ABSTRACT:

This resource includes hydrometric data collected within the Gibson Jack watershed, located in Pocatello, Idaho, USA in the northern Rocky Mountains. These data were collected with the purpose of assessing three-dimensional connectivity in an intermittent stream reach. Stage was measured via Onset U-20 water level loggers at 13 locations within the stream, riparian area, and adjacent hillslopes, and corrected for barometric pressure. For sites within the stream, stage was converted to a hydrograph via a stage-discharge relationship derived from occasional discharge measurements. Discharge measurements were made with a SonTek FlowTracker as well as using dilution gaging methods with an Onset U-24 electrical conductivity logger, which was used to quantify the breakthrough curve for known additions of salt. Local discharge gains and losses in flow along the stream network were calculated using the methods outlined in Payn et al. 2009. Precipitation was measured using a Texas Electronics Rain Gage (0.254mm) recorded by a Campbell Scientific CR1000 datalogger. Temperatures were also recorded at the stream sites using the Hobo U-24 sensors.

ABSTRACT:

The following standard operating procedure (SOP) was created for the the Aquatic Intermittency effects on Microbiomes in Streams (AIMS), an NSF EPSCoR funded project (OIA 2019603) seeking to explore the impacts of stream drying on downstream water quality across Kansas, Oklahoma, Alabama, Idaho, and Mississippi. AIMS integrates datasets on hydrology, microbiomes, macroinvertebrates, and biogeochemistry in three regions (Mountain West, Great Plains, and Southeast Forests) to test the overarching hypothesis that physical drivers (e.g., climate, hydrology) interact with biological drivers (e.g., microbes, biogeochemistry) to control water quality in intermittent streams. An overview of the AIMS project can be found here: https://youtu.be/HDKIBNEnwdM

This protocol details the process for setting up, testing, deploying, downloading, relaunching, and retrieving STIC sensors to assess the presence and absence of surface water. These sensors will be used throughout the nine focal watersheds to get a spatially distributed view of stream drying patterns (AIMS Approach 1) and will inform locations for distributed seasonal sampling (AIMS Approach 2).

The "living" version of this SOP can be found on Google Docs: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_GOR5HyaH7kxzvBhT6yi1ajTyhBhfVRI9UGYjQ043qI/edit?tab=t.0

Also included in this resource are field sheets, used when STICs were collected to record site, serial number, timing of collection, and other information important for STIC processing.

From this SOP, the following data types will be created: Time series of temperature and conductivity. [AIMS rTypes: STIC]

ABSTRACT:

The following standard operating procedure (SOP) was created for the the Aquatic Intermittency effects on Microbiomes in Streams (AIMS), an NSF EPSCoR funded project (OIA 2019603) seeking to explore the impacts of stream drying on downstream water quality across Kansas, Oklahoma, Alabama, Idaho, and Mississippi. AIMS integrates datasets on hydrology, microbiomes, macroinvertebrates, and biogeochemistry in three regions (Mountain West, Great Plains, and Southeast Forests) to test the overarching hypothesis that physical drivers (e.g., climate, hydrology) interact with biological drivers (e.g., microbes, biogeochemistry) to control water quality in intermittent streams. An overview of the AIMS project can be found here: https://youtu.be/HDKIBNEnwdM.

This protocol details the process for measuring streamflow within the stream network focused largely on low-flow conditions using dilution gaging techniques.

Also included in this resource is the AIMS datasheet used when taking measurements in the field.

The "living" version of this SOP is available on Google Docs: https://docs.google.com/document/d/18mvs_aAr677eQDrwUuassMTWmjggSQxVkmkr0vgF0J4/edit?tab=t.0

From this SOP, the following data types will be created: stream width, depth, discharge (AIMS rTypes created: ENVI, DISC).

ABSTRACT:

The following standard operating procedure (SOP) was created for the the Aquatic Intermittency effects on Microbiomes in Streams (AIMS), an NSF EPSCoR funded project (OIA 2019603) seeking to explore the impacts of stream drying on downstream water quality across Kansas, Oklahoma, Alabama, Idaho, and Mississippi. AIMS integrates datasets on hydrology, microbiomes, macroinvertebrates, and biogeochemistry in three regions (Mountain West, Great Plains, and Southeast Forests) to test the overarching hypothesis that physical drivers (e.g., climate, hydrology) interact with biological drivers (e.g., microbes, biogeochemistry) to control water quality in intermittent streams. An overview of the AIMS project can be found here: https://youtu.be/HDKIBNEnwdM

This protocol will detail the process for deploying pressure transducer (PT) sensors in stilling wells and piezometers.

The "living" version of this SOP can be found on Google Docs: https://docs.google.com/document/d/17nQj1tIW42W_opQpSKIezl_pxacDicHuLs5GB-OVrjE/edit?tab=t.0

From this SOP, the following data types will be created: Time series of pressure, temperature, water level, water height, water depth, and water elevation at stilling wells and piezometers [AIMS rTypes: PRES]

ABSTRACT:

This resource includes static environmental data collected for the sensor and sampling locations in the Gibson Jack Watershed located near Pocatello, ID. Gibson Jack Creek (outlet location: 42.7853, -112.4446) drains 1620 ha of the US Forest Service Research Natural Area within the Caribou National Forest. Predominantly forested with deciduous trees, sub-apline fir, Douglas fir, and with woody shrubs, sagebrush, and grasses, Gibson Jack spans an elevation range of 1555-2130 m, and has an mean annual temperature and precipitation of 6.5°C and 614.5 mm/yr, respectively. Gibson Jack spans the rain to snow transition with rainfall occurring at the lower elevations and snowfall at the upper elevations. Gibson Jack Creek drains to the Portnuef River and is heavily recreated by the local community.

Further information for all data fields can be found in the "Data Types" tab of this file. In short, this resource contains data for sites across a suite of sensor types, denoted by the sublocation field. These sublocations include:
- "SW" -- a site where regular surface water sampling occured, and contained a stilling well to record stream water level

This resource was created using geospatial analyses using publicly available topographic data (Digital Elevation Models, DEMs from the USGS National Map Downloader v2.0; https://apps.nationalmap.gov/downloader/).
Site locations GPS coordinates were collected using a eMLID Reach RX multi-band RTK rover.
Elevation was extracted from a DEM. All additional environmental data were derived from this DEM using whitebox functions for topographic and stream network analysis (Wu & Brown, 2022) in R version 4.4.0 (R Core Team, 2024).

Approach 1 site is GSS01
Approach 2 sites indicated by GPZ
Approach 3 sites are listed as GBJ or STIC

ABSTRACT:

Johnston Draw is a 1.8-km2 watershed in southwestern Idaho, USA (outlet location: 43.1226, -116.776) located within the Reynolds Creek Critical Zone Observatory in western Idaho, a research center with cattle grazing. Elevation ranges from approximately 1490m to 1850m. The mean annual precipitation in the watershed is 550 mm/yr with rainfall occurring at the lower elevations and snowfall, resulting in large drifts, at the higher elevations (Godsey et al., 2018). Mean annual temperatures range from 8.9C at the bottom of watershed and 4.7C near the top.

Citations:

Bilbrey, E.M. 2024. Quantifying Dissolved Organic Carbon Patterns and the Impact of Stream Network Connectivity on Export From Semi-Arid Intermittent Watersheds. Idaho State University. https://www.proquest.com/docview/3079012638/abstract/4FAB29E7230542A8PQ/1.
Godsey, S.E., Marks, D., Kormos, P.R., Seyfried, M.S., Enslin, C.L., Winstral, A.H., McNamara, J.P., Link, T.E. 2018. Eleven years of mountain weather, snow, soil moisture and streamflow data from the rain–snow transition zone—The Johnston draw catchment, Reynolds Creek Experimental Watershed and Critical Zone Observatory, USA. Earth Systems Science Data Vol. 10: 1207-1216.

Further information for all data fields can be found in the "Data Types" tab of this file. In short, this resource contains data for sites across a suite of sensor types, denoted by the sublocation field. These sublocations include:
- "SW" -- a site where regular surface water sampling occured, and contained a stilling well to record stream water level

This resource was created using geospatial analyses using publicly available topographic data (Digital Elevation Models, DEMs from the USGS National Map Downloader v2.0; https://apps.nationalmap.gov/downloader/).
Site locations GPS coordinates were collected using a eMLID Reach RX multi-band RTK rover.
Elevation was extracted from a DEM. All additional environmental data were derived from this DEM using whitebox functions for topographic and stream network analysis (Wu & Brown, 2022) in R version 4.4.0 (R Core Team, 2024).

