Enter Data

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.

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
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.
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.
Repeat as many times as you have different sets of data

This form is optimized for Internet Explorer. If you use any other browser, be sure to read the warning at the bottom of the page before submitting your data.

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: Natural Lake or Pond
                                 Reservoir (has a dam)
                                 Stream or River
                                 Estuary
                                Ocean
                                 Other Type (Harbor, Marine, Gravel pit, quarry, etc.)
                                           Specify Other Waterbody Type:

Size (for Lake or Reservoir only):
   Less than 5 acres (2 hectares)
   5-9.9 acres (2 to 4 hectares)
   10-99 acres (4.1 to 40 hectares)
   100-499 acres (40.1 to 202 hectares)
   500 acres or greater (greater than 202 hectares)

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
		2008 This Year's Dip-In 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:
        Boat (canoe, pontoon boat, kayak, etc.
        Dock or Pier
        Bridge
        From the Shore or Wading from Shore
        Other      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? Yes No Is the Secchi disk: All-White Black and White Size of Disk: 8 Inch or 20 Cm 16 Inch or 40 Cm Other Size Do you use a Viewscope? Yes No If Yes, is it an Open Tube or Closed Tube with a clear glass or plastic plate on bottom? Do you view the disk on the Sunny Shady side of boat? Did you wear sunglasses during measurement? Yes No	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? Yes 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: All-Black Black and White
*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.

Beautiful, No Problems
Minor Problems
Slight Use Impairment
Substantial Impairment
Use Totally Impaired

Has the water quality changed in the past 5 years?
Better
Worse
No change
Don't know

Has transparency changed in the past 5 years?
Clearer
More turbid
No change
Don't know

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

Problem	I Don't Know	Beautiful, Causes No Problems	Causes Minor Problems	Causes Slight Use Impairment	Causes Substantial Use Impairment	Causes Use To Be Totally Impaired
Algal Scums
Aquatic Weeds (Seaweed)
Turbidity (from sediments and erosion)
Boats/Boating (Congestion,Safety, Noise)
Poor Fishing
Personal Watercraft (Jet Skis)
Bacteria
Dense Housing
Filling-In
Trash and Litter
Pest Wildlife (Raccoons, Geese, Ducks, etc.)
Noise (Non-Boating: neighbors, traffic, etc.)
Swimmers Itch
Too Many Rules and Regulations
Other

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?

Warning For those using Netscape, Mozilla, and AOL browsers:
This form was optimized to be used with Microsoft Internet Explorer. If you forget fill in a required blank or enter your reading incorrectly, you will get a message telling you to fill in the blank and then it says click here to return to form. If you are using Explorer, it will return you to the form as you left it. However, if you use Netscape, Mozilla, or probably also AOL, we have found that clicking this link clears the form and you have to start over. Instead of clicking on the link, just use the back arrow to return to the form.

Please let us know if you find other 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