Great Smoky Mountains National Park NEON - United States of America

Basic Information
Site Name
Great Smoky Mountains National Park NEON
Short name
GRSM
Country
United States of America
Web Address
https://www.neonscience.org/field-sites/field-sites-map/GRSM
Site Manager
Bill Martin
Site Description
This relocatable terrestrial NEON site, comprised of 13 square miles within the 814 square miles of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, is characterized by abundant rainfall, variable elevations, and an exceptional richness of biota hosted by closed-canopy deciduous old growth forests. It exists within the NEON Appalachians & Cumberland Plateau Domain, specifically located in the southwest area of Tennessee bordering North Carolina. As one of the largest protected areas in the eastern U.S., it is the most biodiverse park in the National Park system and the most visited. GRSM's terrestrial and aquatic plots are all contained in or near the Gatlinburg Ranger District. These plot locations were chosen because of their ...
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Last modified
2021-03-03 11:03:31

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General Characteristics and Status
Site Status
Operational
Year Established
2015
Observed properties
atmospheric parameterecosystem parameterbiological parameterchemical parametergenetic parameterlandscape parametersoil parameterairtemperatureheatfluxozoneconcentrationprecipitationintensitylatentheatleafareaindexplantdiversityspeciesabundanceabovegroundbiomasssoilcarbondioxydefluxDNAsequencelandcoversoilmoisturecontent
Affiliation and Network Specific Information
Affiliation
GERI✔This site is a verified "GERI" member.
NEON✔ (GRSM)This site is a verified "NEON" member.
Photos
View of Mt. LeConte from GRSM tower (c) Clay Howard
View of Mt. LeConte from GRSM tower (c) Clay Howard
Geographic
5 km
3 mi
View in site map
Centroid/Representative Coordinates

Latitude: 35.68896 Longitude: -83.50195

Size
ca. 3273.00ha
Elevation (average)
579.00msl
Elevation (min)
426.00msl
Elevation (max)
1978.00msl
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Site information [.json]

Centroid/representative coordinates [.shp] [.kml]
Bounding Box [.shp] [.kml]
Boundaries [.shp] [.kml]
GEO-BON Biome
Terrestrial
Biome
Deciduous Forest
Ecosystem Type
Forest
Deciduous Forest
Evergreen Forest
Air Temperature: Average Annual
13.00°C
Precipitation Annual
1396.00mm
Geology
Snowbird group, siltstone and sandstone. Precambrian.
Vegetation
The park is almost 95 percent forested, and almost 36 percent of it, 187,000 acres (760 km2), is estimated by the Park Service to be old growth forest with many trees that predate European settlement of the area. It is one of the largest stands of deciduous, temperate, old growth forest in North America. Over 100 species of trees grow in the park. The lower region forests are dominated by deciduous leafy trees. At higher altitudes, deciduous forests give way to coniferous trees like Fraser Fir. In addition, the park has over 1,400 flowering plant species and over 4,000 species of non-flowering plants.
Soils
Soil familly : Loamy, skeletal, isotic, mesic. Typic Humudepts.
Site Type
Non-stationary land-based site
Design of Experimentation
mainly experimentation
Scale of Experimentation
catchment scale
Design of Observation
mainly observation
Scale of Observation
beyond catchment
Permanent Power Supply
No
Accessible All Year
Yes
All parts of Site Accessible
No