Environmental Conditions

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Meteorological Data

A meteorological and telemetry station located on the back deck of the field station transmits real-time data (collected every 15 minutes). This  Hudson River National Estuarine Research Reserve (HRNERR) station has collected continuous meteorological data (air temperature, relative humidity, rainfall, barometric pressure, wind speed and direction, and photosynthetically active radiation) since 1999, when HRNERR was based at the Field Station
 
HRNERR continues to maintain the weather station and data is collected and processed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Office for Coastal Management/National Estuarine Research Reserve System (NOAA OCM/NERRS). Historic and real-time data access is provided through the Centralized Data Management Office. This station is also part of the Hudson River Environmental Conditions Observing System (HRECOS) monitoring network. The Field Station holds a written record of historic weather observations taken before this equipment was installed.

Other sources of local meteorological data include:

Bard College Weather Station	located 0.6 miles northeast of the Field Station on the roof of Stevenson Library installed in January 2021 maintained by Bard Community Sciences Lab
NYS Red Hook Mesonet Station	located 2 miles southeast of the Field Station at Red Hook High School installed in August 2016
Red Hook CoCoRaHS Station	located 2.8 miles southeast of the Field Station Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network station

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Tides & Moon Phase

Approximately half of the length of the Hudson River is a tidal estuary. The Mohican recognized the importance of this water that flows both ways, naming the river Mahicantuck. The Hudson has semi-diurnal tides with two low and two high tides each lunar day. Both low tides have roughly the same height as do both high tides. Tides are waves, resulting from the gravitational pull of the moon and sun, that result in the rise and fall of sea surface at coastlines. When the tide rises at the mouth of the Hudson River, the water moves horizontally and the incoming tide, flood current, flows north, up to the Troy dam. The outgoing tide, ebb current, flows south. The transition between high and low tide takes six hours and 12.5 minutes (one-fourth of the 24 hour 50 minute lunar day). Learn more about tides and water levels here.

Tide predictions and local knowledge of tides, tidal currents, and water levels are important for navigation, recreation, and fishing on the Hudson River. In addition, construction and habitat restoration projects must be planned around the tides. Scientists studying tidal systems work to understand the impacts of short and long-term tidal fluctuations and the interconnected, climate change related processes. In the United States, National Water Level Observing Network (NWLON) monitoring stations continuously measure water level (and meteorological conditions), providing important real-time data that document changes in water level. The NWLON program is managed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services’ (CO-OPS).
 
The Turkey Point Tide Station was installed in 2014 by the HRNERR and was validated as a NOAA CO-OPS station in 2018. The station is located on the western shore of the river in the Turkey Point State Forest in Saugerties, approximately 1.2 miles southwest of the Field Station. In addition to informing climate change research, data from this HRNERR tide station helps to improve the accuracy of NOAA’s tide predictions for the Hudson River. Sensors at the station measure water level, water temperature, air temperature, relative humidity, and barometric pressure every six minutes. Historical and near real-time data from the Turkey Point HRNERR station can be viewed and downloaded here. NOAA provides predictions of tides at Tivoli (3 miles north of the Field Station), where high and low tides are approximately 20 minutes later than at Turkey Point, and currents at Barrytown (1.5 miles southwest of the Field Station).

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Water Quality

Since 1995, the Hudson River National Estuarine Research Reserve (HRNERR) has maintained a real-time, continuous water quality sonde in Tivoli North Bay and Tivoli South Bay, which take measurements (water temperature, specific conductivity, salinity, dissolved oxygen, depth, pH, and turbidity) every 15 minutes. Data is not collected during the winter (i.e., December to February).

Monthly water samples have also been collected from the Tivoli Bays, since 1991 by HRNERR. These samples are analyzed for nutrients (nitrate, ammonium, phosphate) and general water quality parameters (water temperature, specific conductivity, salinity, dissolved oxygen, total suspended solids, chlorophyll, chloride, and sulfate). Data for the parameters collected and processed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Office for Coastal Management/National Estuarine Research Reserve System (NOAA OCM/NERRS) and is available through the Centralized Data Management Office. The Tivoli Bays sondes are also part of the Hudson River Environmental Conditions Observing System (HRECOS) monitoring network.