after deployment. Short temporal sections of data were aggregated to make the longest duration timeseries possible.
  5. How consistent are the relationships among the observations, including topology?
    Data are logically consistent

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 Data presented are in the public domain. Please acknowledge the U.S. Geological Survey, Coastal Marine Geology Program as the source of this data.
  1. Who distributes the data set? (Distributor 1 of 1)
    Neil K. Ganju
    U.S. Geological Survey
    384 Woods Hole Road
    Woods Hole, MA
    USA

    (508) 457-8700 x2252 (voice)
    nganju@usgs.gov
  2. What's the catalog number I need to order this data set? Downloadable Data available from http://stellwagen.er.usgs.gov/wfal.html.
  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?
  5. What hardware or software do I need in order to use the data set?
    The user's computer must have software to read netCDF files or import OPeNDAP.

Who wrote the metadata?

Dates:
Last modified: 07-Jul-2022
Metadata author:
Ellyn T. Montgomery
U.S. Geological Survey
384 Woods Hole Road
Woods Hole, MA
United States

(508) 457-8700 x2356 (voice)
whsc_data_contact@usgs.gov
Hours_of_Service: 8 am - 4 pm
Contact_Instructions:
The metadata contact email address is a generic address in the event the metadata contact is no longer with the USGS or the email is otherwise invalid.
Metadata standard:
FGDC Content Standards for Digital Geospatial Metadata (FGDC-STD-001-1998)
This page is <https://cmgds.marine.usgs.gov/catalog/whcmsc/stellwagen/wfal_corrdMeta.faq.html>
Generated by mp version 2.9.51 on Thu Jul 14 11:37:40 2022