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 Bigelow Brook, pipes were installed to measure flow above (watershed = 24 ha) and below (watershed = 65 ha) a 3-ha shrub-dominated beaver swamp. Weekly manual measurements were initiated in April 2005. Continuous automated measurements were initiated in December 2007. 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. Data are updated monthly to the Harvard Forest website. For recent data, please see: http://harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu:8080/exist/xquery/data.xq?id=hf070.