Plynlimon - United Kingdom

Basic Information
Site Name
Plynlimon
Short name
Plynlimon
Country
United Kingdom
Web Address
Plynlimon: a critical zone observatory
Data from the Plynlimon catchments
Plynlimon Experimental Catchments
Operating Organisation
UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH)
Site Manager
Jack Cosby
Site Description
Plynlimon is at the headwaters of the Rivers Severn and Wye. The infrastructure at Plynlimon consists of 10 instrumented research catchments representing different land use options on the same geological parent material. It is the UK’s Critical Zone Observatory, part of the EU and global network of CZOs and is an ExpeER site. The infrastructure records high temporal resolution river flow and meteorological data (40 year data record) and stream water and precipitation chemistry for cations, anions, trace metals, nutrients, pH and alkalinity (30 year data record) and some data for suspended sediment. The site has an extensive spatial data library including topography, digital terrain model (DTM), soils, geology and ...
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Relationships to other sites
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Last modified
2025-01-07 11:01:56

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General Characteristics and Status
Site Status
Operational
Year Established
1968
Observed properties
chemical parameterlandscape parameteracidneutralisingcapacitybasecationscontentinwaterbasesaturationbuffercapacitychemicalcompositionofwaterdissolvedorganiccarboninsoildissolvedorganiccarboninwaterdissolvedorganicnitrogeninorganiccarboncontentinorganicnitrogencontentinorganicnutrientcontentpercentcarbonpercentnitrogenpercentorganiccarbonpHvalueofwatersoilcarbonstoragesoilnitrogensoilorganiccarbonsoilpHsoilsolutionpHtotalcarbonwateralkalinitylandcoverlandusepattern
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✔This site is a verified "UK ECN" member.
GERI✔This site is a verified "GERI" member.
Critical Zone Collaborative Network (CZ Net)✖The affiliation of this site with "Critical Zone Collaborative Network (CZ Net)" is not verified by the network on DEIMS-SDR.
Projects
eLTER (H2020)
eLTER catalogue
ExpeER
SoilTrEC
Photos
Plynlimon Hafren catchment
Plynlimon Hafren catchment
Geographic
2 km
1 mi
View in site map
Centroid/Representative Coordinates

Latitude: 52.466 Longitude: -3.73024

Size
ca. 1925.00ha
Elevation (average)
480.00msl
Elevation (min)
320.00msl
Elevation (max)
740.00msl
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
Fresh Water Rivers
Ecosystem Type
Forest
Grasslands
Rivers
Biogeographical Region
Atlantic Bio-geographical Region
EUNIS habitat
Grasslands and lands dominated by forbs, mosses or lichens (E)
Woodland, forest and other wooded land (G)
Air Temperature: Average Annual
7.50°C
Precipitation Annual
2500.00mm
Geology
The geology of the catchments are similar, comprising mainly fine grained sediments (mudstones and slates) which have been folded and faulted. Some of the faults have been mineralised (lead) and were mined in the period before the First World War.
Vegetation
The Plynlimon catchments comprise two primary watersheds: the Upper Severn and the Upper Wye. Upper Severn: Plantation Sitka spruce forest commercially managed by Forestry Commission Wales. Most of planting in mid 1930s and late 1940s on to pre-existing acid grassland and heathland. Now in clearfell and re-planting phase with Sitka spruce. Upper Wye: Mix of semi-natural acid grassland grazed at low intensity by sheep plus areas of agriculturally improved grassland which has been surface ploughed, re-seeded, limed and fertilised over the last 60 years. Improved areas are grazed by sheep and cattle. Upper Severn & Upper Wye: Acid dwarf shrub heath in headwater areas and on interfluves at high altitude. Upper Wye: Small areas of wetland in valley bottoms dominated by Molinia grass.
Protection Level (IUCN category)
Category IV – Habitat/Species Management Area
Site Type
Stationary land-based site
Design of Experimentation
partly experimentation
Scale of Experimentation
catchment scale
Design of Observation
mainly observation
Scale of Observation
entire catchment
Permanent Power Supply
No
Equipment
Data infrastructure » Data services » Data portal
Data infrastructure » Data storage » Structured file
Data infrastructure » Data storage » Spatial database (GIS)
Data infrastructure » Data storage » Spatial data file (GIS)
Supporting infrastructure » Transportation » Vehicle 2WD
Supporting infrastructure » Transportation » Vehicle 4WD
Accessible All Year
No
All parts of Site Accessible
No
Access Type
dirt road (4WD)
Permanent Operation
No
Operation Notes
Weekly grab samples for chemical analysis; hourly for automated WQ monitors.
Site Visit Interval
30
Maintenance Interval
30
General Data Policy
Formal acknowledgement of the dataset providers
LTER Site Classification
Regular
Related Resources on DEIMS-SDR
1 dataset(s) in total:
Plynlimon stream water temperatures 1983-2018
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.