Title:

Remotely Sensed Seasonal Traces of Bedrock Contributions to Stream Chemistry in Hubbard Brook, NH

Hubbard Brook is located in Northwestern New Hampshire between the towns of Woodstock and Thorton. Hubbard Brook lies within an experimental forest with well documented reports of environmental factors over the past few decades, we will be focussing on stream chemistry. Stream chemistry can be affected by a multitude of factors, some of the largest include land cover and geology. Additionally, the seasonality of Northern New Hampshire plays a large role in the watershed dynamics within the study area. In this study, we analyzed key factors dictating major ions (Ca, Mg, SiO2, SO4, Fe, and K) within three watersheds of Hubbard Brook. Watersheds 7, 8, and 9 were selected for comparison due to their differing geological compositions. The use of remote sensing was applied to better understand the seasonality in stream chemistry. This was done by utilizing two normalized indexes commonly used for remote sensing: NDSI and NDVI. These indexes were used in comparison to stream chemistry data from Hubbard Brook. New Hampshire’s seasons were generalized by cycles of greening and snow cover. It was hypothesized that greening cycles could be a key component in dictating stream chemistry as the uptake of key ions by vegetation is greatly enhanced during these cycles. Comparatively, when snow cover increases in the winters, a decrease in the ions will occur as the biological uptake of these ions will be limited or even halted. Analyzing both bedrock geology and seasonal changes we aim to better understand the fluctuating stream chemistry at Hubbard Brook.

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