HOW DOES THE LAKE GAGE WORK?

The Lake Champlain gage at ECHO has equipment that is typically found in any USGS gaging station in a lake or stream. The Lake Champlain gage has a plastic pipe that extends down into the water. Changes in water level create changes in the air pressure in the pipe. A change in pressure is measured and converted to an electronic signal by a pressure transducer that sits inside the gage house. The signal is then transferred to a data-collection platform where the lake-level data is recorded in feet, called gage height. The gage can also be wired to a water-quality sensor, or probe. The probe is submerged in the lake or river and is used to take the temperature of the water or measure other water quality information such as pH or specific conductance. The measurements are normally taken and recorded every 15 minutes.

The transducer and data-collection platform are powered by a battery charged by solar energy collected by the solar panel attached to the gage house roof or side.

A staff gage is a strip of wood marked off in units of feet used to measure the water levels visually. When a scientist visits the station, he or she reads the level of the water on the staff gage and compares it to the electronic data measured and recorded by the equipment in the gage to verify the accuracy of the gage height.

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