Clipper Pit Lake Profile 8-1-17

Residual pit lakes from mining are often dangerous to sample for water quality. Thus, pit lakes may be rarely (or never) sampled. This study developed new technology in which water-sampling devices mounted on an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) were used to sample five pit lakes in Nevada, USA during one week in 2017. Three of these pit lakes are located on public lands and two are located on private land owned by mining entities. A profile was taken of the Clipper pit lake with a conductivity, temperature and depth profiler on August 1, 2017. This approach can potentially incorporate the use of additional multi-parameter probes: pH, oxygen concentration, turbidity and chlorophyll. Some limitations of this UAV water sampling methodology are battery duration, weather conditions and payload capacity.