The Pigeon Lake Monitoring Buoy
The Pigeon Lake Monitoring Buoy is a floating platform with scientific instruments attached (pictured above). Its purpose is to help with ongoing monitoring of water quality here at Pigeon Lake. It is deployed every spring and collects data every 15 minutes, 24 hours a day, over the open water season
This is a cooperative initiative with a large component of local community-based involvement. The Summer Village of Crystal Springs is the current owner of the buoy, and provided initial funding to support purchase. PLWA is responsible for information sharing, volunteer support, and providing some annual funding. We are so appreciative for the support from Alberta Environment and Protected Areas (AEPA) who is responsible for deployment, storage, and ongoing technical management.
Please do not approach the monitoring buoy so as to not disturb the scientific instruments above and below the water!
What kind of information does the buoy provide?
There are similar buoys installed in several lakes in Alberta, and across the country, but this particular buoy is optimized to better understand factors that affect algal blooms at Pigeon Lake. Our buoy is equipped with the following:
Weather station that measures air temperature, humidity, barometric pressure, wind speed, and wind direction.
Sensors that measure water temperature, conductivity, pH, dissolved oxygen, turbidity (clarity), total algae (both chlorophyll a and blue green algae sensors).
Thermistor string that measures temperature and dissolved oxygen at various depth intervals below the lake’s surface to 8 meters deep!
The data generated by the monitoring buoy is useful to our healthy lake monitoring and research partners such as the University of Alberta, Alberta Biomonitoring institute, Alberta Lake Management Society, and Pigeon Lake municipalities. We use the data from the buoy to help understand lake ecosystems and algal bloom dynamics over time. Additionally, it can help us to understand fish habitat and factors that contribute to fish kills in the summer. From there, we can go on to recommend and implement management strategies.
To learn more about the specific data parameters provided by our monitoring buoy and what the mean for our lake, visit the parameter guide for a bit more information.
Clearly identified AEPA staff and PLWA volunteers will perform regular inspections of the monitoring buoy. For questions, concerns, or to report tampering or other problems regarding the monitoring buoy contact PLWA via email (info@plwa.ca) or by phone (780-242-0180).