The Great North American Secchi Dip-In 
Data Entry Form

Dip-In Instructions

Please fill in the form as completely as possible.  Please be sure to add your telephone number or e-mail address.  We will only contact you if there is a question about your data or to notify you of Dip-In events.   Incomplete information may mean that the data will have to be discarded.  We do not pass this information to anyone.

When you have finished the form, check it carefully and the press the Send Information button 

If you have measurements on multiple sites or on different days or different waterbodies, please enter data on a separate form for each lake or site that you measure.  There is an easy way to do this without having to re-type everything.

  1. After you enter the data and press the Submit Your Data button at the bottom of this form, you will be taken to a page that acknowledges the receipt of your data
  2. Use your Back Arrow on the browser (usually in the top left corner) to go back to the original page you filled in.  Your data should be still there. 
  3. You can now check for errors and re-submit or alter the data to reflect a different site and submit again.  All your information will be there, and you only have to edit for the other site or lake.  Each time you press the Submit Your Data button at the bottom of the form, a new set of data will be entered into our database.
  4. Repeat as many times as you have different sets of data

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Anyone in the world may enter data for the Secchi Dip-In, but, in order to assure that the data are valid, you must enter all the information in this first section for the data to be used: 

Volunteer Last Name (Required):   
Volunteer First Name:                   

We sometimes need to call or e-mail volunteers to confirm data or inquire about location. 
Please help us by entering the information below:  

Telephone Number (Required):  Area Code   Number

Email Address:        This is important if you want to be notified of next year's Dip-In.

This is the ID number that the Secchi Dip-In assigns to each Participating Program.  You can look it up on the participating programs page.  Please leave it blank if you do not know the number.  Enter a number only.

Enter Your Dip-In Program ID Number Here  

What is the name of your Monitoring Program?  No, it's not the Secchi Dip-In, but where you normally send your data (such as Citizen's Lake Monitoring Program).

Your Monitoring Program Name: 

In What Year Did You Begin Monitoring This Waterbody?

Have You Participated in the Dip-In Before? Yes No

If your program or state has a unique  identification code for your waterbody, please enter it below.  For example, in Minnesota, each lake has a code the identifies the state's lakes based on a county and lake ID (45-0101).

Your Monitoring Program's Identification Code for the Waterbody: 

If you or someone on your waterbody has participated before, your waterbody should have a Dip-In ID, which is a combination of the State Abbreviation (MN) and a Lake Number (615).  It would look like MN 615.  You can find that code by looking up your waterbody at http://dipin.kent.edu/lake.asp.  (click on the hyperlink).  If you cannot find a Dip-In ID, just leave this blank.

State or Province (U.S. and Canada only): 

Secchi Dip-In ID:  Please, enter the number in the Dip-In ID only.  You have already entered the state above

 

Name of Waterbody (Required):  

County or Region of Waterbody:

Country (Required):  Other Country Name

Zip or Postal Code of Town Nearest to the Waterbody:

 

Waterbody Type:  Specify Other Waterbody Type:

Size (for Lake or Reservoir only):
  
    
    
    
  

Actual Size if waterbody (if known): acres or hectares

Depth at Sampling Location (if known):   feet ormeters

Help us locate your water body!  It is very important that we know where you took your reading if in order to put your value on a map.  If you do not know the exact location of your site, you can find a U.S. water body using an internet mapping service by  Clicking Here! This will open a map locator in a separate window.  Once you find your coordinates, you can copy them into the boxes below and then close the other window. We prefer that the coordinates are in decimal degrees (45.3753) if you know them; if not, report as Degrees, Minutes, Seconds (45 22 31)

     Enter as Decimal Degrees (Preferred)

        Example         -94.5894                                    45.3753
        Longitude:   Latitude:  Please enter numbers only:  omit North or West 

 or
     Enter as Degrees, Minutes, and Seconds. 
          Please enter numbers only: 
          Omit North or West 
                                                      Minutes and Seconds Cannot be greater than 60

          Longitude:  Degrees      Minutes   Seconds   

          Latitude:     Degrees      Minutes     Seconds

For each site you normally monitor, please record the information below. 

If your waterbody is sampled at more than one place, please name the sampling site or sampling site number that we could use to find the exact location of the sampling site by looking at a map or, if it is designated by your program, where we could get the information from your program coordinator.  For example, Crystal Lake is sampled at 3 sites: Site 1, Site 2, and Site 3.  It is especially important to have site names in large lakes and in rivers, estuaries, and streams.

