Author Archives: Laura Toran

We have been comparing turbidity patterns upstream and downstream of a WWTP on the Wissahickon.  The two sites have very different grain size and one site is highly embedded while the other is not at all embedded.  Despite these differences … Continue reading →

Postdoc Sarah Ledford and colleague Marie Kurz at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University recently got news that they will receive a RAPID grant from NSF to study stream metabolism upstream and downstream of WWTP on the WIssahickon. … Continue reading →

Both Chelsea Kanaley’s and Jim Berglund’s ISCO samplers triggered for a storm this month so we had almost 100 samples to filter all in one day.  The lab bench got crowded but no one mixed up samples.  Undergrad assistant Arnetia … Continue reading →

We don’t wait for rain if we don’t have to:  a sprinkler was used to create a rain event to monitoring using various geophysical techniques.  Grad student Vince Carsillo and undergrad assistant Tyler Wong are measuring the rain before the … Continue reading →

Grad student Chelsea Kanaley and undergrad assistant Hayley Dashnaw were busy this month initiating a stream assessment campaign.  They will characterize 6 reaches of the Wissahickon for geomorphology, grain size, embeddedness, light, algae cover, and bank vegetation.  They also took … Continue reading →

Ken Schlosser successfully defended his MS thesis “Monitoring infiltration from natural storms using time-lapse electrical resistivity tomography”.  Congratulations Ken!  He will be returning to Weston Solutions in West Chester PA where he has been working on geophysical surveys to characterize … Continue reading →

I gave a presentation at EPA Headquarters this month as part of the webinar on STAR Performance and Effectiveness of Green Infrastructure Stormwater Management Approaches in the Urban Context: A Philadelphia Case Study Progress Review.  My talk summarized monitoring strategies … Continue reading →

Grad student Jim Berglund, undergrad Rachel Crowley, and I designed a sampling program for hormones in karst springs near Valley Creek just east of Philadelphia. We sampled springs varying distances from septic systems and roads, as well as in Valley … Continue reading →

This has been a busy month for the PennDOT project on the I-95 corridor.  All of the co-PIs are writing progress reports about our monitoring of plants, stormflow, and baseline water levels and water chemistry.  Postdoc Rob Rossi and I … Continue reading →

We have 46 data loggers on the Wissahickon as of April 2017.  That is one well instrumented stream!  Postdoc Sarah Ledford and I also created a web site to share data with collaborators:  http://sites.temple.edu/wissdata