Walker Branch Watershed Precipitation

The long-term Walker Branch Hydrology Monitoring project is intended to document changes in the water balance (precipitation inputs, stream discharge outputs) for the Walker Branch Watershed over time.

This data set contains three data files of precipitation amount (mm) for hourly, monthly, and annual measurement intervals for the years 1969 through 2011. The precipitation data files are periodically updated.

Five gauges were used for part of this study. Contact Natalie Griffiths for locations.
Rain Gauge #1 -
Rain Gauge #2 -
Rain Gauge #3 -
Rain Gauge #4 -
Rain Gauge #5 -

GIS data set information - See Walker Branch Watershed Project website: http://www.esd.ornl.gov/programs/WBW/

Time Period:
Start date: 1968 (See Curlin and Nelson 1968. ORNL/TM-2271)
End date: ongoing

Temporal frequency: hourly, daily, annual

Sampling and Measurement Information:
Collection Period, Instrument, Locations, Measurement Interval, Recorder Sensitivity

1969 to 1981:
Fisher and Porter model 1548 punched-tape weighing recorder.
Five ridgetop locations: Gauges #1, #2, #4, and #5 distributed around the edge of the watershed and #3 on the ridge separating the East and West Fork subcatchments.
The data were collected at 5-min intervals.
Recorder sensitivity was 2.5 mm.

1982 to 1998:
8-day weighing bucket strip chart recorder.
Two ridgetop locations: Gauges #1 and #3.
The data were recorded continuously on strip charts and read at hourly intervals.
The strip charts were read on a digitizing board.
Sensitivity of the recorder was 0.25 mm.

1999 to the present:
Telog R-2100 electronic tipping bucket recorder.
Two ridgetop locations: Gauges #1 and #3.
The data were recorded at hourly intervals.
Sensitivity of the recorder is 0.1 mm.

Publications:

Curlin, J. W., and D. J. Nelson. 1968. Walker Branch Watershed project: Objectives, facilities, and ecological characteristics. ORNL/TM-2271. Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN.

Luxmoore, R. J. 1983. Water budget of an eastern deciduous forest stand. Soil Science Society of America Journal 47:785-791.

Luxmoore, R. J., and D. D. Huff. 1989. Water. Chapter 5, pages 164-196. In : D. W. Johnson and R. I. Van Hook, eds., Analysis of Biogeochemical Cycling Processes in Walker Branch Watershed. Springer-Verlag, New York.

Research on Walker Branch Watershed is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Biological and Environmental Research