Description: Light attenuation is a critical parameter governing the ecological function of shallow estuaries. We quantified light attenuation and sediment resuspension in three seagrass meadows in Barnegat Bay, New Jersey, by sequentially deploying instrumentation measuring photosynthetically active radiation, chlorophyll-a (chl-a) fluorescence, dissolved organic matter fluorescence (fDOM; a proxy for colored DOM absorbance), turbidity, pressure, and water velocity at 10 min intervals over three week periods at each site. The data show the relative importance of physical and biogeochemical processes on light attenuation.
Duration: Jun-Sept 2013
USGS Principal Investigator: N.K. Ganju
Publications:
Ganju, N.K., Miselis, J.L., and Aretxabaleta, A.L., 2014. Physical and biogeochemical controls on light attenuation in a eutrophic, back-barrier estuary. Biogeosciences Discussions, 11(8), 12183-12221.
Dickhudt, P.J., Ganju, N.K., and Montgomery, E.T. 2015, Summary of Oceanographic measurements for characterizing light attenuation and sediment resuspension in the Barnegat Bay- Little Egg Harbor estuary, New Jersey, 2013: U.S. Geological Survey Open File Report 2015-1146 18p. ( https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20151146).
Field Activity Reports: 2013-031-FA, 2013-050-FA
Revision History:
Please use the following citation when referencing this dataset:
Dickhudt, P.J., Ganju, N.K., Montgomery, E.T., and Martini, M.A., 2015, Oceanographic measurements for characterizing light attenuation and sediment resuspension in the Barnegat Bay- Little Egg Harbor estuary, New Jersey, 2013: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/F7GB224S.
Data Access
Data Access via THREDDS (EPIC)
Station Locations
For more detail about the measurements collected at each site, browse BARNEGAT.kml (using Google Earth).