High-Frequency Water Quality Measurements from Lough Neagh, Antrim

Northern Ireland's Lough Neagh near Rea's Wood, Antrim, is monitored by a buoy-mounted multiparameter sonde deployed by NIEA’s Freshwater Monitoring and Assessment Team. The dataset contains provisional, non-validated measurements of water temperature, dissolved oxygen, phycocyanin, turbidity, and specific conductivity recorded every 30 minutes. Data is uploaded to a platform with a short delay and is subject to revision due to environmental factors or sensor malfunction.

Use Cases

• Modeling algal bloom dynamics based on phycocyanin and turbidity measurements.
• Analyzing diurnal and seasonal water quality patterns based on 30-minute interval data.
• Correlating specific conductivity and dissolved oxygen levels to assess water body health.
• Developing anomaly detection algorithms for sensor malfunction based on the provided accuracy ranges.

Strengths

• High-frequency temporal resolution with data recorded every 30 minutes.
• Specific sensor accuracy and measurement ranges are documented for each parameter (e.g., temperature accuracy +/- 0.1°C).
• Probe maintenance occurs every 4-6 weeks, suggesting a regular calibration schedule.

Limitations

• Data is explicitly non-validated and provisional, subject to revision.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) Freshwater Monitoring and Assessment Team, via OpenDataNI.

Collection Method

Collected by a buoy-deployed multiparameter sonde as part of a long-term monitoring project.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-18 11:22:51.840620; data is uploaded with a short delay from collection.

Geography

Rea’s Wood bathing water site, Lough Neagh, Antrim, Northern Ireland.