Central Plains Experimental Range NEON - United States of America

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https://deims.org/0f2005e9-bfe6-438b-8242-116a9457ce45

This record was created automatically using information from the:
Basic Information
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Site Name
Central Plains Experimental Range NEON
Short name
CPER
Country
United States of America
Web Address
https://www.neonscience.org/field-sites/cper
Site Manager
Chau Tran
Site Description
The Central Plains Experimental Range (CPER) is a terrestrial NEON field site located in Weld County on the Western boundary of the Pawnee National Grasslands in Colorado. This 65.4 km2 (16,160 acre) site is 120 km (75.5 mi.) north of Denver with an elevation around 1600 m (5249 ft.). The land is managed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service. CPER is part of NEON's Central Plains Domain (D10). D10 has two other terrestrial field sites and one aquatic field site. CPER is not colocated with an aquatic site.
Last modified
2025-09-17 11:09:07

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General Characteristics and Status
Site Status
Operational
Year Established
2014
Observed properties
Affiliation and Network Specific Information
Affiliation
GERI✔This site is a verified "GERI" member.
NEON✔ (CPER)This site is a verified "NEON" member.
Photos
First day of field deployment at CPER
First day of field deployment at CPER
CPER soil plots
CPER soil plots
Geographic
View in site map
Centroid/Representative Coordinates

Latitude: 40.81553 Longitude: -104.7456

Elevation (average)
1654.00msl
Elevation (min)
1601.00msl
Elevation (max)
1686.00msl
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Site information [.json]

Centroid/representative coordinates [.shp] [.kml] [.geojson]
Bounding Box [.shp] [.kml] [.geojson]
GEO-BON Biome
Terrestrial
Biome
Grasslands
Ecosystem Type
Grasslands
Air Temperature: Average Annual
8.60°C
Precipitation Annual
344.00mm
Geology
The major geologic formation at the Central Plains Experimental Range is the Laramie formation, containing shales and claystone with minor sandstone lenses.
Vegetation
The dominant vegetation at CPER is moderately grazed shortgrass steppe. Dominant plant species include blue grama (Bouteloua gracilis), buffalograss (Bouteloua dactyloides), and plains prickly-pear cactus (Opuntia polyacantha).
Soils
The soil subgroup found at CPER is aridic argiustolls. The major soil series on the site include Vona, Ascalon, Renohill, Terry, Haverson, Nunn, Cascajo, Avar, Olney, Tassel, Playas, Shingle, Manter, and Bankard.
Site Type
Platform
Design of Experimentation
mainly experimentation
Scale of Experimentation
beyond catchment scale
Design of Observation
mainly observation
Scale of Observation
beyond catchment
Permanent Power Supply
Yes
Accessible All Year
Yes
Permanent Operation
Yes