Seasonal and inter-annual variability of water quality in the Uruguay River, Argentina¨,

¨, J.C. COLOMBO ; C. SKORUPKA; C. BILOS ; L. TATONE; E. D. SPERANZA, N. CAPPELLETTI, L. M. TATONE, M. C. MIGOYA, J. C. COLOMBO; C. MIGOYA; ¨, J.C. COLOMBO, C. SKORUPKA, C. BILOS, L. TATONE, N. CAPPELLETTI, C. MIGOYA, M. ASTOVIZA, E. SPERANZA.; E. SPERANZA

HYDROLOGICAL SCIENCES JOURNAL-JOURNAL DES SCIENCES HYDROLOGIQUES

IAHS PRESS

Lugar: Wallingford; Año: 2015 vol. 60 p. 1155 - 1163

0262-6667

Water quality of the Uruguay River was evaluated with multi-parametric (temperature, turbidity, conductivity, pH, dissolved oxygen) and sediment trap data (particle flux, total organic carbon and nitrogen contents) and correlated to precipitation, river discharge and ENSO indexes for 2006-2011. Hydro-meteorological parameters averaged 24-85% variability with coincident precipitation (200-400 mm month−1), discharge (7000-28000 m3 s−1) and turbidity peaks (50-80 NTU) in the austral spring and absolute maxima during El Niño 2009 episode. Spectral analysis of discharge and sea surface temperature anomaly (SSTA) showed consistent variance maxima at ~ 3 and 1.5 years. Deseasonalized discharge was significantly correlated to SSTA. During river floods pH decreased (7.5 to 6.6) and particle dynamics peaked (turbidity: 15 to 80 NTU; vertical fluxes: 20 to 200 g m−2 d−1; total solid load: