Since 2011, Wessex RT have managed water temperature monitoring programmes across the catchment. Water temperature is becoming increasingly recognised as an important and highly sensitive factor that affects both the abiotic and biotic features of rivers. Changes in water temperature can affect the breeding and behaviour of our wildlife, the dissolved oxygen content in the water and the nutrient uptake and growth of aquatic plants.

Our monitoring has enabled us to assess long term changes in relation to climate change predictions, using the averages and temperature extremes of daily warming and cooling patterns. Summer temperatures are recorded every 15 minutes, a period widely adopted by other organisations using temperature loggers. Please contact us at info@wessexrt.org.uk if you would like complete data copies or information to use in research or studies.

We are currently working on making this data more widely available in the form of map layers, watch this space!