Patuxent River Estuary Chemical and Physical Measurements from a 1972 Tidal Cycle

The Patuxent River estuary was monitored over a 25-hour tidal cycle from October 17-18, 1972. The dataset contains chemical and physical measurements, including dissolved oxygen, nutrients, chlorophyll, and heat concentration. Data were collected by the University of Maryland's Chesapeake Biological Lab and submitted to the National Oceanographic Data Center.

Use Cases

• Analyze tidal influence on dissolved oxygen (milligrams/liter) and nutrient concentrations (milligrams/liter).
• Model heat flux dynamics using heat concentration (kilocalories/liter) and instantaneous flux magnitude (megacalories/square meter/second).
• Study primary productivity relationships between Active Chlorophyll-a (micrograms/liter) and nitrate+nitrite concentrations (milligrams/liter).
• Correlate particulate carbon (milligrams/liter) with total particulates (milligrams/liter) across the tidal cycle.
• Calculate instantaneous flux magnitudes for salts (kilograms/liter) and total particulates (milligrams/liter) over time.

Strengths

• Data covers a continuous 25-hour tidal cycle.
• Includes multiple chemical parameters (dissolved organic carbon, nutrients, chlorophyll) and physical parameters (heat concentration, flux).

Limitations

• Data is from a single event in 1972, limiting temporal analysis.
• Original data format was EBCDIC on a 9-track tape, which may present access challenges.
• Sample size and row count are unknown.

Provenance

Source

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI Accession 7601237).

Collection Method

Data collected via thermistor, fluorometer, and bottle casts during the Patuxent River Cooperative Study.

Time Range

1972-10-15 to 1972-10-19, with intensive sampling from October 17-18.

Freshness

null

Geography

Patuxent River estuary.