Discharge field collection (DP1.20048.001)

This data product contains the quality-controlled, native sampling resolution data from NEON's stream and river discharge field collection protocol. Individual discharge measurements are conducted by means of surveys that occur in wadeable streams and rivers along permanently benchmarked cross-sections at NEON aquatic sites. At the Toolik Lake site discharge is measured at the lake outflow and inflow locations. At stream sites (and Toolik Lake inflow and outflow), discharge is measured using a handheld flowmeter (when flows are very low) and acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) instrumentation (when flows are at or above baseflow). During flowmeter measurements the waterbody is divided into lateral sub-sections (of which there are typically 20-25 per cross-section). Within each subsection, an instantaneous velocity magnitude is obtained via a handheld flowmeter and transformed to a volumetric discharge magnitude by applying the velocity across the full subsection area. Total stream discharge is then calculated by summing the discrete volumetric discharges for each subsection. During ADCP measurements the ADCP is placed in a trimaran float and pulled back and forth across the channel using a tethered rope system. Velocity, depth, and area data are continuously measured, and discharge is calculated for each transect. Total discharge for a given bout is the mean discharge across all transects. At river sites discharge is measured using ADCPs deployed in remote controlled boats that are driven back and forth across the channel. Discharge is calculated in the same manner as the ADCP method at stream sites, only the deployment method differs. If remote controlled boats are not available a piloted boat method serves as a backup where the ADCP is deployed off the side of a piloted boat. For additional details, see the user guide, protocols, and science design listed in the Documentation section in this data product's details webpage. Latency: The expected time from data and/or sample collection in the field to data publication is as follows, for each of the data tables (in days) in the downloaded data package. See the Data Product User Guide for more information. dsc_fieldData: 30 dsc_individualFieldData: 30 dsc_individualFieldDataADCP: 30