Great Pond Monitoring Buoy Records Data About Water Quality in Belgrade, Maine

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Great Pond Monitoring Buoy Records Data About Water Quality in Belgrade, Maine

Great Pond Monitoring Buoy Records Data About Water Quality in Belgrade, Maine

Colby College Students Launch Goldie on Great Pond in Belgrade Lakes Region of Maine

Lakefront property owners on Great Pond in Belgrade, Maine, may have noticed a new kid on the block–or rather, on the water. In April of 2013, Colby College students and professors installed a semi-permanent water quality monitoring buoy on the pond. “Goldie,” the Great Pond monitoring buoy, receives data such as photosynthetically active radiation, dissolved oxygen and temperature every 15 minutes. The data is streamed to Web servers at Colby College in Waterville, Maine.

The buoy was funded by Colby College, and is cooperatively managed by Denise Bruesewitz (Environmental Studies) and Whitney King (Chemistry). They are measuring light (above and below the water), oxygen (surface and depth), fluorescence (as a proxy for chlorophyll), and temperature with 10 thermistor nodes. Weather data is collected from the roof of the Maine Lakes Resource Center (MLRC) on the shore of the outflow stream to the lake.
Measuring roughly seven miles north to south by 4 miles east to west, Great Pond has a surface area of 8,239 acres, with a maximum depth of 69 feet and a mean depth of 21 feet. Its shore length is over 46 miles. Goldie is located in a deep basin at the maximum lake depth.



Great Pond is generally a low-nutrient lake, but water quality has been declining in recent years. Dr. Bruesewitz tells us that “Throughout the summer of 2013, Great Pond lost oxygen steadily in the bottom water, and it went completely anoxic (no oxygen) before fall mixing. Fall mixing occurred during the 2nd week of November. Great Pond continues to experience Gloeotrichia blooms [a blue-green alga], and we will gain new insights into what factors may lead to a Gloeo bloom with Goldie’s high-frequency data.”
Goldie was named for the film On Golden Pond. Playwright Ernest Thompson found his inspiration from many summers spent on Great Pond.
Goldie and Great Pond are site members of GLEON, the Global Lakes Ecological Observatory Network. GLEON is a group consisting of lake and computer scientists from all over the world who use a network of lakes to understand global change and human impacts on lake environments. Because of Goldie, students and the local community are learning more about limnology and issues of water quality. The plan is that the data collection will help scientists and citizens learn more about Great Pond and better understand the factors that contribute to its water quality.
To learn more about lakefront properties for sale on Great Pond, click on the green box above.
To learn more about Great Pond and Belgrade Lakes Region of Maine, check out the blog links below.
Great Pond in Belgrade, Maine, Offers Great Cabins and Cottages
Great Pond Marina, Belgrade Lakes, Maine: A Quintessential Experience For Lakefront Property Owners
Hikes in the Belgrade Lakes Region of Maine

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