Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER)/NTL014: Meteorological Data for Trout Lake Area

LTER - Long-Term Ecological Research Program/North Temperate Lakes (NTL)

LTER/NTL014 [Summary adapted from the LTER Core Data Set Catalog]:

Meteorological measurements are being gathered at a site on the Noble F. Lee Municipal airport north of Minocqua, WI for three purposes: 1) to supplement the data from the raft on Sparkling Lake used for evaporation calculations, and 2) to provide standard meteorological measurements for the North Temperate Lakes site, and 3) to measure radiation for primary production studies in the study lakes at the site. The following parameters are measured at 1-minute intervals and stored as 1-hour and 24-hour averages: 1) air temperature, 2) relative humidity, 3) wind speed and direction at 1.5 m above ground, 4) total long-wave radiation, 5) total short-wave radiation, 6) photosynthetically active radiation (PAR), 7) soil temperatures at 5, 10, and 50 cm depths, and 8) total precipitation. Precipitation data are summed for 5- minute intervals during periods of detectable precipitation. Data are accessible to investigators at any time via phone modem.

Special Comments: Data are measured every minute, averaged to one- hour periods and recorded using Campbell CR21X dataloggers. Twenty-four hour averages are calculated from the one-hour averages and stored. Coded data are archived in ASCII format (for Macintosh or IBM), and transferred to EXCEL files for data analysis.

The North Temperate Lakes (NTL) site is affiliated with the Center for Limnology at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. The NTL site focuses its research on north temperate lake ecosystems in the Northern Highland Lakes District of Wisconsin. The Northern Highland Lakes District, has an area of approximately 10,000 sq. km. and has one of the highest concentrations of lakes in the world. Lakes range in size from 0.1 to 1,500 ha, in depth from 1 to 33 m, and in fertility from oligotrophic to eutrophic. Other representative limnological conditions include: rainwater dominated, groundwater dominated and drainage lakes; dystrophic lakes; lakes with varved sediments, winterkill lakes, temporary and permanent forest ponds, and reservoirs. Lakes are influenced by strong seasonality and are usually ice covered from late November to late April. Lakes within the Northern Highland exhibit near-natural water quality conditions. Nearly 80% of the land area and two-thirds of the lake frontage are protected.

Information about LTER is also available at 'http://lternet.edu/'