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The Effects of Aerosols on Water Quality

Organization(s):St. Francis Xavier Catholic School
Country:United States of America
Student(s):Anna Willard
Grade Level:Secondary School (grades 9-12, ages 14-18)
GLOBE Educator(s):Amy Woods
Contributors:Dr. Pippin, Mr. Toth, Mrs. Bird
Report Type(s):International Virtual Science Symposium Report, U.S. Student Research Symposia (SRS)
Protocols:Aerosols, Conductivity, Dissolved Oxygen, Water Temperature, pH
Presentation Video: View Video
Presentation Poster: View Document
Language(s):English
Date Submitted:03/10/2020
Project Poster
This project focuses on the question; what is the effect of aerosols on water quality at the SFX pond? The hypothesis states if there are higher levels of aerosols, then the DO levels will be lower, and the temperature, electrical conductivity, and pH levels will all be higher. Aerosols are tiny particles in the air directly linked with the Air Quality Index (AQI). Data was collected outside by observing the cloud coverage, observing which way the wind was blowing, and measuring the Aerosol Optical Thickness. The pond water was then collected and tested for temperature, DO, pH, and conductivity, along with a protected bucket of water added as a control. The hypothesis was partially supported by the data. Dissolved oxygen and conductivity did not seem to be directly affected by the aerosols. When aerosols were high, ph was low, and when the aerosols were low, pH was high. Further data collection will be done to find a correlation. When aerosols were high, temperature was high, and when the aerosols were low, temperature was low. This could be because of stored up warm water below the surface of the pond but future data collection will hopefully lead to a more clear explanation. This applies to the real world because it affects people and it can contribute to Global Warming and air quality. Healthy air and water quality are necessary for human and other animal and plant life. It also shows how humans are affecting water with physical and gas pollutants. Keywords: dissolved oxygen, electrical conductivity, temperature, pH, air quality index, and aerosols


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Comments

Jodie Harnden
4 Years Ago
Congratulations! This is a great project!
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Amy Woods Jodie Harnden
4 Years Ago
Thank you so much! It is so great to hear from you! I hope you are doing well!
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GLOBE Scientist (inactive)
4 Years Ago
Hi Amy-

This is a neat project. You have made a number of different measurements, and the amount of information you have in your report and display is impressive. In addition to being impressed at how you explained things and the scope of measurements you made, I like how you came up with explanations for the observations you made- I too bet lag time is important. We've found there are other weather conditions which control how aerosols are deposited into the landscape too (e.g., precipitation). I think adding the bucket as a control was a great move - both to potentially collect some aerosols and to see what happened with the parameters you measured. That also could help you figure out if there were any biological contributions to some of the features you were measuring. (On the note of the bucket- don’t feel too badly about the winds conspiring against this part of the project working- mother nature gives us all setbacks some times). I really enjoyed reading your report and seeing your poster- hope you have a great summer!

All my best,
Julie Bryce
Department of Earth Sciences
University of New Hampshire
https://ceps.unh.edu/person/julia-bryce
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GLOBE Scientist (inactive)
4 Years Ago
Hi Anna,

My name is Emma Burkett – I am a graduate student at the University of New Hampshire working on my MS and PhD studying volcanoes in Alaska. My research primarily involves the use of trace elements in volcanic crystals to understand magma dynamics below active volcanoes, as well as the use of remote sensing data to better understand volcanic activity.
Great project and presentation! Very well done. I found your explanation of your research problem and scientific methods well explained. You had a great description on your research motivations, the importance of your research with community applications and background information needed to understand your project. At the end of your presentation, you mentioned historical data you collected – I would’ve loved a graphical comparison of your current data to your past data. You displayed a clear understanding of the science behind your project and were able to make scientific conclusions concerning your data as well as find solutions for future data collection for problems you encountered, such as including a lag time in future analyses.

Congratulations on the completion of your fantastic project!
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GLOBE Scientist (inactive)
4 Years Ago
Hi, my name is Z and I currently work on wetland habitat restoration. I received my masters in biological oceanography from UCSC. I enjoyed reading your paper. You have a good grasp of the topic and I like how you linked your motivations to broader impacts. I also liked how you took several replicates per sample day. In the future, you could add more sample days to explore changes over longer time scales, such as seasonal changes. You have several nice figures representing your data that have good explanations. I noticed a gap in sampling dates, how might this have affected your results? Great job overall!