Shita Wadi - Israel

Basic Information
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Site Name
Shita Wadi
Short name
Shita Wadi
Country
Israel
Web Address
LTER - ISRAEL
Operating Organisation
KKL
Site Manager
Oded Keynan
Funding Agency
KKL
Site Description
A small watershed that collects floods and run-off. The lowest place is home to a (relativity) dense Acacia savana. The slopes are completely bare. The wadi is covered with alluvium resting on a 6 m layer of red surface of late Pleistocene, which includes silt, clay and fine sand. Rainfall is 30 mm
Relationships to other sites
This site belongs to:
Last modified
2025-01-07 11:01:56

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General Characteristics and Status
Site Status
Operational
Year Established
2015
Observed properties
ecosystem parameterbiological parametersoil parameterchemical parameteratmospheric parameteragricultural parameterenvironmental parametergenetic parameterlandscape parameterwater parameterabovegroundnetprimaryproductioncommunitycompositiondiversityindexecosystemstructureforeststructurehabitatstructuremacrofaunaabundancenormalizedvegetationindexsoilmacrofaunaabundancespeciesabundancespeciescompositionspeciespresencespeciesrichnesstreedistributioncanopycoverratecanopygrowthratecanopyheightemergencedatefloweringdateleafarealeafarearatioplantcoverplantdevelopmentstagetreediametertreeheightporesizeporesizedistributionsoilbulkdensitysoildrybulkdensitysoilmoisturecontentsoilmoisturefieldcapacitypercentcarbonpercentorganiccarbonsoilorganicresidualsoilsalinitytotalorganiccarbonplantcarbonconcentrationprecipitationintensitycropgrowthrateabioticheterogeneityallelefrequencylandusesurfacerunoff
Affiliation and Network Specific Information
Affiliation
ILTER✔This site is a verified "ILTER" member.
LTER Europe✔This site is a verified "LTER Europe" member.
GERI✔This site is a verified "GERI" member.
LTER Israel✔ (LTER_EU_IL_015)This site is a verified "LTER Israel" member.
Photos
Wadi Shita LTER from drone
Wadi Shita LTER from drone
Geographic
Marker
300 km
200 mi
View in site map
Centroid/Representative Coordinates

Latitude: 30.138002596392 Longitude: 35.127448549366

Size
ca. 103.00ha
Elevation (average)
250.00msl
Elevation (min)
200.00msl
Elevation (max)
360.00msl
Download

Site information [.json]

Centroid/representative coordinates [.shp] [.kml]
GEO-BON Biome
Terrestrial
Biome
Desert
Ecosystem Type
Desert
Xeric basins
Forest
Deciduous Forest
EUNIS habitat
Woodland, forest and other wooded land (G)
Woodland, forest and other wooded land (G) » Broadleaved deciduous woodland (G1)
Woodland, forest and other wooded land (G) » Broadleaved deciduous woodland (G1) » Thermophilous deciduous woodland (G1.7)
Air Temperature: Average Annual
18.00°C
Precipitation Annual
30.00mm
Geology
The Wadi (Valley) is the first towards south from the highest point in the Arava, Notza ridge which is 250 MASL.
It flows west to east, although in the past (2.5 MYA) the direction of flow was east to west. It ends in Ka Saidin salt flat. There are sedementry rocks from the upper creteacous of Mashash and Menuha formations. The wadi is unique in having a layer from an early pleistocen called the "red unit".
Vegetation
Since this is a hyper-arid area the only vascullar
Soils
The wadi has a unique "red unit" that is fine grained, with carbonate from an early pleistocen. Teh red unit sits in the low areas of the wadi where soil moisture is highest. There is conglomorate with small pebbles and fine greain forming reg soil. There is a gypsum concentration in carbonate clusters. The aluvium is young creteacous.
Hydrology
The watershed is 24 square KM in a braided stream pattern. Its maximum width is 3 km, the top layer is young aluvium. Some of the streams are active and others are neglected (by water). The number of active streams depends on the power of the flood. Rainfall is around 30 mm per yea, but has been going down in the last few decades. between 1993-2009 flood frequency has dropped to almost half.
Site Type
Platform
Design of Experimentation
partly experimentation
Scale of Experimentation
plot scale
Design of Observation
mainly observation
Scale of Observation
entire catchment
Permanent Power Supply
No
Equipment
Data infrastructure » Data services » Other data services
Data infrastructure » Data storage » Spatial data file (GIS)
Supporting infrastructure » Transportation » Vehicle 2WD
Supporting infrastructure » Staff room at site » > 5 places
Supporting infrastructure » Lodging at site » > 10 beds
Energy and data transmission infrastructure » Data transmission » Data Transmission Type (from site) » No data transmission from site
Energy and data transmission infrastructure » Data transmission » Data Transmission Type (within site) » No within site data transmission
Accessible All Year
Yes
All parts of Site Accessible
Yes
Access Type
regular car
Permanent Operation
Yes
Site Visit Interval
90
Maintenance Interval
30
General Data Policy
The opportunity to review the results based on the dataset
LTER Site Classification
Regular
Related Resources on DEIMS-SDR
8 dataset(s) in total:
Biodiversity_LTER_EU_IL_015_Butterflies_2016-2019
Biodiversity_LTER_EU_IL_015_INSECTS_2017-2020
Biodiversity_LTER_EU_IL_015_PLANTS_2015-2016
Biodiversity_LTER_EU_IL_015_SCORPIONS_2015-2020
Diameter_LTER_EU_IL_015_TREES_DENDRO_2015-2020
Meteorology_LTER_EU_IL_015_AIR-HUMIDITY-TEMP-RAIN_2020
Meteorology_LTER_EU_IL_015_SOIL-Moisture_2019-2020
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.