DISSOLVED ORGANIC CARBON CONCENTRATIONS IN MCMURDO DRY VALLEY LAKES


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DISSOLVED ORGANIC CARBON CONCENTRATIONS IN MCMURDO DRY VALLEY LAKES
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PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: John Priscu
Address:Department of Biology, Montana State University, Bozeman MT, 59717
Phone:(406)994-3250
E-Mail:ubijp@gemini.oscs.montana.edu or JPriscu@LTERnet.edu

KEYWORDS: lake, limnology, dissolved organic carbon, DOC, Antarctica

ABSTRACT: The McMurdo Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) project monitors patterns of organic material transport in perennial ice-capped lakes. This data set addresses this core area of research and quantifies dissolved organic carbon concentrations at specific depths in McMurdo Dry Valley lakes.

VARIABLES: limno run, location name, location code, date, depth (m), DOC (mg L-1), DOC (mM), DOC comments, file name

RESEARCH LOCATION: Samples were collected from the East Lake Bonney, West Lake Bonney, Lake Hoare, Lake Fryxell, Lake Joyce, and Lake Miers limnological sampling stations, located in the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica, as well as from Pony Lake on Ross Island. Descriptions of these lakes can be found in the McMurdo Dry Valley Lake Descriptions file.

METHODS: Lake water samples were collected at specific depths with a five-liter Niskin bottle during normal LTER limnological sampling. Sub-samples were decanted into three-1 L Nalgene bottles (2-light and 1-amber), two-500 mL amber Nalgene bottles, three-150 mL borosilicate glass bottles, two-20 mL scintillation vials, and one-30 mL serum vial. One-100 mL dissolved organic carbon sub-sample was taken from the one-liter amber Nalgene bottle. The sample was filtered through a combusted (475°C for 4 hours) Whatman 25 mm GF/F filter using a bell jar apparatus. The filtrate was collected in a 100 mL acid washed, combusted amber bottle (475°C for 8 hours) and preserved with 1 mL of concentrated phosphoric acid. The sample was stored at 4°C until analysis by ASA Analytical Services. The filter was used for chlorophyll-a analysis.

TIMING: Samples were collected from the following sites and dates:


 
Season		East Bonney	West Bonney	Hoare		Fryxell		Joyce		Miers		Pony Lake	Trough
1993-1994	27-Oct-1993	29-Oct-1993	 		16-Nov-1993
 		24-Nov-1993	26-Nov-1993	 		 7-Dec-1993
 				23-Dec-1993			 7-Jan-1994
 		 		 				18-Jan-1994
 													
1996-1997	30-Oct-1996	 1-Nov-1996	26-Oct-1996	26-Oct-1996	14-Nov-1996	10-Dec-1996	22-Jan-1997
 		 3-Nov-1996	 4-Nov-1996	 2-Nov-1996	27-Oct-1996	 5-Dec-1996
 		24-Nov-1996	26-Nov-1996	 8-Nov-1996	 9-Nov-1996
		15-Jan-1997	17-Jan-1997	10-Nov-1996	19-Nov-1996
						23-Nov-1996	12-Dec-1996
						 2-Dec-1996	 2-Jan-1997
						13-Dec-1996	 9-Jan-1997
						12-Jan-1997	24-Jan-1997
						20-Jan-1997

1997-1998	 8-Nov-1997	11-Nov-1997	15-Nov-1997	18-Nov-1997	 9-Dec-1997	5-Dec-1997	
 		20-Dec-1997	22-Dec-1997	12-Dec-1997	29-Dec-1997	 
						26-Dec-1997

1998-1999	 9-Nov-1998	11-Nov-1998	 3-Nov-1998	28-Oct-1998
		 6-Dec-1998	 9-Dec-1998 	 1-Dec-1998	23-Nov-1998
		30-Dec-1998	 1-Jan-1999	26-Dec-1998	20-Dec-1998							23-Dec-1998

1999-2000	 6-Nov-1999	11-Nov-1999	17-Nov-1999	30-Oct-1999
		 3-Dec-1999	 5-Dec-1999	12-Dec-1999	27-Nov-1999
		28-Dec-1999	30-Dec-1999	 4-Jan-2000	23-Dec-1999

CITATIONS:

COMMENTS:

STATUS: Public Access (Type 1).

VARIABLE DESCRIPTION:

VARIABLE

TYPE

DESCRIPTION

UNITS

MISSING VALUE INDICATOR

MINIMUM

MAXIMUM

PRECISION

Limno Run

Text

Code for lake's sampling location and date

none

Required entry

n/a

n/a

n/a

Location Name

Text

Name of lake where measurement was made

none

Required entry

n/a

n/a

n/a

Location Code

Text

Code for site where measurement was made

none

Required entry

n/a

n/a

n/a

Date

Date

Date on which sample was gathered

mm/dd/yy

Required entry

01/01/93

12/31/99

dd

Depth (m)

Number

Distance below ice from which sample was drawn

meters

Required entry

1

45

1

DOC (mg/L)

Number

Dissolved organic carbon concentration found at lake depth

mg / liter

Null

0

100

0.1

DOC (mM)

Number

Dissolved organic carbon concentration found at lake depth

mM of carbon

Null

0

20

0.01

DOC Comments

Text

Helpful hints about the DOC sample

none

Null

n/a

n/a

n/a

File Name

Text

Name of file in which data was submitted

none

Null

n/a

n/a

n/a

LOG: Data from this table was submitted to INSTAAR by John Priscu's team at Montana State University. The raw data files listed under 'file name' are the names of the original files submitted. The 1993/94 data is a Microsoft Excel version 6.0 file, and the 1996/97 and 1997/98 data are ascii text files.

Upon arrival at INSTAAR, the data manager fine-tuned the location codes and limno runs to match those provided in the "locations, dates, codes for lake chemistry, biology samples" file. The file was imported into Microsoft Access on INSTAAR's Unix system, and can currently be found there. The file was then exported in ascii, comma delimited text and MS-DOS text (table layout) to present on the MCM LTER web site. Both of these files are linked to this web page above.

Information for the metadata was obtained from the MetaDOC9697.rtf file. The file was called up using Microsoft Word version 6.0. Text from this file was used to create this page in html format.

While processing the 1997-98 data, the data manager noticed that the values provided for dissolved organic carbon (DOC) from Lake Fryxell in the 1996-97 season did not have the appropriate conversion done between DOC (mg/L) & DOC (mM). The mM number should equal the mg/L value divided by 12, but in this case it was divisible by 2. Craig Wolf was contacted to look into this in November 1999, but since it was the middle of the field season, it took some time to resolve it. On 28-Feb-2000, the 1996-97 DOC (mM) values for Lake Fryxell were updated to the DOC (mg/L) values divided by 12 (rather than DOC (mg/L) divided by 2).

NOTE: Data contained in these files has been subjected to quality control standards imposed by the investigator. The user of this data should be aware that, while efforts have been taken to ensure that these data are of the highest quality, there is no guarantee of perfection for the data contained herein and the possibility of errors exists. If you encounter questionable data, please contact the MCM LTER data manager (; (303)492-4639) so that the data can be corrected or qualified. Thus, these data may be modified and future data will be appended.