ERIE Field Equipment

The ERIE program has a variety of field resources available to all ERIE-related faculty and students, ranging from traditional water quality probes to more innovative apparatuses, such as a distributed temperature sensor (DTS) system and an in-situ jet erosion device designed by USDA scientists.  A summary of the equipment is described below, along with the process for reserving equipment.

Requesting Equipment

To request use of the field equipment, please fill out the ERIE- Equipment Request Form. You will either be emailed a confirmation for your requested dates or notification of which faculty/student has the equipment reserved during the time, so that you can make arrangements with that individual. If you have any questions, please email Colleen Bronner at cbronner at buffalo dot edu.

Summary of Equipment

Distributed Temperature Sensor System: A Sensornet Oryx distributed temperature sensor (DTS) was acquired as part of an NSF equipment grant.  For more information on ERIE’s DTS equipment, click here.

In-situ Jet Erosion Device: The ERIE program owns an in-situ jet testing device, which was developed by the USDA. Its primary purpose is to determine the erodibility coefficient and shear stress parameters necessary for sediment transport calculations (Hanson and Cook 1997) in cohesive sediments.  The device’s major components include a head tank for maintaining constant pressure, jet tube, nozzle, point gage and jet submergence tank (Hanson and Hunt 2007). 

Surveying Equipment: ERIE has recently acquired a CST/Berger Total Station, which includes a tripod. In addition, the program owns a Trimble GEO XH GPS unit.

Water Quality: For measuring water quality parameters (e.g., specific conductivity, dissolved oxygen, pH, temperature, turbidity)the ERIE program owns the following equipment:

• YSI 6920 V2 Sondes (2) - each with a pressure transducer; optical DO, turbidity, pH and conductivity probles, a 25ft cable, and data-logging capabilities
• Highland 650 multi-parameter display (1) – to be used with the above Sonde
• YSI Professional Plus units (2) – each with rapid pulse water quality meters w/ dissolved oxygen/pH/conductivity probes;
• HOBO tidbits (submersible temperature loggers)
• YSI Field Photometer

Weather Station: A solar-powered weather station (NexSens WS-100 standalone weather station) is also available to obtain wind speed and direction, precipitation, barometric pressure, temperature, and relative humidity data.

Flow and Velocity Meters: ERIE flow/velocity meters rely on acoustic Doppler technology.

• Sontek Argonaut-SW (2)
• Sontek FlowTracker Handheld ADV

Miscellaneous: Other pieces of equipment include:

• Panasonic Toughbook laptop
• Dual solar/electric quantum meter
• Spherical densiometer
• Olympus water-proof digital camera
• Forestry 550 laser rangefinder
• Measuring Tapes
• Waders