Approach 1 site is JSS01
Approach 2 sites indicated by JPZ (Pressure Transducers)
Additional sites (STICS) indicated by JDR

ABSTRACT:

Johnston Draw is a 1.8-km2 watershed in southwestern Idaho, USA (outlet location: 43.1226, -116.776) located within the Reynolds Creek Critical Zone Observatory in western Idaho, a research center with cattle grazing. Elevation ranges from approximately 1490m to 1850m. The mean annual precipitation in the watershed is 550 mm/yr with rainfall occurring at the lower elevations and snowfall, resulting in large drifts, at the higher elevations (Godsey et al., 2018). Mean annual temperatures range from 8.9C at the bottom of watershed and 4.7C near the top.

These data were collected in support of the sampling goals of the Aquatic Intermittency effects on Microbiomes in Streams (AIMS) Project. These sensors were set to collect temperature and conductivity data every 15 minutes. Each .csv file is associated with a single site for a single year.

Naming convention
Guide to interpreting file names using STIC_MW_JDR_JDR28_HS_.2023csv as an example:
- "STIC_MW_JDR_" = same for all sites, indicating it is STIC data from the Mountian West region and the Johnston Draw watershed.
- "JDR28" = site code, corresponding to the location of the STIC within the watershed
- "HS" = sublocation, corresponding to the placement of the STIC at that site. All data in this resource was collected from sensors with a "HS" sublocation, meaning the STIC was placed at a high spot in the stream thalweg, and a wet reading is interpreted as an indicator of flowing surface water connection within the stream network.
- "2023" = year of STIC data included in file.

Methodological details:
STIC sensors were deployed in 2021 following the methods described here: http://www.hydroshare.org/resource/c82a87a6c63445029d35131260241386
STIC sensors were calibrated following the methods described here: http://www.hydroshare.org/resource/9f2027c779d64149be32bdb9eede54f2
A detailed description of the processing and classification workflow is available in Zipper et al: https://eartharxiv.org/repository/view/4909/

Due to data logger errors, maintenance, etc. there are not data for all sites at all timesteps.

Further information for all data fields can be found in the "Data Types" tab of this ReadME. Sensors recorded relative conductivity (here, condUncal) and used in conjunction with multi-point lab calibration curves to calculate wetdry and SpC fields. The lowest point on the standard curve was water with an SpC of 0, which represented the lowest possible condUncal that would yield a "wet" value. This zero was used as a threshold, and wetdry was calculated such that anything below this threshold was "dry" (wetdry = 0) and anything above was "wet" (wetdry = 1). Additionally, the rest of the standard curve was used to build a relationship between condUncal and SpC, and this linear model was applied to the condUncal to calculate SpC.

The qual_rating flags are (Details in Zipper et al):
Excellent: STIC was (1) calibrated prior to deployment, and (2) stayed operational throughout 95% of the download period, and (3) was not displaced from streambed (i.e., the external electrodes were within 1 cm from stream bed at the time of download indicating minimal erosion/deposition), and (4) data from sensor roughly agree with field observations of wet/dry (i.e., >1000 Lux sensor reading on day of removal corresponds to field observations of water at STIC).
Good: (1) STIC stayed operational throughout the entire download period, and (2) the external electrodes were within 1 cm from stream bed at the time of download, and (3) data from sensor roughly agree with field observations of wet/dry, but (4) the STIC was not calibrated prior to deployment.
Fair: (1) STIC stayed operational throughout 75% or more of the download period, and (2) data roughly agree with field observations, and/or (3) the external electrodes were between 1-3 cm from streambed at the time of download.
Poor: (1) STIC stayed operational throughout less than 75% of the download period, and/or (2) the external electrodes were >3 cm from streambed at the time of download, and/or (3) data does NOT agree with field observations.
The QAQC flags are denoted as follows; if multiple flags were generated, they were concatenated:
NA : no flags, data passes checks
C : calibration curve yielded a negative value for SpC, changed to a value of 0 manually
O : SpC value is higher than the highest measured Calibration point, and is therefore off the calibration curve
D : wetdry reading flagged as a potential anomaly (i.e., short period of dry surrounded by long period of wet, calculated using a moving window z-score of condUncal values)
T : wetdry reading interpreted from temperature data

