What do the graphs mean?
Four graphs are shown for each sample region on Saturna Island. East Point and Winter Cove are plotted independently, while Old Point Farm, the Group of 30, and South Beach are plotted together. Samples are collected every month from June 2002 until November 2003 (roughly 18 months). From thereafter, samples are collected once every 6 months (May and November). The Conductivity and Chloride graphs essentially mimic each other as might be expected based on the fact that conductivity can be used as a surrogate measure of chloride. These graphs show that some samples have maintained fairly constant values of chloride over the course of the first year of sampling, while others have varied considerably. In most graphs, one sample tends to stand out as having high values or considerable variability (e.g., EP-27, WC-BP and OPF#3). We see more variability in the Alkalinity graphs, although no particular samples appear to stand out as being significantly different that the others. Variations in
