CALM
SITE
Beaver
Creek
|
|
|
Site
Code |
C24 |
|
Site
Name |
Beaver
Creek |
|
CAPS
1 Metadata form |
|
|
CAPS
2 Metadata form |
|
|
Responsible
for data submission |
Edda
Mutter |
|
Email
Address |
emutter@yritwc.org |
|
Institution/Organization |
YRITWC |
|
Location
Description |
Alaska
Subarctic |
|
Location
Lat. |
N62.33770 |
|
Location
Long. |
W140.83835 |
|
Elevation
avg. (m) |
695 |
|
Methods
Grid |
50 |
|
Methods
Other |
Soil
moisture, soil temp., air temp |
|
Landscape
Description |
Tussock
and black spruce |
|
Vegetation/Classification |
Blueberries,
black spruce, red berries, moss, lichen, reed grass |
|
Soils
(or Material) |
Dark organic
layer, w/ decomposing plant debris, brown rubbery silt/clay layer |
|
Thaw
depth measurements (year started) |
2010 |
|
Air
temp. measurements (year started) |
2010 |
|
Snow
Cover measurements (year started) |
N/A |
|
Soil
temp. measurements (start year) |
2010 |
|
Soil
moisture measurements (start year) |
2010 |
|
General
description of soil moisture |
Moist-wet |
|
Soil
texture: if non organic describe texture, if organic indicate thickness of
organic layer (cm) |
~ 11cm
tussock root zone ~ 11cm
organic dark soil ~ 14cm gray
silt/clay |
DESCRIPTION OF AREA CONTAINING SITE:
Beaver Creek is a
community in Yukon, Canada. Located at Kilometer 1,934 (historical mile 1,202)
of the Alaska Highway, close to the Alaska-Yukon border, it is Canada's
westernmost community. The ALN grid site is located 10km South of Beaver Creek
on the West side of the road. The site is co-located with a road permafrost
study (WHO?).The area is underlain with large tussocks and thick
grass/moss/lichen mats, sparse black spruce and berries are also in the area.
The
50mx50m grid, established in 2010, is marked with survey stakes along the ***
and*** sides in 5-meter intervals. The grid center (N62.34, W140.84) contains
continuous soil temperature & soil moisture sensors at “above permafrost”
& “just below” surface levels. An air temperature sensor is installed on a
spruce tree near grid center. All sensors collect and store data on a 30-minute
continuous cycle. The grid was established in 2010 in the second year of a
cooperative agreement with the Yukon River Inter-Tribal Watershed Council and
the U.S. Geological Survey.
SOIL DESCRIPTION:
The soil is characterized
by moist dark rich organic soil with partially decomposed plant matter. A dense
rubbery clay layer runs just above the permafrost. The soil/clay wasvery
saturated.
SAMPLING DESIGN AND METHOD:
The Beaver Creek site was
chosen to increase the range of distribution of Active Layer Network sites.
The grid consists of 2
parallel lines of 10 survey stakes at 5-meter intervals, creating a 50m x 50m
square grid with a maximum of 100 data points. A compass was used to orientate
the grid to a square. Active Layer measurements were taken manually every 5m
and recorded on a field sheet. The measurements were taken at the lowest
surface level within about 0.3m of the designated point, to minimize the
questionable influence of tussocks on the AL measurement. The "surface
level" was determined to be the top of the low-lying vegetation (i.e.
moss, lichen, low-bush berries). Thaw measurements greater than 1.3m were
noted, but not used in calculations, as of 2009.
[CALM protocol suggests a
grid size of 100m x 100m, however a 50 sq. m grid was deemed acceptable due
to difficult terrain and length of time for installation (personal
communication Dr. V.Romanovsky).]
The soil climate station
was established in early September 2010 and is located near grid center. The
station monitors air temperature, soil temperature & soil moisture.
The HOBO micro station was installed at the grid center. A
~30cm hole
was dug down to the permafrost layer at 36cm. One set of soil moisture and soil
temperature sensors were placed just above the permafrost layer and one set
just below surface level. Soil samples were cut from 36cm and 10cm (cubes) to
be analyzed for soil moisture content.
The HOBO pro v2
temp/ext temp sensor was installed, recording air temperature, near the
grid center about one meter off the ground surface. The Hobo data logger is set
to store data on 30min intervals for up to 428 days.
GPS
points were taken at the four corners of the grid, as well as the center point
where the sensors were located. Site elevation is 695m, recorded at grid
center.
REFERENCES:
