7/01

Hi. It has been really heating up here in Central Illinois, with the heat index numbers at or near 110EF day after day. Remember to protect yourself from the sun, drink plenty of water (not from the bucket!) and slow down in this heat. NEW SITE SKETCHES– We have been working on new, full-color sketches of all sites. We will be sending them to you soon and asking that you "ground-truth" some information. As you may recall, these sketches will form the bottom layer of a Geographical Information System (GIS) "fly-in" of all sites that will be available on the NADP webpage. In conjunction with this we have started a mail-out Global Positioning System (GPS) program. Within the next year a GPS unit will be shipped to your site. You will be asked to measure the latitude and longitude at the collector orifice and then ship the GPS back to us or to another site. This special project will only take a few minutes of your time, but it will allow us to provide data users very accurate site location information. Please call Scott Dossett at 800-952-7353 with questions. Visit the CAL web page at http://nadp.sws.uiuc.edu/cal/ Log-on to the CAL website and find our raindrop character. Email Pam at pbedient@sws.uiuc.edu with his name, and your name will be entered in a drawing for a hot prize. Enter by August 15, 2001!
Back to reminders

8/01

Hello. We hope you all are finding some shelter from this heat! Even a thunderstorm (minus the tornados) would be welcome in Central Illinois.

Foam lid seal: In June, the new lid seals were mailed to all sites. When the old ones were returned two problems were noted that can result in invalidating many, if not all, of the samples from a site: 1)never remove the plastic cover from the lid seal pad, and 2) be sure to install the seal with the foam side DOWN, toward the bucket. If you have improperly installed the lid seal or have questions, call Scott or Jeff at 800-952-7353. Lid seal replacement procedures were sent with the seals and can be found in reference pages at the back of the CALendar.

Samples contaminated with potassium chloride: In the last six months we had three samples that contained high levels of potassium (K) and chloride (Cl). In all three cases few other ions were present and no appreciable sample contamination was observed or noted by the operators. In all three cases, these samples were the highest concentrations observed for their site; some values were as high as 100 times the next closest value. The amount of K and Cl found indicated that potassium chloride salt or (KCl) was the likely contaminant. The pH Electrode Filling Solution (labeled KCl Fill Solution) which goes into the electrode and in the soaker bottle, contains very high levels of KCl. The Specific Conductance Standard used to calibrate the conductivity meter also contains KCl. A small droplet of either of these two solutions can contaminate the sample. Please be sure that the only time the sample bottle is open is when you are decanting the field bucket contents into it and then again as you pour into the 4-mL vials for your field chemistry. At all other times, the 1-Liter sample bottle should be tightly sealed and placed out of the way (See pages 3-25 to 3-29 in the Site Operation Manual to review the field chemistry procedures).

It’s time to review your winterization procedures (Site Operation Manual pages 5-5 to 5-6). http://nadp.sws.uiuc.edu/cal

Back to reminders

9/01

Greetings. Summer is over, school is back in session, and the 2002 CALendar is hot off the presses! We've added a color cover featuring the NTN site operator training class of 2001. We want to thank everyone that sent in pictures and provided information for the CALendar this year. If you want your prints returned contact Sarah Milton (smilton@sws.uiuc.edu). The 2002 CALendar includes reminders for equipment maintenance, site operator training, and site "birthdays". Please send us your comments and suggestions as to how to make the CALendar more useful, interesting, and informative for you. If you need extra copies of the CALendar contact Sarah or Scott (1-800-952-7353).
Winterization: Each winter season we must invalidate data because frozen precipitation arrived before the raingage was winterized. Please review the winterization procedures (instructions can be found on the NTN Site Operator Manual, page 5-5). You will need to remove the funnel and add antifreeze before cold weather arrives at your site. The manual is available on-line at http://nadp.sws.uiuc.edu/lib/. Also, check out the CAL web site (http://nadp.sws.uiuc.edu/cal/) for information on the 2002 Site Operator Training course and for the 2002 CALendar on the What's New page.
Back to reminders