Use of real-time data to monitor thebiogeochemistry and plankton

ecology of the lower Columbia River

Michelle A. Maier1,2, Tawnya D. Peterson1,2, Florian U. Moeller1,2,Jennifer Morace3, Andrew H. Barnard4, Antonio M. Baptista1,2,

and Joseph A. Needoba1,2

1Oregon Health & Science University, Beaverton, OR2Center for Coastal Margin Observation & Prediction, Beaverton, OR

3USGS Oregon Water Science Center, Portland, OR4WETlabs, Inc., Philomath, OR

NWQMC 2012 Session C3: Emerging Technologies and Techniques in Real Time Monitoring

• 2 years (2009-2011) of high resolutionbiogeochemical data from the lower ColumbiaRiver

• What we’ve learned from the real-time data

• How we use the real-time data to targetsampling efforts to study plankton ecology

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Background: Columbia River Basin

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbia_River

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Historical Changes to the Columbia River

Sullivan et al., 20014

Historical River Flow

Independent Scientific AdvisoryBoard for the Northwest Powerand Conservation Council,Columbia River Basin Indian Tribes,and NOAA Fisheries 2011

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“Greening” of the River

Sullivan et al., 2001

Motivation for high resolution data

• Historical change in dominant primaryproducers from vascular plants to fluvialphytoplankton (‘greening’ effect)

• Track drivers of chlorophyll production andplankton assemblages

• Monitor water quality and influence ofWillamette River discharge

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Columbia River Biogeochemical Sensors

Beaver Army TerminalRiver mile 53

WillametteRiver

ColumbiaRiver

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Land/Ocean BiogeochemicalObservatory (LOBO) Sensor Platform

http://columbia.loboviz.com

• Water Quality Monitor(WETlabs, Inc.)

• Chlorophyll

• Turbidity

• Dissolved oxygen

• Temperature

• SUNA nitrate sensor (Satlantic)

• UV-Nitrate sensor

• CDOM Fluorometer (WETlabs,Inc.)• Colored Dissolved Organic Matter

Sensors deployed June 23, 2009

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River Discharge at Beaver Army TerminalR

ive

rD

isch

arge

(m3

s-1)

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Hourly Data: Nitrate & Turbidity

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Hourly Data: Oxygen Saturation (%) & Chlorophyll

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Chlorophyll Fluorometer Quality Control

y = 2.9486x + 0.2696r2 = 0.8813

y = 4.1662x + 0.7233r2 = 0.9103

Fluorometer #1: 2009-2010 Fluorometer #2: 2011

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What we’ve learned from highresolution data in the Columbia River

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Results #1: Increased nitrate in winter storm run-off

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Results #2: Relationship of river discharge & chlorophyll

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Results #3: Track seasonal phytoplankton composition

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Results #4 Calculate phytoplankton POC fromdiscrete sampling

Phytoplankton particulate carbonSpring-Summer 2010

Cell Particulate Carbon: pg carbon/cell = .288 * biovolume0.811Menden-Deuer & Lessard, 2000

Phytoplankton particulate carbonSpring-Summer 2011

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Case Study: Using the real time data totarget studies of plankton ecology

• Identification ofphytoplankton parasites(‘chytrid’ fungi) duringspring blooms

• Most prevalent ondominant species (40%infected)– i.e. Asterionella formosa

• Dynamics of infectionscontrolled by riverdischarge

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Conclusions & Future Work

• What we know now from sensors that we didn’tknow before– High resolution seasonal trends in biogeochemical

parameters

– Control of river discharge on timing, magnitude, &number of spring bloom events

• How we use sensors to advance science– Adaptive sampling from real-time data to analyze

phytoplankton seasonal dynamics and plankton ecology

• Future work– LOBO installment before influence of Willamette River

(planned for spring 2012)

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Acknowledgments

• USGS Oregon Water Science Center

– Kevin Knutson

– Micelis Doyle

– Whitney Temple

– Greg Fuhrer

– Michael Sarantou

• NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program

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Willamette River Chlorophyll & Turbidity

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Willamette River ChlorophyllContribution

Columbia River

Willamette River

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Willamette River TurbidityContribution

Columbia River

Willamette River

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Colored Dissolved Organic Matter

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Temperature

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Oxygen Saturation (%)

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