Paper: Assessments of Composite and Discrete Sampling Approaches for Water Quality Monitoring

Authors from Ireland, Denmark, Norway and Sweden investigated the flow-weighted composite sampling (FWCS) method based on schemes in their home countries. Total P and discharge data from three catchments were collected over 2010–2013. The three catchments, Castledockerell and Ballycanew in Co. Wexford and Timoleague in Co. Cork represented a range of hydrological and P response conditions largely controlled by ranges in soil drainage characteristics and land use. Base-flow indices, reflecting characteristics, ranged from 0.38 to 0.69 over the 3 years. The open access paper is available here.