Abstract

1
Great Bay Estuarine Health and Measurements
Present State and Future Needs Alison Pflanz
Results
Abstract

• Additional data collection is needed in Great Bay
  covering both continuous collection of physical
  parameters as well as chemical parameters
• The sensor package for Memorial Bridge proposed
  below would be extremely beneficial for the
  continued comprehensive monitoring of Great Bay

The Great Bay Estuary is a beautiful place and an
important environmental resource to both New
Hampshire and Maine. The ecosystem services
provided by Great Bay are endless and vital to
both states economic and commercial success.
The Piscataqua River which is located within the
Great Bay watershed is a highly trafficked
commercial shipping and recreational boat
passage. The Memorial Bridge, which connects
Kittery, ME and Portsmouth, NH, is in the process
of advanced technology installation to make it a
Living Bridge. With a turbine and other
additional sensors, it will be able to track the
structural health of the bridge but also provide
another data collection site for the Piscataqua
Region Estuaries. Data collection of both
physical and chemical parameters is critical for
understanding the quality and health of the
estuary.

• Sensors already planned to be used
• CTD (Conductivity Temperature Depth)
• -From this salinity, density, turbidity,
  dissolved oxygen, and flourometry (Photo below)

• Airmar (Photo below)
• - Wind speed and direction, Temperature, relative
  humidity

• Underwater Cameras
• Acoustic Doppler Current Profile
• -From this waves, current speed and direction,
  tidal signal

Background

• Essential that data collection is comprehensive,
  in both location and data type throughout the
  region because water quality is fragile in
  estuarine systems
• Marine life could be put in danger if water
  quality decreases over time especially as the
  shipping traffic increasing in the river
• Sensors and data monitoring must cover physical
  and chemical parameters to understand the big
  picture of what is happening in the estuary
• The Memorial Bridge is a great location for a new
  monitoring site because of its geography and the
  cutting edge technology being installed there

• Suggestion for Memorial Bridge Proposed Sensors
  for Chemical Data Collection
• SUNA V2 (Submersible Ultraviolet Nitrate
  Analyzer)
• -This probe would be placed under the surface of
  the water to collect information on nutrients,
  flourometry for color and chlorophyll and DNA
  probes for bacteria and other living organisms

• FlowCytobot
• -Provides real-time phytoplankton species
  identification and counting which contributes to
  productivity and biodiversity metrics

Discussion

• Imperative to understand how to monitor
  conditions of estuary and with what devices to
  keep the estuary healthy (sensors are not uniform
  at all stations)
• Expected sensor reading of a healthy estuary
  increase the decision making value of data
  collected in the Great Bay
• Important to not only measure data but show to
  public how small changes can have huge impacts on
  Great Bays health
• -Public access to data that is collected (ex
  website)
• Continued funding needed for sensors and
  continual future monitoring of data

Methods

• Data was gathered from various organizations
  working with Great Bay such as PREP (Piscataqua
  Region Estuaries Partnership), Great Bay NERR
  (Great Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve),
  etc and when and where that data was collected
• Identified gaps in data available and how
  Memorial Bridge sensor package fills the gaps in
  data collection due to prime location and
  available technology (see table below)
• Synthesized data availability and the needed
  types of data, location of collections and
  frequency of sampling

Conclusion

• Important to monitor estuary as shipping traffic
  is expected to increase with new Sarah Mildred
  Long Bridge renovation (increase in size and
  frequency of boats)
• For future work, use ArcGIS to present
  visualizations of estuarine data collected
  throughout the Great Bay
• A collection station at Memorial Bridge can fill
  the gap in available data and allow for a more
  comprehensive monitoring program for the estuary
• Share estuarine health information with the
  public, which is not readily available

Source Great Bay National Estuarine Research
Reserve and New Hampshire Department of
Environmental Services
Parameters Station ID GRBSF GRBCML GRBGB GRBSQ GRBOR Memorial Bridge
Depth Depth X X X X X X
Tidal Level Tidal Level X X X X X X
Current Direction/Speed Current Direction/Speed X
Wave Height Wave Height X
Density Density X
Salinity Salinity X X X X X X
Temperature Temperature X X X X X X
Conductivity Conductivity X X X X X X
pH pH X X X X X X
Turbidity Turbidity X X X X X X
DO DO X X X X X X
Flourometry Flourometry X
Wind Direction/Speed Wind Direction/Speed X
Wind Gusts Wind Gusts X
Air Temperature Air Temperature X
Relative Humidity Relative Humidity X
Precipitation Precipitation X

• Note
• The table on the right is showing data that is
  continuously collected over time and is
  collecting a physical parameter
• Stations GRBAP and GRBCL collect grab samples of
  chemical data and are not included in the table
• The other stations on the map not shown in the
  table were not included because data was not
  readily available or accessible

Acknowledgements

• This research was supported with funding from the
  National Science Foundations grant to RETE
  (1132648) and the PFI BIC Living Bridge Project
  (143260).
• Thank you to Dr. Erin Bell from UNH who has been
  so helpful in guiding me throughout this research
  project.
• Thank you to Paul Stacy from the Great Bay
  National Estuarine Research Reserve for his
  expertise and input on the topic.
• Thank you to Dr. Ken Baldwin and Ian Gagnon from
  CORE-UNH and the rest of the Living Bridge team
  for helping me with this project and answering
  any questions I had along the way.

Source Great Bay National Estuarine Research
Reserve and New Hampshire Department of
Environmental Services