Glensaugh - United Kingdom

Basic Information
Site Name
Glensaugh
Short name
T02
Country
United Kingdom
Web Address
ECN website
Operating Organisation
James Hutton Institute
Site Manager
Helen Watson
Site Description
UK ECN site. Glensaugh is one of two terrestrial ECN sites currently managed by the James Hutton Institute. Glensaugh Research station is 35 miles south west of Aberdeen, NE Scotland (NGR NO 671783), on the edge of the Grampian hills and covers over 1100 hectares. The dominant cover is semi-natural vegetation, and there is a small amount of woodland (5ha) and some short term and permanent grassland (150ha). Much of the ECN monitoring is carried out towards the northern boundary of the research station in the small upland catchment of the Birnie Burn. Winters can be severe and snow may lie in patches until late March. The target sampling site is located at an altitude of 300m on heather dominated (Calluna vulgaris) moorland ...
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Last modified
2023-07-28 10:07:12

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General Characteristics and Status
Site Status
Operational
Year Established
1992
Observed properties
soil parameteratmospheric parameterecosystem parameterchemical parameterwater parameterbiological parameterlandscape parameteragricultural parametercarbon-to-nitrogenratiocationexchangecapacitydissolvedorganicnitrogeninsoilsoilaciditysoilbulkdensitysoilmoisturefieldcapacitysoilsolutionconcentrationsoiltemperaturethicknessofsoilhorizontotalorganiccarbonairhumiditynetradiationirradiancenetsolarradiationirradianceprecipitationintensitysnowdepthsolarradiationtotalradiationirradiancewinddirectionwindspeedbirdspresencebryophytespresencediversityindexfloristicdiversityplantspeciescompositionspeciescompositionspeciespresencespeciesturnovertreediameteratbreastheightavailablephosphorusdissolvedorganicphosphorusinorganiccarboncontentpercentcarbonpercentorganiccarbonsoilpHtotalcarbontotalorganiccarbonconductivityrunoffamountstageheightwateraciditywaterlevelwaterqualitywatertablewatervolumetreediametertreeheightlandcoverlandusedissolvedorganiccarboninsoil
Affiliation and Network Specific Information
Affiliation
ILTER✔This site is a verified "ILTER" member.
LTER Europe✔This site is a verified "LTER Europe" member.
UK Eutrophying and Acidifying atmospheric Pollutants network (UKEAP)✖The affiliation of this site with "UK Eutrophying and Acidifying atmospheric Pollutants network (UKEAP)" is not verified by the network on DEIMS-SDR.
UK ECN✔ (LTER_EU_UK_048)This site is a verified "UK ECN" member.
COSMOS-UK✖The affiliation of this site with "COSMOS-UK" is not verified by the network on DEIMS-SDR.
Projects
eLTER (H2020)
eLTER catalogue
eLTER PLUS (H2020) - VA
Photos
Automatic Weather Station at ECN Glensaugh
Automatic Weather Station at ECN Glensaugh
Geographic
2 km
1 mi
View in site map
Centroid/Representative Coordinates

Latitude: 56.9 Longitude: -2.55

Size
ca. 1125.00ha
Elevation (average)
241.00msl
Elevation (min)
137.00msl
Elevation (max)
487.00msl
Related location(s)
Download

Site information [.json]