Please use a separate form for each site (See above for instructions)

Site Name or Site Number:   

Date of  Reading (Required):
Month
Left Click on Arrow to Select Month		 Day
Left Click on Arrow to Select Day		 Year
2009 This Year's Dip-In
2008
2007
 2006
2005
2004
2003

 		 2002
2001
2000
1999
1998

Time of Observation:  Hour :  Minute    AM     PM  (Remember:  Noon is 12:00 PM)
              Example:           Hour    2        Minute    45                      O PM

Weather: Sunny Partly Cloudy Overcast Rain 

Weather Yesterday:Sunny Partly Cloudy Overcast Rain 

Do you take your readings from:
         
        From the Shore or Wading from  
             Please Specify Other: 

Enter your data below the Type of Transparency or Turbidity Instrument You Used.  
If you used more than one kind of instrument, you can enter data for all of them.

Fill in Your Reading Below Appropriate Instrument
Secchi Disk Transparency (All-White or B&W Disk) Turbidity Tube LaMotte 
Turbidity Column 		Laboratory
 or Field 
Turbidimeter

Horizontally-Read  Disk, either
All-Black or Black and White
         This is Very Different from a 
 Black & White Secchi Disk that your read looking straight down.
Enter Reading
 

Select Units of Measurement
 Feet
Inches
Meters
Centimeters
Other

Is the Disk Seen on Bottom? 
 No 

Is the Secchi disk:
  
 

8 Inch or 20 Cm
  16 Inch or 40 Cm
  Other Size

Do you use a Viewscope?
                   
   If Yes, is it an
          with a clear
          glass or plastic plate on
          bottom?

Do you view the disk on the                                                     

Did you wear sunglasses during measurement?  

 

 Enter Reading
 

Select Units of Measurement
Inches
Meters
Centimeters
NTU
JTU
FTU
Other

Is the Marker on the  Bottom of the Tube Still Seen When Tube is Filled to Top Mark? 
     No 

Total Length of Tube

Enter Reading

Select Units of Measurement
 JTU
Other

Enter Reading
 

Select Units of Measurement
NTU
JTU
FTU
Other

 Enter Reading

Select Units of Measurement
 Feet
Inches
Meters
Centimeters
Other

Is the disk:
     

Please don't forget to click on the proper units of measurement 

If you also measure other variables, please enter the data here
  Water Temperature
 (6 inches below the surface)		 Dissolved Oxygen (enter as milligrams per liter or ppm) pH (Surface)
Please enter the readings at the surface (6 inches or 15 cm below surface) and at the deepest depth you normally measure (Bottom)

Units

 Surface Temp (6 inches)
Bottom Temp                

  Degrees   
      Fahrenheit   Celsius 

Bottom Depth

       Feet
       Meters


     

Surface DO (6 in)

Bottom DO 

 

pH Paper   
  Meter
  Color Comparator
    Other than above instruments

Water Quality

Finally, we would appreciate your opinions on the water quality at your sampling site.  
These questions are important. 

Please indicate your perception of the general water quality of your waterbody.  
     Please do not include weather (too hot or cold or rainy, etc.) as a quality factor. 

   
   
   
   
   

Has the water quality changed in the past 5 years? 
   
   
   
   

Has transparency changed in the past 5 years? 
   
   
   
   

What factors (if any) negatively affect the general water quality at your site?

Problem I Don't Know     Causes Minor Problems          
 
Aquatic  
 
Trash and Litter
 (Raccoons, Geese, Ducks, etc.)
 
Swimmers Itch
Too Many Rules and Regulations

If you have not filled out this portion in other years, or have started new efforts, please describe what efforts are being taken to protect or improve water quality? 

 

This form was optimized to be used with Microsoft Internet Explorer. 

Please let us know if you find problems.

  
Please review your answers and then press
Submit Your Data
(Below)
You will be directed to an acknowledgement page after you having a list of the data you entered. 
 

If you do not see an acknowledgement and "Thank You" after pressing the Submit Your Data button,
 then your data may not have been entered:  please contact us at dipin@kent.edu

Thanks for helping us out this year.  Please come back again next year.  
You can start a trend in your waterbody.

If you are a coordinator of a volunteer program,  a professional monitoring group, or a monitor not part of a larger group,  please take a few minutes to enroll and tell us about your monitoring program so that we can fully use the data that you submitted.  You can enroll on-line by clicking here.  If you are receiving Dip-In reports and questionnaires already, you do not have to enroll. 


Last Updated 6/25/2007