Table of Contents

• Coverage
• Dataset Description
  • Methods & Sampling
  • Data Processing Description
• Data Files
• Related Publications
• Related Datasets
• Parameters
• Instruments
• Project Information
• Funding

Water samples were collected from both surface and bottom depths at 19 sites in the Mission Aransas Estuary.  Hydrographic measurements including temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, and pH were collected on site using a YSI sonde. Upon return to the lab on the same day, 200 to 1000 milliliters of the collected water was filtered through pre-combusted 47 mm glass fiber filters (Whatman GF/F, 0.7 µm), which were frozen immediately at -20 ºC until analysis.

Organic carbon and nitrogen
The GF/F filters were first acidified to remove inorganic carbon by acid fumigation according to Hedges and Stern (1984).  The organic carbon and nitrogen content in these samples was then measured using a Thermo FLASH 2000 CHN Elemental Analyzer.  Precision for the C/N content is within 5%. 

Pigment analysis
The glass fiber filter was transferred into a 15 mL polypropylene centrifuge tube, to which 3 mL acetone was added for pigment extraction (Sun et al., 1991). The mixture was sonicated for 15 minutes, and then centrifuged for another 10 minutes. The acetone extract was filtered with a syringe filter (0.2 µm Nylon filter) and the procedure was repeated on the GF/F using fresh acetone. The two extracts were then combined before the high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis. Quantitative analysis of all pigments was conducted using a Shimadzu HPLC system with a reverse phase column (Agilent Eclipse XDB-C8, 3.5 µm particle size, 150-mm length × 4.6-mm diameter).

Dissolved Nutrients
Nutrient analyses (Phosphorous, Ammonia, Nitrate+Nitrite) were performed on Lachat QuikChem 8500.

BCO-DMO processing:
- Added a conventional header with dataset name, PI names, version date
- Adjusted parameter names to comply with database requirements
- Units removed and added to Parameter Description metadata section

NSF Award Abstract:

This project involves rapid-response research into the effects of Hurricane Harvey on the Mission-Aransas estuary system in south Texas. Hurricane Harvey passed directly over this region on August 25-26, 2017. Because these waters are the site of the Mission-Aransas National Estuarine Research Reserve (MANERR), the investigators have a history of data from before the storm with which to compare the data they will collect. They proposed to investigate the effect of the passage of the storm on carbon and nitrogen cycling, and thus the ecosystem, in the waters and sediments of Copano Bay and Aransas Bay. Their results will be important to understanding coastal processes both in general and in response to extreme events.

The investigators pose two hypotheses, which can be summarized broadly as 1) inputs of nutrients from river flooding will stimulate algal blooms in the estuary and 2) changes in sediment grain size distribution will affect sediment nitrogen cycling. They will collect water samples for nutrients, pigments, lipids, bulk carbon, and carbon isotope analyses, together with standard water quality parameters using a YSI Sonde (salinity, temperature, pH, chlorophyll a, dissolved oxygen and turbidity) at the five System Wide Monitoring Program sites of the MANERR on a biweekly to monthly basis. Sediment samples will be collected at all sites in the fall of 2017 and examined for grain size, pigments, carbon and nitrogen content, carbon isotopes, pigments, and lipids. The results will be used, in combination from data collected earlier this year, to examine physical, chemical, and biological responses to this major event. The project will support a graduate student research assistant and three undergraduate student researchers. Communication with the public will occur through well-established and effective programs at the Mission-Aransas NERR and the University of Texas Marine Science Institute.