Managing Data with the CUAHSI Hydrologic Information System for the Santa Fe River Basin Research Projects in Florida K.A. McKee, M.S. - University of Florida Water Institute NSF projects and a Hydrologic Observatory The Santa Fe River Basin (SFRB) Florida, investigators are collecting high resolution (every hour) specific conductivity (SpC) at 12 river locations using deployed CTD Sondes. The basin overlies the limestone Floridan aquifer and is comprised of three hydrogeological units: upper confined region where the Hawthorne formation separates the aquifer from the surface system, the lower un-confined region where the Hawthorne formation is missing and the Floridan is at ground surface, and middle semi-confined region (Fig. 1). SpC reflects the sources and residence time of water before it reaches the steam; increased residence time in the subsurface results in an increase in ionic concentration, and therefore higher SpC values, due to dissolution of the limestone matrix. Rainfall and surface water reaching the stream show low SpC values. Historic water quality data obtained from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) legacy database along with the SpC data we have collected since February 2009 showed a distinctive contrast in SpC values measured in the upper confined and the lower unconfined region of the basin. These data are imported into HIS using Streaming Data Loader as they are downloaded every month. In the upper parts of the basin (eastern end), surface runoff and surficial storage dominates the hydrology resulting in low SpC values of the river water. In the lower unconfined region of the basin there is minimal runoff with virtually no stream network feeding the river; excess rainfall in this region infiltrates through the vadose zone to the aquifer, which subsequently feeds the river through a series of springs and diffuse groundwater inflow. This results in higher SpC values of the river water in the lower unconfined region of the basin. Our objective is to exploit this hypothesized strong end-member separation between riverine source water geochemistry to further improve our understanding of the riverine mixing and delivery dynamics and finally use this understanding to refine the PARFLOW.CLM predictions under varying hydrological conditions. Water Institute #2. Diurnal patterns of water chemistry in a spring run Web services : 1.Investigator Datasets: River nitrate data for 2 sensors Network of 14 CTD sondes in rivers and wells Estevelle study in 3 springs Hyporheic zone study in Ichetucknee River Dissolved organic Carbon sensor 2.Regional Datasets: Daily rainfall from regional Florida water agency (SRWMD) Groundwater levels from SRWMD Streamflow and levels from SRWMD Web services : 1.Investigator Datasets: River nitrate data for 2 sensors Network of 14 CTD sondes in rivers and wells Estevelle study in 3 springs Hyporheic zone study in Ichetucknee River Dissolved organic Carbon sensor 2.Regional Datasets: Daily rainfall from regional Florida water agency (SRWMD) Groundwater levels from SRWMD Streamflow and levels from SRWMD. TESTING HIS with Project #1. Chemical Sensing to Understand Source Water Mixing Madison Blue and Peacock Springs in Florida behave as estevelles, recharging the aquifer during high river stages. Potential effects of spring reversals during floods lead to questions including: (1) what is the relationship between hydraulic head in the aquifer, discharge, diffuse recharge, and aquifer confinement? (2) What are residence times of backflooded water in the aquifer and rate that it is returned? (3) What are the solid-fluid reactions controlling backflooded water compositions? These springs are connected to large cave and conduit systems. Temp, pressure, turbidity, oxidation reduction potential, pH, DOC, DO, and C 13 are collected at the entrance as well as deeper inside each cave to learn about dissolution and water chemistry changes over space and time. The Investigators of the Santa Fe projects are: W.D. Graham, J.B. Martin, M.J. Cohen, K.C. Slatton, J.J. Delfino Author contact information: Kathleen McKee (352) x2114 June 2011 Ensure National Data sets are maintained and available (NWIS, ASOS, STORET) Improve Data Access interfaces for easier use by Investigators Option to combine multiple series for same variable and date range for faster simpler data access. Faster response time Data harvesting in HIS Central could be hourly? Provide metadata during data exploration (before download) Add feature that was in DASH of being able to post geographic layers (geology, land use etc) to better inform user of spatial data components. Structured user testing and feedback program to make more usable by busy hectic researchers who