Field based spatial water quality mapping

Field sensors, analytical instruments capable of operating in real-time and under field conditions, are used in Great Lakes studies where the description of spatial patterns in water quality is important. Sensor datasets consisting of water quality and physical features including temperature, conductivity, chlorophyll and other algal pigments, nitrate and indicators of organic material are collected over pre-defined vessel tracks and the geo-referenced datasets of water quality measurements are used to create maps of water quality features.