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Analysis of continuous stream temperature data from long-term monitoring sites in the Northeast
Citation:
Stamp, J., M. Fernandez, AND B. Bierwagen. Analysis of continuous stream temperature data from long-term monitoring sites in the Northeast. Northeast Aquatic Biologists Conference, Fairlee, VT, February 14 - 16, 2024.
Impact/Purpose:
The purpose of this presentation was to update Regional Monitoring Network partners in the northeastern states on the analysis and synthesis of data from stream sites. The focus was on continuous temperature data. The results are summarized and presented using two R Shiny tools, ContDataQC and ContDataSumViz. Data suggest regional trends in warming stream temperatures during summer months.
Description:
The Regional Monitoring Networks (RMNs) are a collaborative, volunteer effort to collect comparable long-term monitoring data at targeted sites nationwide to detect changes over time. Six Northeast states have participated in the stream RMN since it was first piloted in the Northeast in 2012 and have been collecting temperature and macroinvertebrate data at 34 high-quality (reference) sites. Reference sites have long served as a standard against which to assess other waterbodies. If these reference streams change, it may undermine their utility for assessment, criteria development and other Clean Water Act protections. In this presentation, we provide an overview of the sites and thermal regimes represented in the dataset and discuss results from analyses of year-to-year variability, trends (where sufficient data exist), characterizations of the magnitude, timing and duration of water temperatures exceeding thresholds associated with cold water habitat, relationships between water and air temperature (a measure of thermal sensitivity) and associations between the temperature and macroinvertebrate data. This information will help practitioners and researchers detect and account for long-term changes in conditions of reference-quality ecosystems, which can inform water quality criteria and indicator development to be used in stream protection and restoration in the face of changing temperatures from land-use alterations and climate change.