Prospect Hill Hydrological Stations at Harvard Forest since 2005

To better understand the critical role of headwater streams and wetlands in our forest ecosystem, long-term measurements were initiated in 2005 on two small watersheds in the Prospect Hill Tract of the Harvard Forest. On Nelson Brook, weirs were installed on outlet streams of an 11-ha spruce-hemlock wetland (watershed area = 44 ha). On Arthur Brook (formerly Bigelow Brook), pipes were installed to measure flow above (watershed = 24 ha) and below (watershed = 65 ha) a 3-ha shrub-dominated beaver swamp. The gaged watersheds, though adjacent and comparable in size, differ significantly in topography, soils, wetlands, stream chemistry, stream biota, land-use history, and forest vegetation, and provide an extraordinary opportunity to study the impacts of these factors on small watershed hydrology and ecology. Weekly manual measurements were initiated in April 2005. Continuous automated measurements were initiated at the stream gages in December 2007 and at the wetland gages in October 2008. Data for the current month are available online, updated every 15 minutes, with out-of-range values replaced by NA but values not otherwise checked. Earlier data are checked and archived monthly with missing, questionable, and estimated values flagged, following methods of the LTER ClimbDB project. A log of events affecting station measurements is also posted. For current data, please see: https://harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu/met-hydro-stations.

为明晰源头溪流与湿地在森林生态系统中的核心作用，研究团队于2005年在哈佛大学森林（Harvard Forest）前景山地块（Prospect Hill Tract）的两处小型流域启动长期监测工作。在纳尔逊溪（Nelson Brook）流域，研究人员于一处11公顷的云杉-铁杉湿地的出口溪流处安装了堰测设施，该湿地所属流域总面积为44公顷。在亚瑟溪（Arthur Brook，原称比奇洛溪Bigelow Brook）流域，研究人员安装了管道流量计，用于监测一处3公顷、以灌木为主的海狸沼泽上下游的径流：沼泽上游流域面积为24公顷，下游流域面积为65公顷。两处受监测流域毗邻且面积相近，但在地形、土壤、湿地分布、溪流化学特征、溪流生物群落、土地利用历史及森林植被等维度均存在显著差异，为探究上述因素对小型流域水文与生态过程的影响提供了极佳的研究契机。人工周度监测工作于2005年4月启动；溪流监测站与湿地监测站的自动化连续监测则分别于2007年12月与2008年10月启动。当月实时数据每15分钟更新一次并可在线获取，超出合理范围的数值将被替换为NA（不可用值），但未对其余数值进行额外校验。早期数据则按照长期生态研究网络（Long-Term Ecological Research，LTER）ClimbDB项目的规范进行月度校验与归档，缺失值、存疑值与估算值均会被标注。影响站点监测的各类事件日志也会同步发布。如需获取实时数据，请访问：https://harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu/met-hydro-stations。