Water Quality, Nutrients and Chlorophyll Data in Biscayne Bay, Government Cut and Offshore Reefs (NCEI Accession 0248362)

The dataset is from monthly Biscayne Bay Water Quality Sampling. Sites were selected to overlap with locations occupied by FDEP and DERM in order to increase temporal resolution of their long-term monthly datasets. To achieve this, our sampling typically occurs during the third week of every month to increase sample frequency to biweekly instead of monthly. Sampling is conducted from a small research vessel. An EXO is deployed to collect in-situ water quality measurements at every station, including temperature, salinity, chlorophyll and dissolved oxygen. pH is measured using a pH probe. Secchi depth is also measured using a secchi disc. At every station, two 5L niskin bottles are deployed, one to collect surface samples and one to collect bottom samples. Sample bottles are rinsed three times with sample water before being filled. Bottles are stored on ice in the field and brought back to the laboratory for analysis. Samples are filtered immediately upon returning to the lab. Water samples for nutrient analysis are filtered using a 0.45 mM filter and frozen until analysis. Water samples collected for chlorophyll-a analysis are filtered onto glass microfiber filters, with each filter stored in individual sample tubes and stored in the -80°C freezer until analysis. Nutrient samples are analyzed for ammonia, soluble reactive phosphorus, nitrate+nitrite, nitrite, and silicate on a SEAL AA3 Autoanalyzer following EPA methods and NELAC standards. Chlorophyll-a is analyzed on a fluorometer following EPA methods and NELAC standards. Field duplicates are also collected and analyzed at a subset of stations to ensure quality control.