FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 18 , 2010
THE 2010 SECCHI DIP-IN STARTS JUNE 26

This is an invitation to participate in this year’s Secchi Dip-In, which runs from June 26 to July 19.

This is the 17th year of the Dip-In, the three week event in June and July that continues to demonstrate that volunteers can collect quality data for an international research program.  The Dip-In is a network of volunteer programs and volunteers that, working together, can gather and provide continent-wide (and world-wide) information on water quality.

North American volunteers have now submitted 5 or more years of data on over 1,900 waterbodies.  Five years or more of submissions is critical because it takes at least that long in order to make reliable statements about trends. There are 499 sites that have only 4 years of data; another year of participation on just those sites will make a major difference in the number of lakes represented in our analysis.  If you have missed several years of the Dip-In, you can enter data for previous years to “catch up” with our database.

All of the data are available on our newly-refurbished website (http://dipin.kent.edu/).  It is now possible for you and your volunteers to

1.  Edit any data that you have previously submitted
2.  Add more data, even for previous years
3.  See plots of the data for each site over all the years
4.  Personalize each sampling site by adding pictures of the site and of the volunteers
5.  Confirm the stated sampling location on a satellite map

As a coordinator of a program, you have access to all sites in your program on the database so that you can edit any and all of your program’s data if you wish.  You can even use the database as a data repository for all your volunteer data.  Contact Bob Carlson directly if you would like coordinator status.

Your volunteers’ participation in the Dip-In is easy, since we require no more sampling than what they normally do when they sample for your program. We also encourage the involvement of volunteers that sample rivers and streams, estuaries, and marine environments. It isn’t just lakes that are changing and need monitoring. For more details, contact: Bob Carlson 2010 Secchi Dip-In 1091 Munroe Falls Road, Kent, OH 44242 Phone 330.673.9459 E-mail: rcarlson@kent.edu

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