Salinity - 1 of 7

Try clicking on one of the markers. A new window will open up to display a realtime data page for that station. Explore around a bit, then scroll below the map for more... Most of these station pages will initially show salinity, so let's try and answer a few questions based on that variable. If you are looking at the salinity data from a station in the lower estuary, you should see a squiggly line. If you look closely at the axes you will see that the line is indicating the salinity of water over time. In fact, by clicking one of the boxes below the plot you can change the date range represented in the plot. Try looking at different time ranges and see what patterns are visible. Do you see any short-term daily patterns of behavior? What about over a two-week period?

Select "2 days" and see if you can guess what is causing the salinity to change like that? Some force appears to move salty water into and then out of the estuary about 2 times a day, doesn't it? Of course this is a result of rising and falling tides. Using these simple data tools, see if you can answer these questions:
  • Where in the estuary do you expect to find the saltiest water?
  • Where will you find the least salty water?
  • How far upstream can you find salty water?

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