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| Vol. 13, No. 3 | Winter 2009 | ||
By Linda Bacon
Maine DEP
Technical Advisor
“Oh no…another season shot”, Marly meter declared in dismay. “I was afraid it might come to this. If Pat had followed those recommendations, our temperature/oxygen data wouldn’t have been rejected. I know Pat has a copy – it sits right under me in this case. And we even went to visit that nice lady last spring – and she said the same thing. Sometimes I just get so discouraged. I know Pat is really devoted to collecting the data I measure. Pat takes me out week after week, month after month. We spend a good half-hour out on beautiful Artichoke Lake – I just wish it were quality time. I can take accurate measurements…I just know I can. Now I’m waiting here for Pat to winterize me so that I can take my long winter nap. If Pat would just remember those few items…if…only if….” zzzzz - Marly falls into dreamland…
Wow! It is so good to be awake again! I feel so fresh. Pat put me to bed last fall exactly the right way. Pat removed my batteries so I didn’t get any acid leakage in my belly – its not like they make Prilosec for meters. Pat removed my membrane and rinsed my probe with distilled water then set my probe in a small plastic bag to keep it clean. You know, one’s probe can never be clean enough.
Pat has just installed my fresh batteries – oooh they feel so good. And now Pat is putting fresh electrolyte in my probe and installing a new membrane. Wow! I feel so good! And he turned me on! Last year I never got to warm up until we were on the boat and all us meters know that just doesn’t do it. We NEED to be warmed up AND calibrated before we get on the boat. I wonder if Pat will wet my sponge… Oooh YES - cool and damp – exactly what my probe likes – it sort of tickles! Now Pat is having coffee. What a change. This means he might actually wait long enough for my electronics to warm and my probe to be in fog. What a switch, my probe in a fog instead of Pat being in a fog (good thing Pat can’t hear me...).
I don’t think Pat realized how important it is for probes to be ‘in the fog’ before calibration. That wet sponge makes sure there is 100% humidity around my probe. But getting there takes 15-20 minutes. Kinda like that humidifier Pat uses. A room doesn’t have moist air just because the humidifier has been turned on; there has to be water in it (like my sponge) and it takes a little while for moist air to fill the room.
Now Pat is calibrating me. I can’t believe it! Pat has pulled that table of expected oxygen readings from under me to double check his calibration and I’m within 0.3 ppm of the expected reading! Cool. I’m gonna do a GOOD job today. I just hope he remembers to take those duplicate readings and chooses good depths for them.
I’m really enjoying the sunshine today. Pat is finishing up my first profile of the season. I’ve been in tip-top form so far. Now where is Pat going to take those extra readings? The water is well mixed today because the temperature and oxygen are almost the same from the top of the lake to the bottom so it doesn’t make much difference. These extra readings prove to those bureaucrats that I’m doing a good job. As the waters warm, it is important for my probe’s temperature and oxygen readings to stabilize before Pat writes down the numbers, especially when he’s taking those extra readings on the way up!. We go down a meter at a time but when Pat pulls me up, we skip lots of meters and it takes me extra time to adjust. It is also important for Pat to choose a depth where the temperature and oxygen levels are nearly the same one meter above and one meter below, so that instead of measuring differences in the water, I’m showing how good I am at repeating the measurements under the same conditions. Fussy those bureaucrats are… They keep saying my readings might have to stand up in court…I have no idea what that means…
So…is your meter living the nightmare or living the dream???
Maine Volunteer Lake Monitoring Program
vlmp@mainevlmp.org
24 Maple Hill Road, Auburn, ME 04210
(207) 783-7733
www.MaineVolunteerLakeMonitors.org
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