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Yaquina Bay, Oregon, Intertidal Sediment Temperature Database, 1998 - 2006.
Citation:
Specht, D. Yaquina Bay, Oregon, Intertidal Sediment Temperature Database, 1998 - 2006. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, 2013.
Impact/Purpose:
Detailed, long term (6-8 yr) sediment temperature records were obtained and compiled in a database to determine the influence of daily, monthly, seasonal and annual temperature variation on eelgrass distribution across the intertidal habitat in Yaquina Bay, Oregon. Large areas of the intertidal mudflats in the lower estuary are not occupied by eelgrasses, and temperature may be one limiting factor. The database can provide input to a wide variety of models of biological responses of estuarine organisms to process rates affected by temperature, and may be particularly useful for estimating effects of global climate change.
Description:
Detailed, long term sediment temperature records were obtained and compiled in a database to determine the influence of daily, monthly, seasonal and annual temperature variation on eelgrass distribution across the intertidal habitat in Yaquina Bay, Oregon. Both currently and historically, large areas of the intertidal mudflats in the lower estuary are not occupied by eelgrasses, and temperature may be one limiting factor. Temperatures were recorded by thermistor-based datalogger sensors (Onset Computer TidbiT®), located in or out of eelgrass habitat on vertically oriented transects from mean lower low water (MLLW) to mean higher high water (MHHW) at five locations in the lower Yaquina Estuary. The sensors were buried at ~5 cm depth in order to record temperature variation at the nominal mid-root/rhizome depth of the eelgrasses Zostera marina L. and Z. japonica Aschers. & Graebn., at 15 minute intervals. This allowed accurate tracking of the daily rise and fall of temperature due to insolation, evaporative cooling, and tidal exposure in a mesotidal system seasonally influenced by coastal upwelling. The database can provide input to a wide variety of models of biological responses of estuarine organisms to process rates affected by temperature, and may be particularly useful for estimating effects of global climate change.