Plum Island Ecosystems LTER Database

Acceptance and utilization of LTER data requires that:

(1) The Principal Investigator be sent a notice stating reasons for acquiring any data and a description of the publication intentions.
(2) The Principal Investigator of the data set be sent a copy of the report or manuscript prior to submission and be adequately cited in any resultant publications.
(3) A copy of any resultant publications should be sent to:

Principal Investigator
Ecosystems Center
Marine Biological Laboratory
7 MBL St.
Woods Hole, MA 02543

Dataset URLs:METADATA: HTML, Rich Text, XML(EML compliant)
DATA: Comma Delimited, Excel file with Metadata and data
Dataset ID:MON-SO-IBYCRLS2021.01
Dataset Title:PIE LTER, Hach, OTT RLS measurements of water column depth at 15 minute intervals in the lower Plum Island Sound off the Ipswich Bay Yacht Club pier, Ipswich, MA, year 2021.
Investigator 1: 
First Name:Joe
Last Name:Vallino
Address line 1:Ecosystems Center
Address line 2:MBL
Address line 3:7 MBLSt
City:Woods Hole
State:MA
Zip Code:02543
Country:USA
Associate Investigators:Hap Garritt
Keywords:PIE LTER, disturbance, tide, water level, depth, Plum Island Sound, Ipswich Bay Yacht Club, Ipswich, Massachusetts
Abstract:Measurements of water column depth at 15 minute intervals in Plum Island Sound at the Ipswich Bay Yacht Club, for year 2021. OTT radar level sensor (RLS) installed September 20, 2011 out of the water under the concrete pad on the Ipswich Bay Yacht Club pier, Ipswich, MA. RLS was mounted so that continuous year round measurements can be conducted without the concern of ice flows damaging the sensor.

Contact: Plum Island Ecosystems LTER Information Manager
The Ecosystems Center
Marine Biological Lab
7 MBL St
Woods Hole, MA 02543
Phone (508) 289 7485
Email: pie_im@mbl.edu
Online URL: http://pie-lter.ecosystems.mbl.edu
DATA FILE INFORMATION:
Data File URL http://ecosystems.mbl.edu/PIE/data-archive/PHY/data/MON-SO-IBYCRLS2021.csv
Data File Name MON-SO-IBYCRLS2021
Beginning Date 1/1/2021
End Date 11/4/2021
Number of Data Records 24468
Other Files to Reference
Availability Status Type 1
Quality Control Information
Maintenance Description Collection on going
Log of Changes: Version 01: November 18, 2021, data and metadata updates to comply with importation to DEIMS7 and LTER Data Portal. Used MarcrosExportEML_HTML (working)pie_excel2007_Sep2019.xlsm 9/3/19 5:19 PM for QA/QC to EML 2.1.0
 
RESEARCH LOCATION: MON-SO-IBYC Data Logger Station Site 2
Geographic Description PIE YSI water quality, OTT RLS water level and wind sensor station at Ipswich Bay Yacht Club pier, Plum Island Sound, Ipswich, MA  
Location Bounding Box    
West Bounding Coordinate    
East Bounding Coordinate    
North Bounding Coordinate    
South Bounding Coordinate    
OR if single point location    
Latitude 42.708995  
Longitude -70.796577  
Elevation    
     
     
 
TAXONOMIC COVERAGE:
Taxonomic Protocols
Organisms studied
 
Methods:RLS water level install,IBYC, 9/20/11
Hap Garritt, Sam Kelsey(MBL)
Nichole Halsey, RonanO’Maitu (Hach)
 
Used Growler boat at high tide to attach 2 x 6 pressure treated wood underneath pier platform between pilings. Wood will be used to attach the RLS. Wood attached with concrete adhesive and concrete screws.
RLS attached to wood with screws and leveled with shingle shims.
RLS cable attached to 2x4 wood which was secured along concrete. Cable attached to eye screws using cable ties.
 
Measured distances
Pier deck to sediment bottom, deck near logger down to bottom by floating dock directly downstream of logger/deck railing = 22.45 ft or 6.84 meters
RLS height above pier deck = 33 inches or 0.838 meters
 
IBYC NAVD88 benchmark/pier deck by datalogger = 2.78 meters, as determined by Trimble high precision GPS.
2016
2.790, new pier joists and decking at IBYC , late spring 2015
2010
2.773
2009
2.811
2008
2.779
2007
2.780
 
Calculated distances
RLS to sediment bottom = 6.84 + .838 = 7.68 meters
RLS relative to NAVD88 = 3.618 meters

The OTT RLS sensor technology is based on impulse radar. Two antennas are enclosed in a compact housing and transmit pulses toward the water surface, through a Teflon face plate. The transmitting antenna transmits short radar pulses in the 24 GHz ISM band. The receiving antenna receives the pulses reflected from the water surface to determine the distance between the face plate of the radar sensor and the water surface. The time delay from transmission to receipt is proportional to the distance between sensor and water surface. Approximately 16 individual measurements are conducted per second and averaged after 20 seconds to minimize wave influences.

May 29 to July 17 2021 there was a datalpogger power failure. There were also other extended periods where the datalogger battery failed and no data was logged. Battery failure seems to coincide with decreased solar charging due to inclement weather and abnormal high frequency of battery discharge/recharge events. On Septemebr 28, 2021 two old (20 years+) 10W solar panels were replaced with a single 20W panel and power issues seem to be resolved.

Data Table

Variable Name Variable Description Units Measurement Scale Code Information Number Type DateTime Format Missing Value Code Missing Value Code Explanation
Date Date of sampling   datetime     YYYY-MM-DD    
Time Time of sampling, 24 hr clock (eastern standard time EST)   datetime     hh:mm    
Station Name of sampling station   nominal          
Record Record number from datalogger   nominal       NAN NAN=missing value code for RLS
PbattvoltMin Data logger minimum battery voltage during measurement interval volt ratio   real   NAN NAN=missing value code for RLS
WaterLevel Absolute water level, water surface to sediment surface meter ratio   real   NAN NAN=missing value code for RLS
WaterLevelNAVD88 Water level relative to NAVD 88 benchmark meter ratio   real   NAN NAN=missing value code for RLS
RadarDistance Distance between the face plate of the radar sensor and the water surface meter ratio   real   NAN NAN=missing value code for RLS
Comments Comments about the data/datalogger function   nominal       NA not available