Oksrukuyik Creek NEON - United States of America

Oksrukuyik Creek is a wadeable stream located a short drive from the Toolik Field Station, an environmental science facility operated by the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. Teams working out of Toolik have studied the biological and biogeochemical attributes of Oksrukuyik Creek for decades. NEON data will contribute to these studies to help better understand tundra streams, which are rapidly changing along with the Arctic climate. Remote sensing surveys of this site collect lidar, spectrometer and high resolution RGB camera data. This site has one meteorological station located in the riparian area and one meteorological station above water on a buoy. The met stations are outfitted with the a subset of the same sensors used at terrestrial sites. Measurements include wind speed and direction, air temperature, barometric pressure, relative humidity, shortwave radiation, and PAR. This site has one buoy-mounted sensor station and an inlet station and outlet station. At the buoy, the automated instrument measurements are: PAR at water surface, PAR below water surface, temperature at a specific depth in surface water, water quality (specific conductivity, chlorophyll a, dissolved oxygen content, pH turbidity, and fDOM), and nitrate. At the inlet and outlet stations, the measurements are: PAR below water surface, elevation of surface water, and temperature in surface water. Eight groundwater wells throughout the site collect specific conductivity, water tempertaure, and elevation of groundwater. Field ecologists collect the following types of observational data at this site: aquatic organisms (Aquatic Microbes (surface water),macroinvertebrates microalgae, plants and macroalgae, zooplankton. Biogeochemical data on plants,sediment water and particulates.As well as physical aquatic data on bathymetric maps, stage,secchi depth and depth profiles, and riparian assessment.