Conductivity Albufera of Valencia lagoon
Description
The Albufera of Valencia (Eastern Spain) is an oligohaline coastal lagoon, surrounded by an ancient marsh transformed into rice fields about 200 years ago. The surficial water inflows maintain the conductivity in steady values around the annual average, with occasional increases in periods of droughts. The concentration of chloride is the variable most related to conductivity. The data contains the series of its long-term conductivity changes. We have observed that there has been a significant trend toward an increase of minimum values in the last decade, which could indicate a decrease in freshwater inputs to the lagoon. The measurement of this variable would be a good indicator of the alterations that may occur in a foreseeable scenario of climate change with a decrease in both rainfall and freshwater inflows.
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The usual network of sampling points in the Albufera is made up of eight sites that aim to cover the spatial heterogeneity that can occur in the lagoon due to the different quantity and quality of the contributions that arrive through the ditches that flow there. There are eight points, of which three are located, two in the central third and three in the southern third. Data have not always been taken at all eight points; sometimes only four of them have been taken, but at least one sample has been taken in the northern third, another in the southern third and another in the central area. The measurements were carried out by the various authors of the works reviewed and also, since 1991, by the staff in charge of the management of the Natural Park. Conductivity measurements were taken directly in the lake using a previously calibrated conductivity meter and referred to the 25 oC standard. From the individual conductivity measurements, an average was calculated for each of the areas and, of the three values, the one that was then used in the time series for each sampling date and summarised for each year.