National Estuarine Research Reserve System - NERRS - Water Quality Data

Water quality observations made over long time periods can provide important feedback to scientists and to local, state, and national resource managers about actions taken to manage, protect, and restore estuaries. They also provide valuable information for evaluating the impacts of environmental change on coastal habitats and species. There are at least four water quality stations at each National Estuarine Research Reserve. Each station is designed to characterize long-term variability and short term changes in environmental conditions. Data are collected with data loggers at fifteen minute intervals and instruments are deployed continuously and year round where possible. Water quality parameters collected include: water temperature, specific conductivity, salinity, percent saturation of dissolved oxygen, dissolved oxygen concentration, pH, depth, and turbidity. Chlorohpyll fluorescence is an optional parameter and pressure corrected water depth is a calculated value. The National Estuarine Research Reserves is a network of 30 reserves protected for long-term research, ecosystem monitoring, education, and coastal stewardship. Established by the Coastal Zone Management Act, the reserve system is a partnership program between NOAA and the coastal states. NOAA provides funding, national guidance, and technical assistance. Each reserve is managed on daily basis by a lead state agency or university with input from local partners. These data are collected as part of the NERRS System-Wide Monitoring Program - SWMP, which includes: 1. abiotic indicators of water quality and weather; 2. biological monitoring; and 3. watershed, habitat, and land use mapping. Data were collected under individual Reserve NOAA grant/cooperative agreements and managed by the CDMO under NOAA grant/cooperative agreement #NA24NOSX420C0061-T1-01 (2024) and prior grants. For more information on Reserve locations and programs, please visit www.nerrsdata.org or https://coast.noaa.gov/nerrs/.

To identify and track short-term variability and long-term changes in the integrity and biodiversity of representative estuarine ecosystems and coastal watersheds for the purpose of contributing to effective national, regional and site specific coastal zone management.

Loaded by FGDC Metadata Uploader, batch 10167, 10-31-2017 15:35

NERRS Centralized Data Management Office - CDMO

cdmodata@baruch.sc.edu

843-904-9003

Parameters and units

Temp: Water temperature measured in degrees Celsius (C).

SpCond: Specific conductivity measured in milli-Siemens per centimeter (mS/cm).

Sal: Salinity measured in practical salinity units (psu).

DO_pct: Dissolved oxygen measured in percent saturation (%).

DO_mgl: Dissolved oxygen concentration measured in milligrams per Liter (mg/L).

Depth: Sonde depth measured in meters (m).

cDepth: Depth from a non-vented sensor corrected for changes in barometric pressure (m).

Level: Sonde depth as referenced to a known vertical datum, NAVD88, measured in meters (m). Note: vertical control is established by different means across the system, please see the metadata provided with each station’s data download for station specifics and to determine if data are suitable for your use.

cLevel: Level from a non-vented sensor corrected for changes in barometric pressure (m).

pH:pH measured in standard units.

Turb: Turbidity measured in either formazin nephelometric or nephelometric turbidity units (FNU/NTU) based on sensor, considered to be equivalent for SWMP purposes.

ChlFluor: Chlorophyll fluorescence measured in micrograms per Liter (ug/L).

The Federal government does not assume liability to the Recipient or third persons, nor will the Federal government reimburse or indemnify the Recipient for its liability due to any losses resulting in any way from the use of this data.The data are only as accurate as the quality assurance and quality control procedures allow. These procedures are descibed in the detailed metadata statement enclosed within any data transmission. The user bears all responsibility for its subsequent use/misuse in any further analyses or comparisons.

None

NOAA retains the right to analyze, synthesize and publish summaries of the NERRS System-wide Monitoring Program data. The NERRS retains the right to be fully credited for having collected and process the data. Following academic courtesy standards, the NERR site where the data were collected should be contacted and fully acknowledged in any subsequent publications in which any part of the data are used. The data enclosed within this package/transmission are only as accurate as the quality assurance and quality control procedures that are described in the associated metadata reporting statement allow. The user bears all responsibility for its subsequent use/misuse in any further analyses or comparisons. The Federal government does not assume liability to the Recipient or third persons, nor will the Federal government reimburse or indemnify the Recipient for its liability due to any losses resulting in any way from the use of this data. Requested citation format: NOAA National Estuarine Research Reserve System (NERRS). System-wide Monitoring Program. Data accessed from the NOAA NERRS Centralized Data Management Office website: www.nerrsdata.org/; accessed 20 August 2025.

Datasets contain all 15-minute data records throughout the year unless otherwise noted.

All NERR SWMP data incur primary data QAQC (automated checks) at the CDMO within one week of data retrieval as the provisional data are ingested into the CDMO database. The data are then emailed back to the Reserve where Reserve staff use tools provided by the CDMO, Microsoft Excel macros, to perform secondary QAQC on the data. Data that have been through secondary QAQC are submitted back to the CDMO and ingested into the database quarterly and again annually; these data are posted as provisional plus. After annual submission to the CDMO is complete, the data undergo final tertiary QAQC by the CDMO. The data and its accompanying metadata documentation are checked for completeness before dissemination as authenticated historical data via the CDMO Online Data Information Server at www.nerrsdata.org. Processing/QAQC stages are clearly denoted within the data file transmission and are ongoing, the process date given below reflects the years this metadata record was created.

Data are archived with a robust backup protocol by the NERRS CDMO.

Data were run through automated quality assurance/quality control (QAQC) checks for sensor range, missing, or garbled data. Sensors are calibrated per manufacturer's instructions and CDMO protocols. Field conditions are noted at equipment deployment and retrieval. Deployments are limited to a maximum of four weeks. Post-deployment calibration checks are also conducted and noted per the manufacturer's instructions and CDMO protocols. Additional QAQC is performed by Reserve staff and the CDMO as described at: www.nerrsdata.org/data/qaqc.cfm.