ABSTRACT:

Located near Pocatello, ID, Gibson Jack Creek (outlet location: 42.7853, -112.4446) drains 1620 ha of the US Forest Service Research Natural Area within the Caribou National Forest. Predominantly forested with deciduous trees, sub-apline fir, Douglas fir, and with woody shrubs, sagebrush, and grasses, Gibson Jack spans an elevation range of 1555-2130 m, and has an mean annual temperature and precipitation of 6.5°C and 614.5 mm/yr, respectively. Gibson Jack spans the rain to snow transition with rainfall occurring at the lower elevations and snowfall at the upper elevations. Gibson Jack Creek drains to the Portnuef River and is heavily recreated by the local community.

These data were collected in support of the sampling goals of the Aquatic Intermittency effects on Microbiomes in Streams (AIMS) Project. These sensors were set to collect temperature and conductivity data every 15 minutes. Each .csv file is associated with a single site for a single year.

Naming convention
Guide to interpreting file names using STIC_MW_GBJ_STIC65_HS_2024.csv as an example:
- "STIC_MW_GBJ_" = same for all sites, indicating it is STIC data from the Mountian West region and the Gibson Jack watershed.
- "STIC65" = site code, corresponding to the location of the STIC within the watershed
- "HS" = sublocation, corresponding to the placement of the STIC at that site. All data in this resource was collected from sensors with a "HS" sublocation, meaning the STIC was placed at a high spot in the stream thalweg, and a wet reading is interpreted as an indicator of flowing surface water connection within the stream network.
- "2024" = year of STIC data included in file.

Methodological details:
STIC sensors were deployed in 2021 following the methods described here: http://www.hydroshare.org/resource/c82a87a6c63445029d35131260241386
STIC sensors were calibrated following the methods described here: http://www.hydroshare.org/resource/9f2027c779d64149be32bdb9eede54f2
A detailed description of the processing and classification workflow is available in Zipper et al: https://eartharxiv.org/repository/view/4909/

Due to data logger errors, maintenance, etc. there are not data for all sites at all timesteps.

Further information for all data fields can be found in the "Data Types" tab of this ReadME. Sensors recorded relative conductivity (here, condUncal) and used in conjunction with multi-point lab calibration curves to calculate wetdry and SpC fields. The lowest point on the standard curve was water with an SpC of 0, which represented the lowest possible condUncal that would yield a "wet" value. This zero was used as a threshold, and wetdry was calculated such that anything below this threshold was "dry" (wetdry = 0) and anything above was "wet" (wetdry = 1). Additionally, the rest of the standard curve was used to build a relationship between condUncal and SpC, and this linear model was applied to the condUncal to calculate SpC.

The qual_rating flags are (Details in Zipper et al):
Excellent: STIC was (1) calibrated prior to deployment, and (2) stayed operational throughout 95% of the download period, and (3) was not displaced from streambed (i.e., the external electrodes were within 1 cm from stream bed at the time of download indicating minimal erosion/deposition), and (4) data from sensor roughly agree with field observations of wet/dry (i.e., >1000 Lux sensor reading on day of removal corresponds to field observations of water at STIC).
Good: (1) STIC stayed operational throughout the entire download period, and (2) the external electrodes were within 1 cm from stream bed at the time of download, and (3) data from sensor roughly agree with field observations of wet/dry, but (4) the STIC was not calibrated prior to deployment.
Fair: (1) STIC stayed operational throughout 75% or more of the download period, and (2) data roughly agree with field observations, and/or (3) the external electrodes were between 1-3 cm from streambed at the time of download.
Poor: (1) STIC stayed operational throughout less than 75% of the download period, and/or (2) the external electrodes were >3 cm from streambed at the time of download, and/or (3) data does NOT agree with field observations.
The QAQC flags are denoted as follows; if multiple flags were generated, they were concatenated:
NA : no flags, data passes checks
C : calibration curve yielded a negative value for SpC, changed to a value of 0 manually
O : SpC value is higher than the highest measured Calibration point, and is therefore off the calibration curve
D : wetdry reading flagged as a potential anomaly (i.e., short period of dry surrounded by long period of wet, calculated using a moving window z-score of condUncal values)
T : wetdry reading interpreted from temperature data