A next generation instrumented buoy for Lake Annie, Archbold Biological Station

Archbold Expeditions, Inc., Venus FL

Investigators

Abstract

Archbold Biological Station (Archbold www.archbold-station.org) is a biological field station in Florida dedicated to long-term ecological research and education. Archbold owns and manages a globally significant scrub preserve including the beautiful 90-acre, Lake Annie. Studies of Lake Annie are recognized globally for providing insights into the history of lakes in the southern USA (40,000-year sediment record), long-term (30-year) ecological and chemical sampling, and a moored buoy (since 2008) with sensors measuring chemical and physical conditions at the lake surface. This NSF award will support deployment of a new "next-generation profiling buoy" equipped with many more sensors (climate, oxygen, pH, algae and chlorophyll, temperature, water color, light, heat, solar radiation, and CO2) than Archbold's old buoy. Most of the new sensors will be "profiling", or constantly moving up and down, gathering data from the lake surface to the bottom of the lake at 67'. For deep lakes, like Lake Annie, continuous data from top to bottom are critical to measure features such as the "metabolism" of the whole lake, or how much energy (growth) is occurring (such as plant or algae production) versus energy loss such as via respiration. Lake scientists, especially those engaged with the Global Lakes Ecological Observatory Network or GLEON, plan to combine Lake Annie data with data from other lakes around the world, allowing them to answer questions such as how lakes of different sizes, latitude, and surrounding land use are responding differently to changing conditions. The new Lake Annie buoy will provide research and education opportunities for visiting scientists and college classes, training for graduate students and interns, online data and remote data access, as well as a new module for Archbold's K-12 program, and expanded offerings for public programs including citizen science, lake association groups, science-arts events, and public seminars. A new interpretive sign will be installed at Lake Annie as well as increased sharing of lake science via a new video, Archbold social media, and enewsletters, This award will deploy a next generation, highly-instrumented profiling buoy at Lake Annie, a significant upgrade from the existing old buoy. The extensive (2 million record) Lake Annie buoy dataset is already available online via CUAHSI and this award will further expand Archbold's ability to deliver data for collaborations in lake science, especially with the Global Lakes Ecological Observatory Network GLEON. Lake scientists around the world plan to conduct analysis, synthesis, and modeling using Lake Annie data. Two new sondes and associated sensors will allow for continuous profiling of D.O., pH, total algae and chlorophyll, temperature, conductivity, fDOM, and light, as well as surface measures of meteorology, heat fluxes, solar radiation, and CO2. The new instrumentation will expand Archbold's role in cross-lake studies in areas such as: (i) lake metabolism by adding new measures of CO2 and D.O profiles; (ii) controls of high frequency variance in algal production and colored organic material by adding depth-resolved fluorescence sensors in a low-chlorophyll, oligotrophic humic end-member lake; (iii) spatiotemporal environmental heterogeneity in controlling our highly spatiotemporally variable phytoplankton dynamics, a feature of subtropical lakes; and (iv) climate and physical modeling through new measurements of mixing, heat flux, and solar radiation. The new buoy will also allow more flexible maintenance, enhance access to real-time data, and expand Archbold's role linking field stations with lake research networks such as GLEON and NEON. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.