River Spey at Fochabers - United Kingdom

Basic Information
Site Name
River Spey at Fochabers
Short name
R15
Country
United Kingdom
Web Address
ECN website
Site Manager
Andrew Sier [Primary ECN contact]
Site Description
UK ECN site. The River Spey rises in the high ground of the Grampian Mountains and flows in a north easterly direction towards the Moray Firth. It drains a relatively large catchment of 3008 km2 with a stream network of 36400 km, of which the main river comprises 157km. The upper part of the catchment is characterised by its mountain wilderness regions, sheep farming and tourism, whilst in the lower catchment these are complemented by the distilling industry, cattle and arable farming and related industries. There is restricted commercial forestry on the narrow valley bottoms and steep sided hills of the upper catchment, but as the valley floor widens it becomes much more extensive (16% of total catchment land use). Most of the ...
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Last modified
2023-07-28 10:07:46

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General Characteristics and Status
Site Status
Operational
Year Established
1994
Observed properties
water parameterchemical parameterbiological parameterecosystem parameterchlorophyllcontentofwaterconductivitystageheightwateraciditywateralkalinitywaterlevelwaterqualitywatertemperaturewatertransparencyammoniumcontentdissolvednutrientdissolvedorganiccarboninwatersuspendedsolidstotalorganiccarbonnitrogencontentinorganicnutrientcontent
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✔ (LTER_EU_UK_032)This site is a verified "UK ECN" member.
Geographic
200 km
100 mi
View in site map
Centroid/Representative Coordinates

Latitude: 57.6167 Longitude: -3.1

Size
ca. 0.00ha
Elevation (average)
626.00msl
Elevation (min)
26.00msl
Elevation (max)
1200.00msl
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Site information [.json]

Centroid/representative coordinates [.shp] [.kml]
Bounding Box [.shp] [.kml]
Boundaries [.shp] [.kml]
GEO-BON Biome
Fresh water rivers
Biome
Fresh Water Rivers
Ecosystem Type
Rivers
Fresh Water Rivers
Large rivers
Biogeographical Region
Atlantic Bio-geographical Region
EUNIS habitat
Inland surface waters (C)
Inland surface waters (C) » Surface running waters (C2)
Air Temperature: Average Annual
7.63°C
Precipitation Annual
818.90mm
Geology
Most of the Spey Catchment is underlain by metamorphic rocks of the Cambrian Period and these are intruded at a number of places by granite plutons and are overlain at the northern end of the catchment by Devonian sandstone.
Vegetation
Grazed and ungrazed grasslands. Arable farming. Commercial forestry
Soils
For most of its length the River Spey flows through a wide alluvial plain composed of silts, sand and waterborne pebbles.
Hydrology
The River Spey rises in the high ground of the Grampian Mountains and flows in a north easterly direction towards the Moray Firth. It drains a relatively large catchment of 3008 km2 with a stream network of 36400 km, of which the main river comprises 157km. The upper part of the catchment is characterised by its mountain wilderness regions, sheep farming and tourism, whilst in the lower catchment these are complemented by the distilling industry, cattle and arable farming and related industries. There is restricted commercial forestry on the narrow valley bottoms and steep sided hills of the upper catchment, but as the valley floor widens it becomes much more extensive (16% of total catchment land use).
Site Type
Stationary land-based site
Design of Experimentation
no experimentation
Scale of Experimentation
not applicable
Design of Observation
only observation
Scale of Observation
plot within catchment
Permanent Power Supply
No
Equipment
Data infrastructure » Data services » Data portal
Data infrastructure » Data storage » Paper
Data infrastructure » Data storage » Structured file
Data infrastructure » Data storage » Spatial data file (GIS)
Data infrastructure » Data storage » Relational database
Accessible All Year
Yes
All parts of Site Accessible
No
Permanent Operation
No
Operation Notes
ECN freshwater monitoring is carried out at least once per month
Site Visit Interval
30
Data Policy URL
http://data.ecn.ac.uk/datapolicy.asp
LTER Site Classification
Extensive
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.