Water quality, phytoplankton community, and cyanotoxin data from Pool 10 to Pool 24 of the upper Mississippi River from May through September 2024

The U. S. Geological Survey (USGS) Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center assessed water quality and phytoplankton community dynamics across connectivity gradients of the upper Mississippi River (UMR) from Pools 10 to 24. Excessive nutrient inputs and harmful algal blooms (HABs) within the Mississippi River have the potential to impact the success of restoration projects. Understanding these impacts requires consideration of the influence of tributaries, the degree of connectedness, the reactivity of system, and how all of this varies across flow regimes. Many areas between Pools 10 and 24 are under-monitored and, therefore, have gaps in the data. This data release includes detailed data collected from discrete sites in many of these under-monitored areas of the UMR. Water quality data were collected in May, June, August, and September of 2024. Cyanobacterial community genetic data were collected in August and September of 2024, and data for phytoplankton community assemblages and cyanobacterial toxin concentrations were collected in September of 2024. Additionally, discrete water samples are associated with sensor-based water quality measurements collected using the Fast Limnological Automated Measurements (FLAMe) platform in 2024 (https://doi.org/10.5066/P1SOYVZQ).

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