Cairngorms (ECN site) - United Kingdom

UK Environmental Change Network (ECN) site. The Cairngorms site is located high in the Cairngorms, near Aviemore in Speyside, Scotland. The site lies on the North-Western flank of the Cairngorms encompassing the catchment of the Allt a' Mharcaidh (a site in the ECN freshwater network). It is part of the Invereshie and Inshriach National Nature Reserve, within the Cairngorms National Park, and covers some 10 km2. This is the first ECN site in the UK's sub-arctic zone and is an important link not only to other upland ECN sites but to alpine site in Europe and globally through the GLORIA network, and also to networks across the Arctic (SCANNET and INTERACT). The Cairngorms site has been used intensively for research since the 1970s. An Automatic Weather Station (AWS) has been operating at the site since 1984 and was used in the Surface Water Acidification Programme from 1984 to 1994. CEH and MI have used the site for long-term hydrological and snow studies for about 15 years. From 1997-1999 it was one of the ECOMONT (land use change in mountain areas of Europe) sites. Researchers at several universities and institutes use the site for vegetation, soils and nutrient cycling studies. The site forms part of the larger Feshie catchment in the NICHE programme (National Infrastructure for Catchment Hydrology Experiments). This site is nested within the Cairngorms National Park LTSER site (https://deims.org/1b94503d-285c-4028-a3db-bc78e31dea07).