Catchment scale observations at the Niwot Ridge Long-Term Ecological
Research site
Abstract
The Niwot Ridge and Green Lakes Valley (NWT) long-term ecological
research (LTER) site collects environmental observations spanning both
alpine and subalpine regimes. The first observations began in 1952 and
have since expanded to nearly 300 available datasets over an area of 99
km2 within the north-central Colorado Rocky Mountains that include
hydrological (n = 101), biological (n = 79), biogeochemical (n = 62),
and geographical (n = 56) observations. The NWT LTER database is well
suited to support hydrologic investigations that require long-term and
interdisciplinary data sets. Experimentation and data collection at the
NWT LTER are designed to characterize ecological responses of
high-mountain environments to changes in climate, nutrients, and water
availability. In addition to the continuation of the many legacy NWT
datasets, expansion of the breadth and utility of the NWT LTER database
is driven by new initiatives including (a) a catchment-scale sensor
network of soil moisture, temperature, humidity, and snow-depth
observations to understand hydrologic connectivity and (b) snow-albedo
alteration experiments using black carbon to evaluate the effects of
snow-disappearance on ecosystems. Together, these observational and
experimental datasets provide a substantial foundation for hydrologic
studies seeking to understand and predict changes to catchment and
local-scale process interactions.