Conwy - United Kingdom

Basic Information
Site Name
Conwy
Short name
Conwy
Country
United Kingdom
Web Address
The Conwy: A source to sea catchment research platform
Site Manager
Chris Evans
Operating Organisation
UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology
Keywords
Agriculturally-improved, re-seeded and heavily fertilised grassland, including sports fields and grass lawns
Atlantic Forest
Blanket bogs
Coniferous woodland
heathland and shrub
montane
Site Description
Mixed lowland and upland catchment established as a major UK research platform for ecological research, including long-term monitoring of greenhouse has fluxes and water quality, ecosystem-scale experiments, ecological and biogeochemical process studies and modelling. The Conwy catchment incorporates a range of habitats broadly representative of Wales, comprising upland bog and heath, mountain grassland, lowland improved grassland, conifer and broadleaf woodland.
Last modified
2020-06-29 10:06:12
General Characteristics, Purpose, History
Site Status
Operational
Year Established
2006
Purpose
Major UK landscape-scale ecosystem research platform supported by UK Research Council and Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs. Aims to address multiple environmental drivers (land-management, atmospheric pollution, climate change) and multiple ecosystem services (e.g. climate regulation, water quality, cultural biodiversity, production) based on a foundation of long-term, large-scale hydrological, biogeochemical and ecological monitoring, augmented by process studies and landscape-scale modelling.
History
Catchment-scale water quality observatory with regular spot sampling since 2006. Sensors including peat flux tower, lake monitoring buoy, continuous water quality sensors and automatic weather stations have been progressively added since that time. The catchment has also been subject to detailed characterisation of soils and vegetation, provided a platform for experiments (e.g. peat restoration) and been included in a large number of research projects. It is currently one of the three focal catchments for the UK Land Ocean Carbon Transport (LOCATE) project.
Research Topics
biology
ecology
aquatic ecology
wetland ecology
community ecology
community dynamics
ecosystem ecology
ecosystem function
ecosystem service
land use classification
microbial ecology
plant ecology
vegetation dynamics
restoration ecology
terrestrial ecology
chemistry
biogeochemistry
soil chemistry
soil solution chemistry
water chemistry
environmental science
hydrology
limnology
agriculture
aquaculture
physics
soil science
soil chemistry
soil physics
remote sensing
Parameters
agricultural parameter
amount of nitrate leaching
dissolved organic carbon in soil
nutrient concentration
nutrient content
soil fertility
atmospheric parameter
air humidity
air temperature
carbon dioxide concentration
heat flux
maximum temperature
mean annual air temperature
mean annual precipitation
mean annual temperature
methane concentration
minimum temperature
plant carbon concentration
solar radiation
wind direction
wind speed
biological parameter
above ground biomass
annual net primary production
leaf area
leaf area ratio
leaf nutrient
nitrogen content
plant nitrogen concentration
chemical parameter
acid neutralising capacity
air methane concentration
ammonium content
available phosphorus
carbon to nitrogen ratio
chemical composition of water
dissolved nutrient
dissolved organic carbon in water
dissolved organic nitrogen
inorganic nutrient content
insoluble organic carbon content
percent carbon
percent organic carbon
pH value of water
soil acidity
soil carbon storage
soil nitrogen
soil nutrient
soil organic carbon
soil pH
soil solution concentration
soil solution pH
suspended solids
total carbon
total organic carbon
water acidity
water alkalinity
water turbidity
ecosystem parameter
above ground net primary production
microbial diversity
soil microbial diversity
landscape parameter
land cover
land use
land use intensity
landscape composition
landscape metrics
soil parameter
carbon-to-nitrogen ratio
soil moisture field capacity
soil temperature
soil texture
soil volumetric water content
thickness of soil horizon
total organic carbon
water parameter
ammonium nitrogen content
conductivity
dissolved organic phosphorus
lake temperature
runoff amount
stage height
water acidity
water level
water quality
water table
water temperature
water volume
Photos
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Geographic
Size
28500.00ha
Elevation (average)
300.00msl
Elevation (min)
0.00msl
Elevation (max)
1050.00msl
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 ECN✔ (LTER_EU_UK_076)This site is a verified "UK ECN" member.
Projects
eLTER catalogue
eLTER (H2020)
eLTER Plus (H2020) - VA
Download

Site information [.json]

Centroid coordinates [.shp] [.kml]
Bounding Box [.shp] [.kml]
Boundaries [.shp] [.kml]
GEO-BON Biome
Coastal
Fresh water lakes
Fresh water rivers
Terrestrial
Biome
Grasslands
Ecosystem and Land Use
Agricultural
Forest
Grasslands
Biogeographical Region
Atlantic Bio-geographical Region
Air Temperature: Average Annual
10.00°C
Air Temperature Range (Monthly Minimum)
0.00°C
Air Temperature Range (Monthly Maximum)
25.00°C
Precipitation Annual
1500.00mm
Precipitation Maximum Monthly
200.00mm
Precipitation Minimum Monthly
100.00mm
Geology
Ordovician and Silurian shales and mudstones, acid and basic igneous.
Vegetation
Bog, dwarf shrub heath, acidic grassland, improved grassland, non-native conifer, mixed native broadleaf.
Soils
Peat, mixed organo-mineral soils and brown earths
Hydrology
Large river catchment with multiple lakes and reservoirs.
EUNIS habitat
Inland surface waters (C)
Mires, bogs and fens (D)
Regularly or recently cultivated agricultural, horticultural and domestic habitats (I)
Woodland, forest and other wooded land (G)
Site Type (Spatial Design)
Complex Site
Design of Experimentation
partly experimentation
Scale of Experimentation
plot scale
Design of Observation
mainly observation
Scale of Observation
entire catchment
Infrastructure
Data infrastructure » Data services » Other data services
Data infrastructure » Data storage » Spatial data file (GIS)
Data infrastructure » Data storage » Spatial database (GIS)
Data infrastructure » Metadata standards » INSPIRE MD Specification
Infrastructure notes
Large inhabited catchment so commercial accommodation available, site is in close proximity to research and lab facilities at CEH, Bangor University (including experimental farm). Power supply varies across site, remote monitoring and experimental locations are operated on solar or wind generators and batteries. Measuring 'tower' (for CO2 and CH4 flux measurement) is located within blanket bog rather than forest, 2 m above vegetation. Multiple sites across catchment are equipped with automatic weather stations, discharge gauges, continuous water chemical sensors etc.
Accessible All Year
Yes
All parts of Site Accessible
Yes
Access Type
paved road
Permanent Power Supply
Yes
Permanent Operation
No
Operation Notes
Measurement frequency varies from continuous meteorology, flow, greenhouse gas fluxes etc to 2-weekly water sampling, annual productivity measurements, etc. The catchment is the subject of several major ongoing research projects (total value > 5m euros) so operations cost refers to long-term monitoring component only.
Site Visit Interval
14
Maintenance Interval
14
General Data Policy
The data provider must be offered co-authorship for publications using this dataset at least within the metadata description
Formal acknowledgement of the dataset providers
Data Notes
Data available here: http://eidchub.ceh.ac.uk/metadata/c53a1f93-f64c-4d84-82a7-44038a394c59
Data Storage Location
Central
Data Services
Data portal
LTER Site Classification
Master
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.