From Niwot Ridge/Green Lakes:
Snowmelt revealed tundra damage from a population high of voles. ECOSWAT response to evaluate impacts and long-term effects of the resulting disturbance on: vegetation, erosion, and nutrient cycling.
On June 26 a rainstorm of 37 mm in 8 hours occurred at the Dl station. On the floor of Green Lakes Valley 52 mm of rain were recorded. This seems to have been a 100 yr event and, like most such events, occurred on a Sunday when no one was in the field. It started a debris flow of about 700 m volume in Green Lakes Valley, the first such event since July 1965 when a smaller flow occurred at the same site. Other debris flow, some much larger, occurred elsewhere in the Indian Peaks.
Rick Ingersoll is joining the project as a Research Technician on November 15. He comes to Colorado from the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Yale University.
Nel Caine returned to Boulder in August after a year in Europe. He became P.I. of the University of Colorado LTER program in mid-September and is ready for another year’s leave by now.
Funding has been received for establishment of a Joint Facility for Regional Ecosystem Analysis. This is a cooperative venture involving INSTAAR, Center for the Study of Earth from Space (both, University of Colorado) and Colorado State University. It is intended to be an interactive system for the investigation of regional ecological problems through remote sensing, data base and GIS development. It will be available to investigators at both the Niwot Ridge and Central Plains Experimental Range LTER sites.
From Northern Temperate Lakes:
Dr. Thomas Lillesand, Director of the Environmental Remote Sensing Center at the University of Wisconsin- Madison, has joined the Northern Temperate Lakes LTER project as a Principal Investigator. He will apply his expertise on remote sensing and geographic information systems to develop a GIS for the Trout Lake area and answer scientific questions at both intra and intersite levels.