Hudson River (HUD) NERR Water Quality Metadata (April - Dec. 2002) Latest Update: April 29, 2003

Water quality monitoring is conducted at 26 National Estuarine Research Reserves (NERR) at four locations within or adjacent to the reserve. The following parameters are collected at least every 30 minutes: water temperature, specific conductivity, salinity, percent saturation, dissolved oxygen concentration, water depth, pH and turbidity. All water quality data loggers will be deployed from a known depth from the bottom at each site.

Research objectives Measurements are taken every 30 minutes over a two to four week period from the beginning of April through the end of December of each year at four locations within the Tivoli Bays component of the Hudson River NERR. Two separate dataloggers monitor the Hudson River water flooding and ebbing within each bay (Tivoli South Bay and Tivoli North Bay). One datalogger monitors the tributary water (Saw Kill Creek) entering the Tivoli South Bay, and the tributary water (Stony Creek) entering the Tivoli North Bay is monitored by another datalogger. The objective of this study is to monitor the quality of the surface water entering (via stream flow and tidal exchange) and leaving (via tidal exchange) Tivoli South Bay and Tivoli North Bay. This will help us understand the relative importance on each source of water in Tivoli Bays. The Reserve staff has identified urban and residential land use practices as having a major influence on the water chemistry of the Saw Kill Creek. Since residential coverage continues to increase, we hope that the intensive monitoring of the surface waters in this watershed will identify trends caused by this rapid development.

SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION:
Associated researchers and projects Hudson River NERR Water Quality Monitoring: Physical and chemical constituents of the tributary waters discharging into HUDNERR marshes and marsh waters during ebb tides are measured monthly and during storm events. Concentrations of nitrate, phosphate, sulphate, dissolved oxygen (DO), and chloride are measured, as well as, seston, alkalinity, pH, temperature, salinity, and conductivity. Saw Kill Water Quality Monitoring: The surface water draining from five subcatchments representing five dominant land use practices within the Saw Kill have been monitored during several storm events. These five land use practices include: row crop agriculture, orchard, residential, solid waste landfill, and forested. All of the above constituents have been monitored during this project. Associated researchers with the work at Tivoli Bays include: scientists from the Institute of Ecosystem Studies, Millbrook, NY; Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, New Haven, CT; and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY. Other remarks/notes Any reference made to depth data being negative and/or zero, it was recorded as a negative in the raw data file and a zero in the edited data file due to the formatting of Excel. The technician edited none of these data points by hand nor did the technician delete any of them.

CURRENTNESS REFERENCE:
Observed

SPATIAL DATA ORGANIZATION INFORMATION:
Indirect Spatial Reference: Site location and character The Hudson River National Estuarine Research Reserve (HUDNERR) is a multicomponent site composed of approximately 5,000 acres of tidal wetland, open water, and adjacent upland buffer habitat. The four component sites of the Reserve are located on the Hudson River in New York State by river miles (RM) proceeding north from the southern tip of Manhattan. These include: Stockport Flats (RM 124)(42� 02'30"N 73� 46'00"W), Columbia County; Tivoli Bays (RM 98)(42� 02'15"N 73(55'10"W), Dutchess County; and Iona Island (RM 45)(41� 18'15"N 73(58'45"W) and Piermont Marsh (RM 24)(41� 02'30"N 73� 54'15"W), Rockland County. These four components are located along 100 miles of the Hudson River and are representative of the diverse plant and animal communities that occupy the salinity gradient within the Hudson estuary. Development within the watersheds of Hudson River NERR component sites ranges from predominantly urban/suburban to forested/agricultural. The four YSI 6-series dataloggers are placed at the Tivoli Bays component site. The Saw Kill Creek (latitude 42� 01' 01.543" N, longitude 73� 54' 53.589" W) drains a 26.6 square mile area, and it is the main tributary flowing into Tivoli South Bay. Some characteristics of the Saw kill include a rocky bottom type, and a watershed that is characterized as a highly mixed land use watershed. Water depth in this creek varies from 0.5 to 2.0 meters. Tivoli South Bay (latitude 42� 01' 37.336" N, longitude 73� 55' 33.445" W) is the receiving body for the Saw Kill Creek. This bay is a tidal freshwater wetland with a tidal range of 1.19 meters, while the bottom type is a soft, silt/clay. Dominant land uses within its watershed include: forested (51.1%), agriculture (25.8%), and urban (16.5%) areas. Tivoli North Bay (latitude 42� 02' 11.56464" N, longitude 73� 55' 31.16645" W) is a freshwater tidal marsh dominated by Typha angustifolia. Tivoli North Bay has a tidal range of 1.19 meters, and a soft/silt bottom as well. The primary watershed to this bay is about 23 square miles in size, and it is dominated by agricultural lands. Water depth ranges from 0.0 to 2.0 m at both Tivoli South Bay and Tivoli North Bay. Stony Creek (latitude 42� 02' 45.556" N, longitude 73� 54' 40.237" W) is the main tributary for the Tivoli North Bay. The creek bottom type is mostly solid rock, and the depth varies from 0.5 to 1.5 meters. These sites of the Tivoli Bays component are all freshwater sites (0.0 ppt salinity).