Loboviz

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Loboviz

• Comparing the Effects of Precipitation on Nitrate
  Levels in the Old Salinas River Channel

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Loboviz

• Introduction
• The LOBO observatory L3 buoy has collected data
  showing changed nitrate levels in the Old Salinas
  River Channel. Normal oceanic nitrate levels are
  10 µm (micromol). Nitrate levels in the Old
  Salinas River Channel have reached 2000 µm.
  Fluctuations in nitrate have been linked to tidal
  changes and storm events.
• Goal
• Students will compare and analyze nitrate
  concentrations and precipitation levels.
• Question
• How will an increase in precipitation effect
  nitrate levels?

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Map below from LOBOVIZ Network http//www.mbari.o
rg/lobo/network.htmLOBOmap
Map above from CIMIS http//wwwcimis.water.ca.gov
/cimis/infoStnMapSanJoaquin.jsp
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Loboviz

• Materials computer, access to
• Loboviz realtime data set page
• http//www.mbari.org/lobo/loboviz.htm
• CIMIS weather data page
• http//www.cimis.water.ca.gov/cimis/welcome.jsp

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Loboviz

• Procedure
• Ask students to develop their own hypothesis
  based on the introduction and question.
• (Example for the Teacher An increase in rainfall
  will increase runoff and fresh water influx into
  the Old Salinas River Channel and decrease
  nitrate level.)
• DATA Procedure
• 1)Open the Loboviz data access page
• http//www.mbari.org/lobo/loboviz.htm

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Loboviz

• Procedure continued
• Select the following
• 2) Station L03SURF.TXT
• 3) X Variable Date
• 4) Y Variables Nitrate
• 5) Autoscale select On
• 6) Quality Select All Data
• 7) YStack Select Off
• 8) Time Select All Data
• 9) Start Date 02/01/2005
• 10) End Date 03/31/2005
• 11) Output Plot

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Loboviz
Data from Loboviz, adapted in Excel
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Loboviz
Data from CIMIS, adapted in Excel
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Loboviz

• Student Activity
• Describe the patterns you see in the nitrate
  graph and precipitation graph.
• How did the patterns differ or agree with your
  hypothesis?
• The L3 buoy is positioned in the center of the
  Old Salinas River Channel. If another buoy was
  placed near the edge of the riverbank, would
  there be a change in the data? If so, how?

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Loboviz

• Results
• Increased rainfall correlated to decreased
  nitrate levels from 02/01/2005 to 03/31/2005.
  (See 3/15/2005 and 3/22/2005.)
• Teacher Discussion hints
• Higher rainfall levels could dilute nitrate
  levels in the Old Salinas River Channel. However,
  nitrate levels tend to be more concentrated at
  the bend or edge of a river. Therefore, buoy
  placement might effect nitrate data readings.
• Castroville (the site of the precipitation data)
  has significant artichoke farming. MBARI hopes to
  share this data with local farmers to increase
  their efficacy of fertilizers (without wasting
  them) and lower nitrate levels.

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LOBO L3 Buoy
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Loboviz

• Extensions
• How can we determine where the nitrates are
  coming from?
• Would testing the farmers wells be helpful?
• If nitrate runoff was minimized what would be the
  economic impact on farmers and fertilizer
  distributors?
• Aside from farming, what are some other sources
  of nitrates? (Teacher hint look up maps of area
  and look for other sources).
• Examine LOBOVIZ again, examine data for dissolved
  oxygen and nitrate levels to explore the effects
  of eutrophication. (Teacher hint DO levels will
  be lower with high eutrophication.)

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Web resources

• Irrigation Scheduling
• http//wwwcimis.water.ca.gov/cimis/infoIrrSchedule
  .jsp
• Whats in Your Watershed (Bridge Data Tip)
• http//www.vims.edu/bridge/index_archive0203.html

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Notes on Loboviz

• Menu choices should correspond automatically to
  data available at the station. Ex. types of
  chemical parameters, date
• Need metadata explanation. Ex.Quality Select
  Whats the different in the data types?
• Need to be able to manipulate output in Text file
  format. Ex. Each day has at least 6 data point.
  It would be nice to be able to average these to
  get 1 data value.
• In general, the interface needs to be modified to
  be more teacher and student friendly.
• GROUP CONTRIBUTORSStephen Coleman, Susanna
  Musick, Julie Ribar, Eric Simms