Tuesday, August 9, 2016

It has been a great run. By my very loose estimate, we have logged over 7 million conductivity observations in New England's lotic systems. Even more data are still arriving! It will be a long time before the knowledge these data can provide has been thoroughly exhausted.

Like the systems we study, though, the LoVoTECS Network has always been subject to the environment. The funding agreement with our EPSCoR partners has run its course and it is time to wrap up our study. Rather than allow LoVoTECS to die a slow death spread too thin across too large an area, we are consolidating our loggers on and around the Plymouth State University campus. We can then use the knowledge we've gained to assist graduate and undergraduate students with hands on field research while setting in place an intensive look at small scale watershed dynamics.

We did hope for a second funding wind to carry LoVoTECS into further seasons and richer data. However, we are still looking optimistically forward. Understanding the movement of chemistry through New England's hydrology is of critical importance to the future of our region. With the help of our hosts and partners, we have advanced that understanding. The future is bringing change, but it brings also new and exciting ways to further these advances.

To keep up on our new directions, as well as the great research being done in closely related work, visit the Center for the Environment at https://www.plymouth.edu/center-for-the-environment/. As always intended, LoVoTECS data will remain freely available in perpetuity.