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cruise context practice
SATURN-01
Tides
Goes from neap tide to spring tide.
Discharge
Starts near 10 and then rises to rest between 11.5 and 12.
It ends at 11. On the 31st it dips to 10.5. The discharge stays fairly consistant for much of the timeseries.
Wind
Average is about 2.
Chlorophyll
Starts between 2 and 3, goes down below 2 and then ends at about 2.3. From the 31st to the end of the trip, the chlorophyll level lowers. An hypothesis for this is because during that time period the turbidity level increased. Because the water was so opaque not a lot of light was coming in, it could inhibit photosynthesis and the production of chlorophyll. It is possible that chlorophyll and turbidity are negatively correlated.
Nitrate
At the beginning the nitrate level is at around 5 then shoots up to 15. The average stays around 16 uM and most of the data is between 15 and 20 uM.
Turbidity
Starts around 5 and begins to fluctuate between 5 and 25. It is slowly rising over time.
The turbidity is lowest during the neap tides and higher doing the spring tides. This could be because the higher energy of the spring tides are kicking stuff up off the bottom of the estuary, making it more cloudy. During the calmer neap tides the estuary is clearer.
Salinity
The first few days show very little salinity. Around the 30th, salinity fluctuates between almost none and 27 psu. Then it slowly lowers. The sensor reads salinity infrequently because SATURN-01 is far up the estuary and, at the time, imobile at a depth of 7.8 meters.
Temperature
First the temperature reads freezing and boiling both on the same day, but by the 30th it levels off to around 18 degrees C. The data might be suspect from thre on.
SATURN-03,/font>
Tides
Goes from neap to spring tides (left to right).
Discharge
Starts at about 10, then picks up and fluctuates between 11.5 and 12 with one esepcially low point: 10.5 on the 31st. After the 31st it levels off at around 12 and then on the 7th drops. It remains fairly consistant for much of the timeseries.
Wind
The wind is on average around 1.5 to 2. Around the 2nd and the 5th the winds spike dramatically.
Chlorophyll
The chlorophyll level stays low and constant. It rarely rises above 4.
Nitrate
Nitrate remains near 20 for the most part. It spikes four times, the highest to 120.
Turbidity
The graph does not show turbidity over 25 NTU, so the top of the graph is cut off.
The turbidity levels are inconsistent, the data points are everywhere. There is likely an error, the sensor is not keyed up correctly.
Salinity
The salinity start out at about 2 psu and then climbs steeply up to 24 psu, then it stays in the 20's for a while, dips back down to say 6. It then rises up to hang in the 20's for a while then dips down to 0 and continues in that pattern. The salinity is high because SATURN-03 is close to the ocean. The low points occur during the low part of the spring tide.
Temperature
The temperature is rising over time. The river water at that time was warmer than the ocean water. During low tides, the temperature spiked because there was more river water.