Daily loads of nutrients, sediment, and chloride at USGS Great Lakes Restoration Initiative edge-of-field and tile stations
Dates
Publication Date
2018-05-03
Start Date
2011-09-30
Citation
Komiskey, M.J., Rachol, C.M., Stuntebeck, T.D., Hayhurst, B.A., Toussant, C.A., and Dobrowolski, E.G., 2018, Daily loads of nutrients, sediment, and chloride at USGS Great Lakes Restoration Initiative edge-of-field and tile stations: U.S. Geological Survey data release collection, https://doi.org/10.5066/F7ST7P39.
Summary
As part of the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service; U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) have partnered to evaluate the impacts of implementing agricultural conservation practices focused on nutrient management. Monitoring methods have been designed to allow for rapid assessment of water-quality changes in response to conservation efforts by focusing on subsurface-tile drainage and direct surface runoff from fields—the major pathways for nonpoint-source pollution to enter streams. Monitoring stations were established at the field edge that measured runoff volume and enabled the collection of samples that were analyzed for [...]
Summary
As part of the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service; U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) have partnered to evaluate the impacts of implementing agricultural conservation practices focused on nutrient management. Monitoring methods have been designed to allow for rapid assessment of water-quality changes in response to conservation efforts by focusing on subsurface-tile drainage and direct surface runoff from fields—the major pathways for nonpoint-source pollution to enter streams. Monitoring stations were established at the field edge that measured runoff volume and enabled the collection of samples that were analyzed for nitrate plus nitrite, ammonia, total Kjeldahl nitrogen, orthophosphate, total phosphorus, suspended sediment, and chloride. Samples were collected by use of an autosampler and sampling was triggered to capture most events throughout a USGS water year (October 1 to September 30). Event samples were combined into flow-weighted composite samples as described in Stuntebeck and others, 2008. Baseflow samples were collected either through the autosampler or as a grab sample direct from the flume. Daily loads were computed using the USGS Graphical Constituent Loading Analysis System (GCLAS; Koltun and others, 2006). GCLAS requires a discharge hydrograph and chemograph as data input; the output is a computed daily load for the given constituent. Since the estimated daily load is based on composite concentrations for individual events, they may not reflect the true daily value, and Sciencebase is being used to provide the final load estimates to be able to explicitly link these estimates to relevant reports and external resources describing their derivation. The total of the daily loads over the course of the event, however, likely reflects the total load for the event, and the estimated loads given in the data table provided are identified using corresponding USGS National Water Information System parameter codes.
Koltun, G.F., Eberle, M., Gray, J.R., Glysson, G.D., 2006, User's manual for the Graphical Constituent Loading Analysis System (GCLAS), U.S. Geological Survey Techniques and Methods, 4-C1, 51 p.
Stuntebeck, T.D., Komiskey, M.J., Owens, D.W., Hall, D.W., 2008, Methods of data collection, sample collection, and data analysis for edge-of-field, streamgaging, subsurface-tile, and meteorological stations at Discovery Farms and Pioneer Farms in Wisconsin, 2001–07: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2008–1015, 51 p.
Click on title to download individual files attached to this item.
Related External Resources
Type: Related publication
Merriman, K.R., 2015, Development of an assessment tool for agricultural best management practice implementation in the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative priority watersheds—Upper East River, tributary to Green Bay, Wisconsin: U.S. Geological Survey Fact Sheet 2015–3065, 6 p.
Merriman, K.R., 2015, Development of an assessment tool for agricultural best management practice implementation in the Great Lakes restoration initiative priority watersheds—Eagle Creek, tributary to Maumee River, Ohio: U.S. U.S. Geological Survey Fact Sheet 2015–3066, 6 p.
Merriman, K.R., 2015, Development of an assessment tool for agricultural best management practice Implementation in the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative priority watersheds—Alger Creek, tributary to Saginaw River, Michigan: U.S. Geological Survey Fact Sheet 2015–3067, 6 p.
Komiskey, M.J., Bruce, J.L., Velkoverh, J.L., and Merriman-Hoehne, K.R., 2016, Great Lakes Restoration Initiative: Edge of Field Monitoring: U.S. Geological Survey geonarrative
Merriman, K.R., Russell, A.M., Rachol, C.M., Daggupati, P., Srinivasan, R., Hayhurst, B.A., Stuntebeck, T.D., Calibration of a Field-Scale Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) Model with Field Placement of Best Management Practices in Alger Creek, Michigan, Sustainability 2018, v. 10, no. 3: 851.
Merriman, K., Daggupati, P., Srinivasan, R., Toussant, C., Russell, A., Hayhurst, B, Assessing the Impact of Site-Specific BMPs Using a Spatially Explicit, Field-Scale SWAT Model with Edge-of-Field and Tile Hydrology and Water-Quality Data in the Eagle Creek Watershed, Ohio, Water 2018, v. 10, no. 1299
