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Stream Temperature: Site: Jennifer Branch at Ontario Headwaters (JBONHW):

In the Baltimore urban long-term ecological research (LTER) project, (Baltimore Ecosystem Study, BES) we use the watershed approach to evaluate integrated ecosystem function. The LTER research is centered on the Gwynns Falls watershed, a 17,150 ha catchment that traverses a gradient from the urban core of Baltimore, through older urban residential (1900 - 1950) and suburban (1950- 1980) zones, rapidly suburbanizing areas and a rural/suburban fringe.

Stream temperature is continuously measured throughout the Gwynns Falls watershed along with supplemental sites around Baltimore County/City. A total of 22 sites contain sensors (HOBO Pro v2 Water Temperature Data Logger - U22-001) that take an instantaneous temperature reading every 2 minutes. These data are downloaded on a monthly basis.

This dataset is for the Jennifer Branch at Ontario Avenue headwaters in Carney, MD. It is located close to the Cub Hill flux tower. The area draining this site is about 16.5 ha with 11% forested and 22% impervious high and low density development.

Watershed information was taken from delineations created with USGS StreamStats at http://water.usgs.gov/osw/streamstats/maryland.html

Purpose: Long-term monitoring of stream temperature in a suburban watershed.

Theme keywords: stream, watershed, temperature, suburban, Baltimore Ecosystem Study

Coordinates: Lat/Long

39.4085 (39 24 31) -76.5196 (-76 31 11)

Review process for BES stream temperature data:

Raw data were recorded and logged every 2-minutes using HOBO Pro v2 Water Temperature Data Logger - U22-001.

Data are exported into Microsoft Excel documents.

Then organized by site and by month

Each month's data were entered into a pivot table in Microsoft Excel and daily means and counts of daily data points were calculated.

Plots were graphed of sites with close geographic proximity on the same graph to illustrate possible outlier data.

Missing and odd data were flagged, and notes taken from the field visits are provided where applicable.