[Carol ArmstrongParticipant]

Report for 10/1/19

@krogers sl133  Turbidity has become very elevated and flashy indicating debris on the sensors. It might be affecting conductivity because it coincides with big increase of about 200 uS/cm, which seems unrelated to water depth change. Else, is there another source of increased conductivity?

@shanemorgan, @hicks sl157.  Could you trouble shoot this issue?  Battery has been persistently at 4.02v from 18:11 (mil) on 9/27 to the present on 10/1. Not previously seen at this station.

@melvin, @ruggiero sl172.  Sensors are compacted, with turbidity at 800 to >1400 NTU. Look closely at pressure transducer.  Battery stable but low at 3.4v.

@lawler, @reeves sl179.  Battery voltage is persistently dropping, now down to 3.43v.

@fenchel sl191.  Sensors have not been submerged since 8/10.

[Shannon HicksParticipant]

As of today, the following stations have been updated to send their data directly to the new MMW portal, so their live data no longer shows up on the old drwisensors.dreamhosters.com page:  SL101, SL102, SL103, SL104, SL105, SL132, SL133, SL134, SL135, SL159, SL167, SL168, SL169, SL176, SL179, and all station ID’s higher than SL248

I visited over 2 dozen stations in the past couple weeks, doing upgrades of the logger code and servicing all of the sensors.  I found major fouling on the turbidity sensors at several stations that was completely impeding the sensor’s ability to see into the water.  This is the black coating we’ve been seeing on sensors for the past year, and can only be cleaned with a special acid and a certain cleaning protocol, so it’s not really something that individual users can do by themselves.  I have to visit every one of our stations in the coming month in order to continue upgrading the logger code, so I will be checking every sensor and cleaning any of the affected ones.  So far the stations that had major fouling on the turbidity sensor have been:  SL133 (on 9/27, this explains the drastic change in turbidity that @armstrong mentioned), SL135 (on 9/26), SL138 (on 8/29), and several stations at FSNHP yesterday.  We also cleaned this coating from SL107, SL108, SL123, and SL124 earlier this year.  If anyone sees the black coating on their turbidity sensor, let us know and we’ll make it an even higher priority to get there first.

In the meantime, we’ll be contacting those of you who need to be with us when we visit the stations or to coordinate access with landowners.  After the upgrade visit, each logger (if it has cell coverage) will transmit to the new MMW website, and the format of the datafile on the logger memory card will be compatible with the new MMW website, allowing you to simply drag-and-drop the data file to upload it to the website and fill in any missing gaps in the online database.

[Carol ArmstrongParticipant]

Report for 10/7/19

@weinberg, sl134 Mine Hole. Turbidity has typically been in the negative range (e.g., -25 to -15 NTU) since 9/27/19, sometimes during significant increases in water depth. Sometimes it goes into the positive range, such as for a half hour today, indicating fouling as water increase was only about 5-8 mm. Sensors should be closely examined because NTU should not be negative so much of the time.

@griffith, @seeds, sl168 Punches Run.  Battery is persistently dropping, now down to 3.47v, which could compromise the functioning of the station.  Although turbidity is lower, it is still above natural levels.

@melvin, @ruggiero sl172.  Battery is very low and could cause station functioning problems, but it is stable between 3.38v and 4.44v. Sensors appear to have been naturally cleaned by last storm, but turbidity appears too high at this time post storm (30-35 NTU).

@lawler, @reeves sl179.  Battery voltage continues to drop.

[Kristine RogersParticipant]

@hicks, should we still be logging our Field Visit Data sheets into wikiwatershed.org/drwi or does this now have to be done through the new Monitor My Watershed portal?

[Heather BrooksKeymaster]

@rogers Please continue entering your field visit data sheets via the link on wikiwatershed.org/drwi. While we hope to add this capability in the future, the current development cycle for Monitor My Watershed doesn’t include it.

[Carol ArmstrongParticipant]

Report for 10/22/19

@lawler sl102 battery is rapidly dropping, now at 3.73v.

@blanton @toran sl118 (unnamed trib of Wiss) Turbidity readings are 0 or – when water depth increases to 20-to-30 mm, which occurs daily separate from rain events. Then turbidity rises on the decreasing slope of these daily water influxes. Can the sensor be placed in slightly deeper water because turbidity readings seem usable only during precipitation events, and only partially useable from base flows?

@ebel @molloy  sl131,  Were the sensors at Little Lehigh removed from the stream? On 10/5 battery went down to 3.37v and then signals stopped at 5:30 am on 10/5.  Sorry that I am not uptodate on this sensor situation.

@shanemorgan sl132, Mill Ck-Hickory H, battery dropping now at 3.5v.  sl157 battery also dropping, and fouled and flashy sensors.

@moore, @kalusky, Marsh Ck, Fairview – turbidity suddenly became >1400 NTU during the rain event of 10/20-21, and though decreasing remains very high (>850 NTU) suggesting the sensors are compacted in some way.

@griffith, @seeds, sl167 and sl168.  At both sites, sensors are compacted, with turbidity around 1400 NTU.  Battery at Punches Run dropped to 3.53v.

 

[Carol ArmstrongParticipant]

Report for 11/1/2019

@ebel sl119 Aquashicola has not transmitted since 6:37a EST this morning, after the huge wind and rain storm last night.

@moore @kalusky sl150 Marsh Creek, Fairview Rd.  This site is fouling much more since we moved it to the main current and lowest elevation in the stream so that the sensors would remain submerged.  What are your thoughts? Are you mainly interested in the conductivity/chloride data? Are you concerned the turbidity could affect conductivity measurement?

@ferrell sl190 Independence School-Pike Creek.  No transmissions have been sent to MMW since 10/28/19 at 9:40a.  Battery was >4v.

@wulkowicz sl249, UT to Plum Run.  The battery dropped to 3.44v, since 10/11/19.

[Kate EbelParticipant]

@armstrong I just logged in and SL119 seems to be transmitting again. I’ll keep an eye on it, but I imagine something with the storm just temporarily knocked it out.

[Carol ArmstrongParticipant]

Report for 11/11/19

sl117-Sandy Run, @blanton.  Battery has run down to 3.34v.

sl190-Independence School-Pike Creek, @ferrell. There have been no transmissions since 10/28/19.  Was the station removed from the stream? Battery was 4.18v at that point.

[Carol ArmstrongParticipant]

Report for 11/22/19

SL190-Independence School-Pike CK, @ferrell.  No transmissions since 10/28/19.

sl117-Sandy Run, @blanton.  Hicks reported that as of 11/14 Dreamhoster would not transmit data to MonMW any longer and Hicks would update each station with the new portal code. However, MonMW stops reporting data on this site on 11/19. Did something happen as of that date?

sl118-UT to Sandy Run, @blanton.  Turbidity became highly elevated today (>400 NTU). Though there is no water in the stream and turbidity can give elevated readings under this condition at night (last night turbidity was mildly elevated), it is >400 NTU during the day, and sensors appear to be fouled.

 

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