Instrumentation Enhancement at the T.W. Daniel Experimental Forest: A Drought Management Initiative Project
Location
Eccles Conference Center
Event Website
http://water.usu.edu/
Start Date
4-20-2010 10:45 AM
End Date
4-20-2010 10:50 AM
Description
Work at Utah State University's T.W. Daniel Experimental Forest (TWDEF) has been helpful in increasing understanding of the fate of water in native ecosystems. TWDEF is at an elevation of 2600m, and is a montane forest-meadow mosaic of conifers, aspen, sagebrush and grass-forb communities; providing an ideal setting for comparison of how different vegetation and soil properties affect snowmelt infiltration and soil water storage. At the core of the research site are twelve instrument clusters (3 in each vegetation type) that continuously monitor above ground meteorological and below ground soil conditions at each location. Complementing these stations are 1) a tower mounted eddy covariance system to quantify the surface fluxes of heat, water vapor and C02, as well as the surface radiation balance, 2) four lysimeters providing snowmelt rate data, and 3) a NRCS SN0TEL site which monitors snowpack and related climatic variables to provide year-round precipitation and winter snow water equivalent measurements. Presented are the past year's improvements to the instrumentation infrastructure and several examples of the ongoing work and processing of the collected data. Recent developments in the processing of the eddy flux data have provided waterloss estimates from: 1) sublimation when snow is present, and 2) evapotranspiration during other times of the year. A re-instrumented soil heat flux sensor system has also been implemented at the eddy flux site helping provide consistent data, and, along with net radiation data, has allowed for preliminary energy budget calculations. The project website is located at http://danielforest.usu.edu and the SnoTel URL is: http://www.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov/snotel/snotel.pl?sitenum=1098&state=ut. Carlisle, J, S.B. P. Szafruga, V. Mahat, B. Mace, K. Schreuders, S. B. Jones, D.G. Tarboton, L. Hipps and J.L. Boettinger. 2010.lnstrumentation Enhancement at the T.W. Daniel Experimental Forest: A Drought Management lnitiative Project. Spring Runoff Conference. Utah State University, Apr. 20-21.
Instrumentation Enhancement at the T.W. Daniel Experimental Forest: A Drought Management Initiative Project
Eccles Conference Center
Work at Utah State University's T.W. Daniel Experimental Forest (TWDEF) has been helpful in increasing understanding of the fate of water in native ecosystems. TWDEF is at an elevation of 2600m, and is a montane forest-meadow mosaic of conifers, aspen, sagebrush and grass-forb communities; providing an ideal setting for comparison of how different vegetation and soil properties affect snowmelt infiltration and soil water storage. At the core of the research site are twelve instrument clusters (3 in each vegetation type) that continuously monitor above ground meteorological and below ground soil conditions at each location. Complementing these stations are 1) a tower mounted eddy covariance system to quantify the surface fluxes of heat, water vapor and C02, as well as the surface radiation balance, 2) four lysimeters providing snowmelt rate data, and 3) a NRCS SN0TEL site which monitors snowpack and related climatic variables to provide year-round precipitation and winter snow water equivalent measurements. Presented are the past year's improvements to the instrumentation infrastructure and several examples of the ongoing work and processing of the collected data. Recent developments in the processing of the eddy flux data have provided waterloss estimates from: 1) sublimation when snow is present, and 2) evapotranspiration during other times of the year. A re-instrumented soil heat flux sensor system has also been implemented at the eddy flux site helping provide consistent data, and, along with net radiation data, has allowed for preliminary energy budget calculations. The project website is located at http://danielforest.usu.edu and the SnoTel URL is: http://www.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov/snotel/snotel.pl?sitenum=1098&state=ut. Carlisle, J, S.B. P. Szafruga, V. Mahat, B. Mace, K. Schreuders, S. B. Jones, D.G. Tarboton, L. Hipps and J.L. Boettinger. 2010.lnstrumentation Enhancement at the T.W. Daniel Experimental Forest: A Drought Management lnitiative Project. Spring Runoff Conference. Utah State University, Apr. 20-21.
https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/runoff/2010/Posters/11