Dissolved oxygen is a critical component of river water quality. This study investigated average weekly dissolved oxygen (AWDO) and average weekly water temperature (AWT) in the Savannah River during 2015 and 2016 using data from the Intelligent River® sensor network. Weekly data and seasonal summary statistics revealed distinct seasonal patterns that impact both AWDO and AWT regardless of location along the river. Within seasons, spatial patterns of AWDO and AWT along the river are also evident. Linear mixed effects models indicate that AWT and low and high river flow conditions had a significant impact on AWDO, but added little predictive information to the models. Low and high river flow conditions had a significant impact on AWT, but also added little predictive information to the models. Spatial linear mixed effects models yielded parameter estimates that were effectively the same as non-spatial linear mixed effects models. However, components of variance from spatial linear mixed effects models indicate that 23-32% of the total variance in AWDO and that 12-18% of total variance in AWT can be apportioned to the effect of spatial covariance. These results indicate that location, week, and flow-directional spatial relationships are critically important considerations for investigating relationships between space- and time-varying water quality metrics.
Keywords: Geographic information systems (GIS); Intelligent River®; Spatial stream networks; Water quality monitoring.