Abstract
The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Colorado East River Community
Observatory (ER) in the Upper Colorado River Basin was established in
2015 as a representative mountainous, snow-dominated watershed to study
hydrobiogeochemical responses to hydrological perturbations in headwater
systems. The ER is characterized by steep elevation, geologic,
hydrologic and vegetation gradients along floodplain, montane,
subalpine, and alpine life zones, which makes it an ideal location for
researchers to understand how different mountain subsystems contribute
to overall watershed behavior. The ER has both long-term and
spatially-extensive observations and experimental campaigns carried out
by the Watershed Function Scientific Focus Area (SFA), led by Lawrence
Berkeley National Laboratory, and researchers from over 30 organizations
who conduct cross-disciplinary process-based investigations and modeling
of watershed behavior. The heterogeneous data generated at the ER
include hydrological, genomic, biogeochemical, climate, vegetation,
geological, and remote sensing data, which combined with model inputs
and outputs comprise a collection of datasets and value-added products
within a mountainous watershed that span multiple spatiotemporal scales,
compartments, and life zones. Within five years of collection, these
datasets have revealed insights into numerous aspects of watershed
function such as factors influencing snow accumulation and melt timing,
water balance partitioning, and impacts of floodplain biogeochemistry
and hillslope ecohydrology on riverine geochemical exports. Data
generated by the SFA are managed and curated through its Data Management
Framework. The SFA has an open data policy, and over seventy ER datasets
are publicly available through relevant data repositories. A public
interactive map of data collection sites run by the SFA is available to
inform the broader community about SFA field activities. Here, we
describe the ER and the SFA measurement network, present the public data
collection generated by the SFA and partner institutions, and highlight
the value of collecting multidisciplinary multiscale measurements in
representative catchment observatories.
Data Set Name
The Colorado East River Community Observatory Data Collection
Site Description
The East River community observatory (ER) in the Upper Colorado Basin,
United States (39.033° N 107.12° W, 38.83° N 106.88° W) is a 300 square
kilometer headwater catchment representative of watersheds in the Rocky
Mountains of the western United States
(Hubbard et al., 2018)
degrees. The ER lithology consists of igneous formations intruding into
carbon-rich marine shale in the Mancos Formation, as well as sedimentary
strata grading older (Permian) to younger (Tertiary) as one moves east
to west across the ER domain with pockets of significant mineralization
(Carroll et al., 2018;
Gaskill, 1991). The watershed comprises montane, subalpine, and alpine
life zones that collectively include aspen, meadow, mixed conifer,
sagebrush, grasses, and sedges. Further details about the ER are
provided in Hubbard et al. (2018) and Carroll et al. (2017).
Since 2015, the ER has been the primary field site for the Watershed
Function Scientific Focus Area (SFA; http://watershed.lbl.gov) led
by Berkeley Lab, and is one of several U.S. Department of Energy
testbeds conducting interdisciplinary research to gain a predictive
understanding of watershed functioning and their response to
perturbations using measurements and modeling from the bedrock through
soil and vegetation to the atmospheric interface. The ER serves as a
community testbed for over 30 collaborating institutions that
collectively aim to understand the impacts of perturbations, such as
drought and early snowmelt, on the hydrobiogeochemical dynamics of
mountainous, headwater catchments at seasonal to decadal timescales.