LIMNOLOGICAL pHs


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LIMNOLOGICAL pHs
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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, pH, hydrogen ion, chemistry

ABSTRACT: As part of the McMurdo Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) project in the Dry Valleys of Antarctica, hydrogen ion concentrations were monitored in various lakes of the region. An Orion portable pH meter was used to record hydrogen ion concentrations at depth specific intervals in perennial ice-covered lakes.

VARIABLES: limno run, location name, location code, date, depth (m), pH, pH comments, file name

RESEARCH LOCATION: Samples were collected from limnological sampling stations located in the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica. Regularly monitored sites include East Lake Bonney, West Lake Bonney, Lake Hoare and Lake Fryxell. In addition, measurements were obtained from Don Juan & Dirty Little Hoare Ponds, Lake Garwood, Lake Joyce, Lake Miers and Lake Vanda. Descriptions of all 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 for pH analysis were decanted into 20 mL scintillation vials. A portable Beckman psi 10 with a combination pH electrode was used to record hydrogen ion concentration and temperature of each sample. The meter and probe were double endpoint calibrated with pH 7 and pH 4 buffers. The probe was manually agitated by slowly moving in an up and down motion (~1 cm). Once the probe stabilized, the data was recorded.

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


 
Season 		East Bonney 	West Bonney 	Hoare 		Fryxell
1993-1994 	27-Oct-1993 	29-Oct-1993 	 5-Nov-1993 	16-Nov-1993 
		24-Nov-1993	26-Nov-1993	 1-Dec-1993	 7-Dec-1993
		21-Dec-1993	 9-Dec-1993	30-Dec-1993	 7-Jan-1994
				23-Dec-1993	19-Jan-1994	18-Jan-1994

1994-1995 	 2-Nov-1994 	 5-Nov-1994 	10-Nov-1994 	14-Nov-1994 
		23-Nov-1994 	25-Nov-1994 	30-Nov-1994	 4-Dec-1994
		17-Dec-1994	19-Dec-1994	24-Dec-1994	30-Dec-1994
		10-Jan-1995	12-Jan-1995	21-Jan-1995	17-Jan-1995

1995-1996 	19-Sep-1995 	21-Sep-1995 	 7-Sep-1995 	14-Sep-1995 
		 6-Oct-1995 	 4-Oct-1995 	25-Sep-1995	28-Sep-1995
		17-Oct-1995	19-Oct-1995	10-Oct-1995	14-Oct-1995
		 2-Dec-1995	 5-Dec-1995	21-Nov-1995	26-Nov-1995
		 1-Jan-1996	 4-Jan-1996	23-Dec-1995	27-Dec-1995

1996-1997	 3-Nov-1996	 1-Nov-1996	 8-Nov-1996	26-Oct-1996
 		24-Nov-1996	27-Nov-1996	 2-Dec-1996	19-Nov-1996
 		15-Jan-1997	17-Jan-1997	12-Jan-1997	 9-Jan-1997	

1997-1998	 8-Nov-1997	11-Nov-1997	15-Nov-1997	18-Nov-1997
						14-Dec-1997	16-Dec-1997
 		20-Dec-1997	22-Dec-1997	26-Dec-1997	29-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

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

 			
					     &
Season 		Don Juan Pond 	Dirty Little	Garwood		Joyce		Miers		Vanda
				Hoare Pond 

1994-1995					24-Jan-1995			25-Jan-1995	 1-Dec-1994

1995-1996			8-Jan-1996

1996-1997	27-Jan-1997					5-Dec-1996	10-Dec-1996					     

1997-1998							9-Dec-1997	 5-Dec-1997



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

80

1

pH

Number

hydrogen ion concentration found at lake depth

negative power to which 10 must be raised to describe the molar concentration (mol/liter) of H+

Null

0

10

0.01

pH Comments

Text

Helpful hints about the pH 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 the MCM LTER limnology team based out of Montana State University and the University of Alabama. The 1993-94, 1994-95, 1995-96, 1996-97 and 1997-98 data was submitted by Kathy Welch at the University of Alabama. 1996-97 and 1997-98 data was also submitted by Craig Wolf at Montana State University. Since there was some overlap between these files, the records from Montana State University were used. Only two of the records in the pH9697.txt file (from Kathy Welch at the University of Alabama) were added to this dataset since they were not in the files from Montana. The raw data files listed under 'file name' are the names of the original ascii text files used.

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 submitted by Craig Wolf at Montana State University in the MetapH9697.rtf file. The file was called up using Microsoft Word version 6.0, allowing its text to be used to create this page in html format.

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.