Water Quality Parameters
Temperature
What is Water Temperature?
Temperature is the measurement of an area or substance’s average kinetic energy, and within bodies of water, it constitutes one of the most important variables to consider. A host of biological and chemical processes are intrinsically tied to water temperature, which often fluctuates on both a daily and seasonal basis. Fluctuations in temperature are lessened or increased depending on the size of the water body. Thermal homogeneity is observable in high-velocity systems where water is more actively mixing and flowing; whereas deeper, still systems will commonly stratify into distinct layers which are determined and identifiable in part due to water temperature.
How is Temperature Measured in Water?
Modern electric thermometers rely on thermosensitive devices to gauge temperature. In scientific studies, the sensitivity of the measurement device coupled with repeated samples can create detailed temperature profiles in a given area. Several PME products like the miniDOT® Logger are designed to measure and record thermal data in some of the world’s harshest water temperatures. Accurate to the millidegree Celsius, the miniDOT® Logger and miniDOT® Clear Loggers can be deployed in waters above freezing to near boiling (0° – 35° Celsius, or 32° – 95° Fahrenheit.)
Why Does Water Temperature Matter?
Water temperature is at the crux of countless biogeochemical phenomena occurring in and around aquatic systems. To offer just a few examples, water temperature can influence the rate of air-water gas exchange, shape ecosystem metabolism, indicate the severity of pollution in a system and act as the driving force behind significant events like the formation of dead zones or harmful cyanobacteria algal blooms. Water temperature is an ever-increasing point of interest to researchers as climate change threatens to upend centuries of evolution in aquatic plants and animals. Rising water temperatures can accelerate metabolic rates within an ecological system and its residents alike; or slow them when temperatures drop.
Products Measuring Temperature
miniDOT® Logger
miniDOT® Clear Logger
