Water Resources of Nevada

Water-Quality Parameters (available for all sites)

Temperature: a measure of the warmth or coldness of the water, in degrees Celsius.
pH: a measure of the concentration of hydrogen ions, in standard units. pH values above 7 are basic, values below 7 are acidic, and values at 7 are considered neutral. pH can directly affect the health of aquatic organisms. For example, waters with a pH less than 4 have virtually no vertebrate life forms.
Dissolved oxygen: a measure of the molecular oxygen dissolved in water, in milligrams per liter. Is important in determining whether a water body is suitable for aerobic (oxygen-requiring) organisms, such as fish and zooplankton. More dissolved oxygen is better; values greater than 5 or 6 parts per million generally will support diverse forms of aquatic life.
Turbidity: the amount of solid particles that are suspended in water and cause light rays shining through the water to scatter. Turbidity makes the water cloudy or even opaque in extreme cases. Turbidity is measured in nephelometric turbidity units (NTU) or formazin nephelometric turbidity units (FNU).
Fluorescence: an expression of the amount of energy, in full scale range, emitted from a water sample in the 650 to 700 nanometer range in response to irradiation with energy of wavelength 450 nanometers. Percent fluorescence usually correlates to the concentration of chlorophyll in a given water sample.

Meteorological Data Parameters (available for all sites except Las Vegas Bay)

Air Temperature: a measure of the warmth or coldness of the air, in degrees Celsius.
Wind Speed and Direction: a measure of air flow, in meters per second and air flow direction in azimuth units with zero and 360 degrees equal to magnetic north.
Relative Humidity: a measure of the amount of water in air divided by the amount of water that the air could hold, expressed as 100 x P/P_0, where P is the pressure of the water vapor in the air and P₀ is the equilibrium vapor pressure of water at the same temperature, in percent.
Solar Radiation: a measure of the amount of radiation from the sun irradiating a specific unit of area, in watts per square meter.
Barometric Pressure: a measure of the pressure exerted on a specific unit of area by the atmosphere, in millibars.