Testing and Refining the Ohio Nowcast at Two Lake Erie Beaches--2008

摘要

The Ohio Nowcast has been providing real-time beach advisories to the public on the basis of predictive models since 2006. In support of the nowcast, data were collected during the recreational season of 2008 to validate and refine predictive models at two Lake Erie beaches. Predictive models yield data on the probability that the single-sample bathing-water standard for E. coli will be exceeded. Field personnel collected or compiled data on Escherichia coli (E. coli) concentrations as well as variables expected to affect these concentrations, including manual and automated measurements of turbidity, wave height, and water temperature; lake level; and radar and airport rainfall amounts. Two new variables were measured during 2008 photosynthetically-active radiation at Huntington (Bay Village) and foreshore head at Edgewater (Cleveland). ( The foreshore is a strip of land along a body of water between low and high water marks.)