are not intimate with ODM structure Figure 1. The Santa Fe River basin in North Central Florida and CTD sonde locations. The Hawthorn formation confines the Floridan aquifer from surfacewater in the eastern end whereas in the western end of the basin that confining unit is not present allowing much surface/groundwater interaction. Figure 2. Two example locations of CTD Sonde instruments that are measuring specific conductivity. (A) a clear spring tributary to the Santa Fe river (source is mainly groundwater) (B) a dark-water tannic part of the Santa Fe river (source is mainly surface runnoff) #4. Hyporheic flow in a spring run#3. Groundwater chemistry in the formation of Estevelles In this project we work to understand hyporheic flow and work has focused on sampling and automated sensing of conductivity, temperature and pressure of the sediment pore water in a springfed tributary of the Santa Fe River, the Ichetucknee. Five mini-piezometers installed at various depths within the sediment containing CTD sondes have results showing minor variations in SpC that reflect variations in the sources of the water. Diel variations in temperature in the river that propagate to depth in the sediment reflect conductive and possibly convective flow of heat into and out of the sediment. In the SFRB, a spring run tributary called the Ichetucknee River is a place of study for nitrogen metabolism. High rates of nitrogen cycling are observed in the rice marsh area of the river where high productivity and carbon are found in the system. Figure shows that DO and pH exhibit peaks between 15:00 and 16:00 daily, and broad troughs between 2:00 and 6:00; NO3-N and SC exhibit the inverse diel pattern,with broad peaks occurring pre-dawn, and spiked troughs coinciding with DO peaks. Solid lines in NO3 and SC panels indicate flow-weighted mean concentration of contributing springs, suggesting removal of N and production of ions within the river. Since 2007, the UF Water Institute has been testing the hydrologic information system (HIS) and web services. The Santa Fe River Basin (SFRB) Test Bed group is currently hosting rainfall, groundwater levels and streamflow data from other agencies as well as the investigator-collected data from a watershed modeling project. We envision a hydrologic observatory for this sub- watershed of the Suwannee River basin in North Central Florida (Fig. 1) so that stakeholders and researchers can explore relationships among multiple hydrologic factors over space and time. Monthly data importation and maintenance is performed for one project (#1) as a test of the database structure, data visualization tools and download capabilities that the CUAHSI group is developing. Data from other projects are imported to HIS on an annual basis for organization and storage, and to provide access to data for the scientific community. Data from regional datasets are uploaded quarterly to support data exploration with other datasets and test HIS. The two most important tools for managing data from project #1 have been the Streaming Data Loader – to get data in HydroExcel – to get data out Steps for data Management: 1.download CTD Sonde instruments to laptop, QA data and save CSV file 2.Copy to FTP site 3.Use Streaming data loader to import data for particular sites and variables 4.View data in Hydroexcel to check against previously loaded data etc. Steps for data Viewing: 1.Use Hydroexcel Time Series and Statistics/Charts tabs to visualize single data series 2.Now experimenting with HydroDesktop to view and graph multiple data series; documenting issues in Codeplex issue tracker. Figure 4. Before HydroDesktop, we imported HydroExcel data to Matlab to make stacked plots A). Now we are experimenting with HydroDesktop to create graphs (B) of 3 variables from 3 data networks to show relationship among rain, specific conductivity and streamflow over time. SpC is orange, Rain is lavender, Flow is purple. Note lag for flow after rain, and note inverse rel. between SpC and flow. (A)(B) Projects with Datasets to be loaded into HIS this year Figure 6. Divers going into Peacock Spring, FL. Figure 5. Hourly DO, NO3-N, pH, and SpC. Figure 7. Conceptual model of pore-water zones and flow within river sediments. The reaction zone has high carbon remineralization of org C, decreasing pH and undersaturation of calcite where the limestone is being dissolved. (A)(B) Recommendations HIS Benefits Structured data storage and backup with associated metadata Available tools for visualization Available over the web Using HIS Figure 3. The Santa Fe River basin in North Central Florida and two regional datasets that are uploaded every quarter or annually. Rainfall is also uploaded every month. Hydrologic Observatory