Saddle snowfence grid points, Niwot Ridge LTER, Colorado

Point coverage of Saddle snow fence point grid. 1:500 scale. The Saddle snow fence is a 60-meter long, 2.6-meter high fence erected annually in the fall for manipulating winter snowpack and snow drift along a topoedaphic gradient. The fence was first installed in fall of 1993 and is taken down every summer to avoid influencing summer ambient wind. The fence is oriented along a north-south axis, as prevailing winds on Niwot Ridge come from the west, and delineates shrub and moist meadow communities on the windward (west) side and dry meadow communities on the leeward (east) side. The snowfence grid exists within a 60m x 125m area that contains the snowfence. Of the 146 points in the snowfence grid dataset, 84 are located on the leeward (east) side of the snowfence, 56 are located on the windward (west) side of the snowfence, and 6 are control locations outside of but near the snowfence experiment area. See Fig. 4 in Walker et al. (1999) for graphical depiction of the Saddle snow fence grid, snow fence, and vegetation communities within. Snow depth is measured annually at the snow fence grid points, and the grid has been used for locating experimental plots and instrumentation (e.g. see Walker et al. 1993b, Brooks et al. 1995, Walker et al. 1999). This dataset is part of the Saddle grid geographic information system (GIS). Additional information concerning the Niwot Ridge LTER hierarchical GIS can be found in Walker et al. (1993a).