On the Nature of Freshwater Flow

2018 Senior Project by Livia Nason

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Introduction...

Completed in 2018, this project showcases data analysis, visualization, and problem solving skills. The idea for this project was discussed for years before someone would have the courage and tenacity to take it on. In 2017, we were assigned our senior projects. Design a computational project involving programming, data analysis, a hypothesis and conlcusion, and submit a 20 page research paper as your final exam. Immediately, I knew this was the project I would be working on.

Over the next 6 months, over 1,000,000 data points would be analyzed by more than 1000 lines of code, and more than 7500 words would be written to describe the details of the project, data sources, statistical analyses, and conclusions. Keep reading to learn more.

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This data project involves the analysis of 3 years worth of rainfall data and the effect it had on the flow of 3 fresh water springs in Wakulla County, FL, to determine if the computational methods can replace dye tracing as a way to establish connections between springs in a karst aquifer. Data used in the study was collected from FGS monitored spring flow sensors in Wakulla Spring conduit AK, Spring Creek vent 10, and Revell Sink, and precipitation data was retreived from the NOAA's NEXRAD system.

Click through the links below to see code samples, images, sources and more, saved in the Github repository.

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Let there be rock!

The project, which concluded in 2018, utilized various statistical methods including cluster analysis, lag time analysis, and correlation analysis. Though the desired results were determined to be inconclusive, the study proved the presence of a multi-state system and defined the 2 spring flow states in terms of whether the springs were discharging freshwater or siphoning saltwater.

Special thanks to the Florida Geological Survey and Florida State University's Department of Scientific Computing for your support and mentorship.