Metrology for aquatic urban systems: comparison of the French and US approach
During the LTER-ZA meeting in Baltimore in October 2008, it appeared that US and French research teams involved in the study of urban and periurban aquatic systems were not measuring the same parameters in their field studies. Any cooperation between our research teams will be difficult as long as methods and monitoring approaches are different or at least their differences are well understood on both sides. The goal of the proposed workshop is a first step in that direction, namely to review the different approaches used concerning physical, chemical and biological parameters in both countries for field application including discussion of their relative advantages and disadvantages. This workshop should be seen as the initiation of a working group on the topic. An introduction to the problem will specify the domain of application (which water sources and bodies we consider and which we exclude), the overall goal of the monitoring (management, research, regulation supervision), the administrative background (regulations). A list of the different parameters used in both countries will be presented. As the list is long the discussion will be then initiated on some primary parameters such as flowrate, suspended matter, carbon and nitrogen substances, biological parameters as well as sampling procedures. Examples of applications will be presented to support the discussion. The output will be summarized in a paper whose contents can be used as guidelines in the joint research proposals.