Table of Contents

• Coverage
• Dataset Description
  • Methods & Sampling
  • Data Processing Description
• Data Files
• Supplemental Files
• Parameters
• Instruments
• Deployments
• Project Information
• Funding

Chlorophyll and turbidity sampling: Chlorophyll fluorescence and turbidity backscatter at S2 and S8 were measured with Wetlabs FLNTUSB shuttered fluorometers. The deployment scheme for the FLNTUSB units was identical to that for the YSI and FLCDs.  The YSIs, FLCD and FLNTUSB fluorometers were swapped out on the same schedules.  At S2, the fluorometers were also mounted below the “moon pool” of the floating dock and were ~ 1m from the YSIs.   At S8, they were collocated on the bottom frame with the other instruments.

Chlorophyll and turbidity data processing.
Raw turbidity backscatter and chlorophyll fluorescence counts have been converted to NTUs (nepthelometric turbidity unit) and chlorophyll concentration (ug chl l-1) units using the manufacturer calibration sheets that were provided with the instruments (Supplemental Files). No other processing has yet been done with the turbidity data. The instrument response was regularly saturated under the turbid conditions found in Groves Creek.  Chlorophyll data have been processed analogously to the fDOM data . While the chlorophyll data are likely to be “right” in a relative sense, the absolute value of the sonde readings underestimate in situ chlorophyll obtained from extracted samples by a factor of 2-3.  The data provided here are for the factory calibrations.  Third-part users can use the data found in the manufacturer calibration sheet to make an empirical correction, while cautioning that most of the water samples were collected for analysis of chlorophyll at high tide.  The contributions of turbidity and CDOM interference with the raw sonde signals have been examined.  No significant contribution by either variable were revealed using multiple linear regression.

BCO-DMO Processing notes:
- added conventional header with dataset name, PI name, version date
- modified parameter names to conform with BCO-DMO naming conventions
- added station, lat, lon, date, time, ISO_DateTIme columns
- ISO Date format generated from date and time values
- blank values replaced with no data value 'nd'

Description from NSF award abstract:
Salt marshes are critical mediators of the flux of material between the terrestrial and marine realms. The balance of material import, export, and transformation affects both the marsh itself and the surrounding estuary. Previous efforts to understand the role of marshes have concentrated either on examining temporal changes (often at low resolution) of bulk exports, or compositional changes in exported material with little regard for its temporal variability. Researchers working at the Skidaway Institute of Oceanography contend that both the quantity and quality of materials exchanged between marsh and estuary in tidally-dominated systems along the southeastern US coast vary significantly in response to semidiurnal, diurnal, tidal, meteorological and seasonal forcing, and that this variability must be included when considering the total contributions of marshes to carbon cycling along the land-ocean boundary. This study will utilize a three-pronged strategy to assess both the quantity and quality of dissolved organic matter (DOM) and particulate organic matter (POM) exported from Groves Creek, a well-characterized meso-tidal salt marsh in coastal Georgia. In particular, by evaluating how marsh function responds to a full spectrum of present environmental conditions, this project will provide tangible insight into how carbon cycling in these critical regions will respond to anticipated changes in those conditions.

This project is related to the project "Marine priming effect - molecular mechanisms for the biomineralization of terrigenous dissolved organic matter in the ocean" found at https://www.bco-dmo.org/project/554157.