Conwy - United Kingdom

DEIMS.ID:

https://deims.org/2eac4a5e-c339-47cf-9371-8f2b0cd8f175

Basic Information

Site Name:

Conwy

Short name :

Conwy

Web Address:

The Conwy: A source to sea catchment research platform

Country (Site Location):

United Kingdom

LTER Member Network:

United Kingdom (ECN)

Contact: Site Manager:

Chris Evans

Free Keywords:

General 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.

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General Characteristics, Purpose, History

Site Status:

existing

Year Site Established:

2006

Size :

28 500.00ha

Purpose of Site :

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 of Site:

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.

Parameters:

Photos

Geographic

Coordinates:

Latitude: 53.100000000000
Longitude: -3.800000000000

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Site Details

Ecosystem and Environmental Characteristics

Elevation Range FROM:

0.00msl

Elevation Range TO:

1 050.00msl

Elevation - Average:

300.00msl

Air Temperature Range (Monthly Minimum) FROM:

0.00°C

Air Temperature Range (Monthly Maximum) TO :

25.00°C

Air Temperature: Average Annual:

10.00°C

Precipitation Minimum Monthly :

100.00mm

Precipitation Annual :

1 500.00mm

Precipitation Maximum Monthly :

200.00mm

Biome :

Grasslands

GEO-BON Biome:

Coastal

Fresh water lakes

Fresh water rivers

Terrestrial

Ecosystem and Land Use:

Agricultural
Forest
Grasslands

Biogeographic Region:

Atlantic

Geology:

Ordovician and Silurian shales and mudstones, acid and basic igneous.

Hydrology:

Large river catchment with multiple lakes and reservoirs.

Vegetation:

Bog, dwarf shrub heath, acidic grassland, improved grassland, non-native conifer, mixed native broadleaf.

Soils:

Peat, mixed organo-mineral soils and brown earths

eLTER Parameters

Network Affiliation and Network Specific Information

Networks/Projects:

LTER
eLTER (H2020)
eLTER catalogue

LTER related

LTER Site Code:

LTER_EU_UK_076

LTER Site Classification/Category:

Master

Protection Status and Resource Management

National park

0 - 25%

Natura 2000

0 - 25%

Management of Resources :

Yes

Management of Resources - Percent of Site:

75 - 100%

Management of Resources - Notes:

Parts of the catchment are managed for agriculture (improved pasture for cattle and sheep, unimproved upland grassland for sheep), commercial forestry, freshwater recreational fishery, commercial shellfish beds in the estuary, tourism in the National Park.

Design and Scale of Site

Site Type (Spatial Design):

Complex Site

Scale of Observation:

entire catchment

Design of Observation:

mainly observation

Scale of Experiments:

plot scale

Design of Experiments:

partly experimentation

Infrastructure

Value of the Infrastructure :

100-700 k

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

Infrastructure:

Data infrastructure › Metadata standards › INSPIRE MD Specification
Data infrastructure › Data storage › Spatial data file (GIS)
Data infrastructure › Data storage › Spatial database (GIS)
Data infrastructure › Data services › Other data services

Operation

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.

Permanent Operation:

Site Visit Interval:

Every 14 days

Maintenance Interval: