mescla.datasets.loaders.load_hubbard_brook

mescla.datasets.loaders.load_hubbard_brook(annual=False, complete_only=True)[source]

Bulk precipitation chemistry at Hubbard Brook Watershed 6, 1963-2014.

The canonical long-term record for atmospheric deposition: volume-weighted monthly concentrations from bulk collectors in a New Hampshire northern-hardwood catchment, the record on which acid rain was first described in North America. Bundled under CC-BY; see data/SOURCES.md.

Nine species are retained (Ca, Mg, K, Na, NH4, H, SO4, NO3, Cl), where H is derived from the published pH on load. Never put pH itself into a mixing calculation – it is a logarithm, and mixing is linear in concentration.

Parameters:

  • annual (bool, default False) – Return volume-weighted water-year means (June-May, complete years only) rather than the monthly record. Notebook 09 shows why this matters: the monthly data fails every Hooper diagnostic and the annual means do not.

  • complete_only (bool, default True) – Drop months with any missing species. Only applies when annual is False, since the annual means are built from complete years by construction.

Returns:

WaterChemistry – Concentrations in mg/L, indexed YYYY-MM (monthly) or YYYY (annual).

Return type:

WaterChemistry

Notes

These are atmospheric sources scavenged into rainwater, not a mixture of three groundwaters, and notebook 09 works through what that does to a volumetric mixing model. The record is also the clearest available demonstration that end-member compositions need not hold still: non-sea-salt sulphate falls roughly fivefold across it.

References

Likens, G. (2016). Chemistry of Bulk Precipitation at Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest, Watershed 6, 1963 - present ver 9. Environmental Data Initiative, doi:10.6073/pasta/8d2d88dc718b6c5a2183cd88aae26fb1 (CC-BY).