Water Level Measurements; Gensburg Markham Prairie; 2016-2020

Gensburg Markham Prairie comprises over 100 acres of well-preserved tallgrass prairie and wetland south of Chicago and is one of the Indian Boundary Prairies in Illinois. A U.S. National Natural Landmark, this site is valuable as a sentinel ecosystem for changing regional climate and a reference ecosystem for restoration and management of urban prairie nature preserves. In June of 2016, 13 piezometers containing water level sensors (InSitu LevelTroll 400 pressure transducers) were installed throughout the prairie, in addition to 8 of the same sensors deployed in ditches and surface channels in and around the prairie. The installation coincided with soil sampling and manual-visual characterization at each well location. Each sensor collects a water level measurement every 30 minutes. This installation and sampling campaign is a part of larger effort to assess surface water and groundwater dynamics in urban environments. Additional sensors, including soil moisture sensors, provide supplementary data for this project. This resource includes 46 months of data from 2016-2020.