Centroid/representative coordinates [.shp] [.kml]
Bounding Box [.shp] [.kml]
Boundaries [.shp] [.kml]
GEO-BON Biome
Fresh water rivers
Terrestrial
Biome
Grasslands
Ecosystem Type
Agricultural
Grasslands
Temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands
Lakes
Small lakes
Rivers
Fresh Water Rivers
Small rivers
Biogeographical Region
Atlantic Bio-geographical Region
EUNIS habitat
Grasslands and lands dominated by forbs, mosses or lichens (E)
Air Temperature: Average Annual
7.50°C
Precipitation Annual
1128.00mm
Geology
The Highland Boundary Fault divides the Research Station into two distinct geological zones. North of the fault are drifts derived from schistose rock. To the south of the fault are drifts derived from Old Red Sandstone.
Vegetation
The research station comprises 865 hectares (ha) of semi-natural plant communities, 60 ha of predominantly rotational grassland and 88 ha of permanent pasture. On the alluvial soils of the valley bottom the semi-natural vegetation is dominated by species-rich Agrostis-Festuca grassland. This gives way to species-poor Agrostis-Festuca on the lower slopes, with bracken (Pteridium aquilinum) also present. The higher slopes are dry heather (Calluna vulgaris) moor, with blaeberry (Vaccinium myrtillus), wavy hair grass (Deschampsia flexuosa) and bell heather (Erica cinerea) locally important. On the deeper peats at the highest altitude, cross-leaved heather (Erica tetralix) and cotton sedge (Eriophorum vaginatum) become co-dominant. The predominantly rotational grassland is reseeded with perennial ryegrass and white clover mixtures every 7-10 years. This provides grazing for the crossbred ewe flock, swards for experimental work, silage for winter feeding and aftermath grazing for finishing lambs.
Soils
The soils reflect the underlying geology which is influenced by The Highland Boundary Fault. North of the fault the soils are of the Strichen Association. Brown forest soils and podzols of the lower slopes give way to peaty podzols and, on the highest ground, to peat. To the south of the fault the soils are humus-iron podzols on the lower slopes and peaty podzols at higher elevations.
Hydrology
The area is drained by a number of small headwater streams. The ground water table is relatively high and there are many springs across higher ground. There is also a small loch. Some streams are virtually emphemeral and run through deep gravels in the summer.
Site Type
Stationary land-based site
Design of Experimentation
partly experimentation
Scale of Experimentation
plot scale
Design of Observation
mainly observation
Scale of Observation
plot without link to explicit catchment
Permanent Power Supply
Yes
Equipment
Data infrastructure » Data services » Data portal
Data infrastructure » Data storage » Structured file
Data infrastructure » Data storage » Spatial data file (GIS)
Data infrastructure » Data storage » Relational database
Supporting infrastructure » Transportation » Vehicle 2WD
Supporting infrastructure » Transportation » Vehicle 4WD
Supporting infrastructure » Staff room at site » > 5 places
Supporting infrastructure » Lodging at site » 1 - 5 beds
Energy and data transmission infrastructure » Data transmission » Data Transmission Type (from site) » Telephone line
Energy and data transmission infrastructure » Data transmission » Data Transmission Type (from site) » GMS/UMTS
Energy and data transmission infrastructure » Data transmission » Data Transmission Type (within site) » Telephone line
Energy and data transmission infrastructure » Energy supply » Permanent Power Supply Location » Central station(s)
Energy and data transmission infrastructure » Energy supply » Permanent Power Produced » 5-10 kW
Equipment notes
For details see: http://www.hutton.ac.uk/about/facilities/glensaugh
Accessible All Year
Yes
All parts of Site Accessible
No
Access Type
dirt road (4WD)
Permanent Operation
Yes
Operation Notes
ECN terrestrial monitoring is carried out at least once every 7 days
Site Visit Interval
7
Data Policy Notes
The ECN datasets are hosted by the NERC Environmental Information Data Centre (EIDC - http://eidc.ceh.ac.uk/), managed by the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH) - https://catalogue.ceh.ac.uk/documents/4971bce4-8a81-4e23-9637-7fcff37c5f21. They are available under the Open Government Licence and can be cited via DOI's (digital object identifier).
Data Policy URL
http://data.ecn.ac.uk/datapolicy.asp
LTER Site Classification
Master
Related Resources on DEIMS-SDR
18 dataset(s) in total:
Glensaugh: Ecosystem services variables from the UK Environmental Change Network (ECN)
Glensaugh: UK Environmental Change Network (ECN) bat data: 1993-2015
Glensaugh: UK Environmental Change Network (ECN) bird data: 1995-2015
Glensaugh: UK Environmental Change Network (ECN) butterfly data: 1993-2015
Glensaugh: UK Environmental Change Network (ECN) carabid beetle data: 1992-2015
Glensaugh: UK Environmental Change Network (ECN) frog data: 1994-2015
Glensaugh: UK Environmental Change Network (ECN) Precipitation Chemistry data: 1992-2015
There is EURO-CORDEX climate scenario data available for this site:
Projected Near Surface Specific Humidity ChangeRCP26RCP45RCP85
Projected Precipitation ChangeRCP26RCP45RCP85
Projected Sea Level Pressure ChangeRCP26RCP45RCP85
Projected Surface Downwelling Shortwave RadiationRCP26RCP45RCP85
Projected Near-Surface Wind SpeedRCP26RCP45RCP85
Projected Near-Surface Air TemperatureRCP26RCP45RCP85
Projected Daily Maximum Near-Surface Air TemperatureRCP26RCP45RCP85
Projected Daily Minimum Near-Surface Air TemperatureRCP26RCP45RCP85

You can also download the entire climate scenario dataset for this site from the EUDAT B2SHARE data store.