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Miniature thermistor chain for determining surficial sediment porewater advection

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Title Miniature thermistor chain for determining surficial sediment porewater advection
Names Fram, Jonathan P. (creator)
Pawlak, Geno R. (creator)
Sansone, Francis J. (creator)
Glazer, Brian T. (creator)
Hannides, Angelos K. (creator)
Date Issued 2014-04 (iso8601)
Note This is the publisher’s final pdf. The published article is copyrighted by the American Society of Limnology and Oceanography, Inc. and can be found at: http://aslo.org/lomethods/index.html.
Abstract A miniature thermistor chain (mTc) was developed to measure the subdiurnal variability of temperature in
the upper layers of subtidal coastal permeable (sandy) sediments and across the sediment-water interface (SWI).
The mTc has 15 precision thermistors (0.002°C accuracy) attached by narrow tines to a stainless steel backbone
that connects to an electronics module, all of which is buried in the top 20 cm of the sediment. Instrument performance
was tested by deploying the mTc in nearshore permeable sediment at the Kilo Nalu Observatory,
Oahu, Hawaii over an 80-d period. The mTc reached thermal equilibrium with the adjoining sediment within
a few days after deployment and then recorded the advective propagation of the sub-daily water-column temperature
variation into the sediment. The data produced are consistent with predicted effects of surface waves
on advective porewater transport: transport rate increased with wave height and decreased with depth below
the SWI, and temperature time lag increased with depth below the SWI. Data from an independent, more
deeply buried thermistor are in good agreement with the mTc time-series data, showing attenuated temperature
variability and similar (but longer, as expected) thermal time lags. Because thermal variations in surficial sediments
is dominated by advection in wavy environments, mTc subdiurnal temperature propagation data can be
used to calculate advective transport across the SWI and as deep as 20 cm into the sediment (i.e., over depths
where advection dominates over thermal diffusion).
Genre Article
Identifier Fram, J. P., Pawlak, G. R., Sansone, F. J., Glazer, B. T., & Hannides, A. K. (2014). Miniature thermistor chain for determining surficial sediment porewater advection. Limnology and Oceanography: Methods, 12, 155-165. doi:10.4319/lom.2014.12.155

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