Using data derived from CoastWatch, a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration program designed to provide a rapid supply of up-to-date, coordinated, environmental information, and an improved understanding of how streamflow at discharge points to the lakes is affected by atmospheric conditions, sampling strategies can be developed to monitor tributaries to the Great Lakes. CoastWatch data include barometric pressure, surface-wind velocity and direction, and water-surface temperature, all of which are available in near real-time (within about 12 hours of event). Incorporation of these data sets assists researchers in understanding the effect of atmospheric changes on streamflow at the time of sample collection. Use of near real-time barometric pressure and surface-wind velocity and direction helps reduce the effect of seiche. Near real-time water-surface temperature and near real-time surface-wind velocity may help to identify the contribution of industrial sources to tributary streamflows, allowing streamflows influenced by anthropogenic discharges to be excluded from the sampling plan. With knowledge of the proximity of industrial sites to sampling sites, in combination with surface-wind velocity and direction and water-surface temperature, decisions could be made as to whether samples collected under these conditions were representative of natural flow conditions in the tributary of interest. Use of near real-time hydrometeorologic data will allow researchers to plan optimum times for collection of stream-water samples unaffected by whole-lake or localized seiche.
Publication
Greetis, J.M. and Sweat, M.J., 1993, Using CoastWatch to plan Great Lakes
tributary sampling: International Association of Great Lakes Researchers, Final
Program 1993, 150 p.
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