Rea's Wood High-Frequency Water Quality Measurements from Lough Neagh

NIEA's Freshwater Monitoring and Assessment Team deployed a multiparameter sonde on a buoy at Rea's Wood, Antrim, for long-term water quality monitoring. The dataset contains high-frequency measurements of water temperature, dissolved oxygen, phycocyanin, turbidity, and specific conductivity, recorded every 30 minutes. Data is provisional, non-validated, and uploaded to the Lough Neagh platform with a short delay.

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.
• Calibrating or validating other water quality models using the specific conductivity and dissolved oxygen readings.
• Monitoring for potential sensor malfunction or environmental anomalies based on the provided accuracy ranges for each parameter.

Strengths

• High temporal resolution with data recorded every 30 minutes.
• Sensor accuracy specifications are provided for each measured parameter (e.g., temperature accuracy +/- 0.1°C).
• Probe maintenance occurs every 4-6 weeks, suggesting regular data quality checks.

Limitations

• Data is explicitly flagged as 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, published via OpenDataNI.

Collection Method

Collected by a multiparameter sonde deployed on a buoy.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-18 11:23:01.157482; freshness should be verified.

Geography

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