Teakettle Creek – Watershed 2 NEON - United States of America

Basic Information
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Site Name
Teakettle Creek – Watershed 2 NEON
Short name
TECR
Country
United States of America
Web Address
https://www.neonscience.org/field-sites/field-sites-map/TECR
Site Manager
Jessica Bolis
Site Description
The Teakettle 2 Creek (TECR) catchment is entirely located within the Teakettle Experimental Forest (TEF), which is located in the north part of the Kings River watershed. The TEF is owned and operated by the United States Forest Service (USFS) Pacific Southwest (PSW) Research Station. The PSW Research Station is part of the research and development arm of the Forest Service, which operates six other research stations and 81 experimental forests and ranges, including the Teakettle Experimental Forest (TEF). A large, ongoing experiment at the TEF is comparing the effects of fire and tree thinning on the ecosystem. The Teakettle 3 creek, just northeast of TECR, is currently being monitored and controlled for projects that are managed by the USFS PSW and the Kings River Experimental Watershed (KREW). The KREW is an ecosystem project examining the effects of fire and tree thinning on streams and riparian areas. Total data products planned for this site: 78
Last modified
2020-07-27 10:07:21

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General Characteristics and Status
Site Status
Operational
Year Established
2018
Observed properties
Affiliation and Network Specific Information
Affiliation
GERI✔This site is a verified "GERI" member.
NEON✔ (TECR)This site is a verified "NEON" member.
Photos
Dissolved gas sampling at TECR

Dissolved gas sampling at TECR

Geographic
View in site map
Elevation (average)
2011.00msl
Elevation (min)
2086.00msl
Elevation (max)
2734.00msl
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Site information [.json]

Centroid/representative coordinates [.shp] [.kml]
GEO-BON Biome
Fresh water rivers
Biome
Evergreen Forest
Ecosystem Type
Forest
Evergreen Forest
Rivers
Fresh Water Rivers
Air Temperature: Average Annual
7.00°C
Precipitation Annual
941.00mm
Geology
Granodiorite and quartz monzonite. Mesozoic era.
Vegetation
Teakettle Creek is located in the Teakettle Experimental Forest, a subalpine forest that is dominated by a mix of conifers. Vegetation is characterized by distinct patch conditions of closed-canopy tree clusters, persistent gaps, and shrub thickets. The composition of the vegetation follows the elevation gradient with white fir (Abies concolor), sugar pine (Pinus lambertiana), incense cedar (Calocedrus decurrens), Jeffrey pine (Pinus jeffreyi), and red fir (Abies magnifica) at the lower elevations to red fir, lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta), and western white pine (Pinus monticola) at higher elevations. The riparian area is extremely dense with shrubs.
Soils
Major soil series that are mapped near the TECR site include Cannell (Coarse-loamy, mixed, superactive, frigid Typic Dystroxerepts), Cagwin (Mixed, frigid Dystric Xeropsamments), and Stecum (Sandy-skeletal, mixed Typic Cryorthents).
Hydrology
The flow regime of Teakettle Creek (TECR) is typical of snowmelt dominated mountainous streams in the west. Base flows are lowest in the winter (November - March) and highest in the late spring (April – June). TECR has a mean base flow of 11 liters per second in the autumn months. Snow melt begins in March and peaks in June. Discharge during the peak flow months of May and June is approximately 18 times greater than base flow.
Site Type
Platform
Design of Experimentation
mainly experimentation
Scale of Experimentation
catchment scale
Design of Observation
mainly observation
Scale of Observation
entire catchment
Permanent Power Supply
Yes
Accessible All Year
Yes
Permanent Operation
Yes