Fixed-station water-quality monitoring at Fort Pulaski National Monument: 2015–2016 data summary - Version 1.1

Hynds, Mark; Starkey, Eric

In 2005 the National Park Service (NPS) Southeast Coast Network (SECN) Inventory and Monitoring Program began collecting water-quality data in the estuarine waters near Fort Pulaski National Monument (FOPU) as part of the NPS Vital Signs monitoring program. The continuous-monitoring data station is located at Lazaretto Creek. This station collects conductivity, dissolved oxygen, pH, salinity, temperature, turbidity, and water level data every 30 minutes. Southeast Coast Network staff make additional water quality measurements, which include monthly measurements of water clarity conditions, nutrient concentrations, and chlorophyll a levels. Southeast Coast Network staff follow methods that were adapted from the water-quality monitoring program established by the National Estuarine Research Reserve Program (Wenner and Geist 2001). Data and results are compared to EPA criteria (EPA 2012) which rate conditions as good, fair, or poor. The Fort Pulaski National Monument fixed-station water-quality monitoring site is part of the SECN estuarine water- and sediment-quality monitoring effort, which routinely collects data in the vicinity of seven coastal park units located along the southeastern U.S. coast (DeVivo et al. 2008; Gregory et al. 2013). Information collected by this monitoring program will be used to help managers make better-informed decisions by understanding trends and variability related to water-quality conditions in park waters. Highlights from the 2015–2016 data record are summarized in this report: • Chlorophyll a concentrations were fair (twelve samples) and good (eleven samples). • Water clarity was mostly good (seventeen samples) with three fair and no poor ratings. • Mean monthly dissolved oxygen concentrations were mostly good throughout the period, ranging from 5.1 mg/L in August 2015 to 9.5 mg/L in February 2015. Individual values ranged from 3.0 mg/L in August 2015 to 10.7 mg/L in January 2016. • Mean monthly pH values ranged from a low of 7.6 to a high of 8.0. Individual values ranged from 7.2 in July 2016 to 8.2 in May 2016. • Monthly mean turbidity values ranged from 17.9 FNUs to 30.8 FNUs. The lowest individual turbidity reading for any given month was 0.0 FNUs, and a maximum reading of 141.4 FNUs was recorded in November 2015. • Water temperatures in 2015–2016 ranged from a minimum monthly mean of 10.3 °C (50.5 °F) in February 2015 to a maximum monthly mean of 30.7 °C (87.3 °F) in July 2016. Individual temperatures ranged from a minimum of 6.9 °C (44.4 °F) in February 2015 to a maximum of 32.3 °C (90.1 °F) in July 2016. • The tidal range at Fort Pulaski National Monument was 3.85 meters (12.63 feet).

Fixed-station water-quality monitoring at Fort Pulaski National Monument: 2015–2016 data summary - Version 1.1

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