Long-Term Hydrologic Monitoring Protocol for Coastal Ecosystems
McCobb TD and Weiskel PK. 2003. Long-Term Hydrologic Monitoring Protocol for Coastal Ecosystems. U. S Geological Survey Open-File Report 02-497. U. S Geological Survey. Northborough, MA
The Cape Cod National Seashore (CACO) was selected by the National Park Service (NPS) as a prototype park for long-term coastal ecosystem monitoring. The Seashore consists of about 18,000 hectares (44,000 acres) of uplands, ponds, wetlands, and tidal lands on lower Cape Cod, Massachusetts (Godfrey and others, 1999). The hydrologic system of lower Cape Cod consists of four distinct ground-water lenses, or flow cells, which receive recharge through precipitation. These lenses are separated by tidal bays, freshwater streams, and marshes, which represent the discharge receptors (fig. 1). The combination of a vulnerable, sole-source water supply with the rapid urbanization of lower Cape Cod creates a serious situation that requires a comprehensive resource-protection, -management, and -monitoring program (Godfrey and others, 1999). Hydrologic features available for monitoring at the Seashore include: (1) ground water, (2) kettle ponds, (3) permanent and seasonal freshwater wetlands (vernal ponds), (4) freshwater streams, and (5) estuarine wetlands (Godfrey and others, 1999). The purpose of this report is to establish a hydrologic monitoring protocol for the Cape Cod National Seashore. This protocol will be integrated with protocols from other disciplines in the long-term ecosystem monitoring program to aid in the interpretation of findings and the detection of long-term trends. Establishment of a detailed hydrologic monitoring protocol is essential for the collection of high-quality data that can be used to address current and future hypotheses and identify trends in complex data sets. Because changes in many hydrologic observations are near the limits of measurement error, each measurement must be carried out according to a specific protocol to ensure consistent data and minimize measurement error.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- McCobb, Timothy; Weiskel, Peter
- Date of Issue
- 2003
- Publisher
- U. S Geological Survey
- Units
- CACO
- Keywords
- Cape Cod National Seashore MA, Coastal Ecosystems, groundwater, hydrologic, Hydrology, Monitoring, pond stage, Protocols
- Subjects
- Ecological Framework: Water | Hydrology | Groundwater Dynamics , Ecological Framework: Water | Hydrology | Surface Water Dynamics
- License
- Public Domain