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 InstituteNSF 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

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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 C13 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) 392-5893 x2114 • katmckee@ufl.edu

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.

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