SOP 11 – Quality Assurance and Quality Control; A Protocol for Monitoring Estuarine Nutrient Enrichment in Coastal Parks of the National Park Service Northeast Region
Kopp BS and Neckles HA. 2009. SOP 11 – Quality Assurance and Quality Control; A Protocol for Monitoring Estuarine Nutrient Enrichment in Coastal Parks of the National Park Service Northeast Region. National Park Service. Fort Collins, Colorado
This is an SOP of "A Protocol for Monitoring Estuarine Nutrient Enrichment in Coastal Parks of the National Park Service Northeast Region" (https://irma.nps.gov/App/Reference/Profile/2218712). The goals of estuarine monitoring within coastal parks of the NPS Northeast Region are to determine whether nutrient loads to park estuaries are increasing over time, and to assess how estuarine natural resources are affected by changing nutrient inputs. Data collected through the implementation of this monitoring protocol are intended to generate assessments of estuarine condition to address these questions, and successive assessments will allow NPS to track changes in condition through time. Non-uniform data that are inconsistent with regard to precision and accuracy will result in greater sampling variability and interfere with the ability to detect differences between successive assessments. Poor or inconsistent data quality may also promote analyses that are flawed and result in sub-optimal or wholly inappropriate management decisions. The Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) forming the bulk of this monitoring protocol constitute the QA program for estuarine monitoring within NPS NER parks. Program components include sampling design, personnel training, instrument maintenance and calibration, and detailed field and laboratory procedures for each vital sign measure. Data quality is also assured by carefully defining measurement quality objectives (MQOs) and by instituting a Quality Control (QC) program to ensure data meet these quality objectives. This SOP describes the procedures for implementing the quality control program and evaluating attainment of MQO’s. It is modeled after the Quality Assurance Project Plan of the U.S. EPA National Coastal Assessment (U.S. EPA 2001). Measurement quality objectives are established for five aspects of data quality including representativeness, completeness, comparability, accuracy and precision (Stanley and Vener 1985).
- Type
- Standard Operating Procedure
- Authors
- Kopp, Blaine; Neckles, Hilary
- Date of Issue
- 2009-05
- Publisher
- National Park Service
- Units
- ASIS , CACO , COLO , FIIS , GATE , GEWA , NCBN , NRSS
- Keywords
- Assateague Island National Seashore, estuarine habitats, Estuary, Fire Island National Seashore, Gateway National Recreation Area, Monitoring, Northeast Coastal and Barrier Network, Nutrient Enrichment, Nutrients, Plant Communities, plant cover, Sea grass, Soil Chemistry, Species Composition, Vegetation, Vegetation cover, Water Chemistry, Water Clarity , Water Quality, Water Quality Monitoring, Wetlands
- Subjects
- Ecological Framework: Geology and Soils | Soil Quality | Soil Function and Dynamics , Ecological Framework: Water | Water Quality | Water Chemistry , Ecological Framework: Water | Water Quality | Nutrient Dynamics , Ecological Framework: Biological Integrity | Focal Species or Communities | Estuarine Communities , Ecological Framework: Human Use | Non-point Source Human Effects | Non-point Source Human Effects , Ecological Framework: Landscapes | Nutrient Dynamics | Nutrient Dynamics , Ecological Framework: Landscapes | Energy Flow | Primary Production