TITLE: Council 1999 bulk density data AUTHORS: Dr. Jason Beringer # Dr. F.S. Chapin III @ Catherine Copass @ # School of Geography and Environmental Science PO Box 11A Monash University Clayton, Victoria, 3800 AUSTRALIA Ph: +61 3 9905 9352 Fax: +61 3 9905 2948 Email: Jason.beringer@arts.monash.edu.au @ Institute of Arctic Biology 311 Irving I Bldg University of Alaska Fairbanks Fairbanks, AK, 99775-7000 USA DATA SET OVERVIEW: Sites at Council were primarily establishes for flux, climate and biomass data but several ancilliary dataets were collected. This data set is the mean bulk density for the soil layers at each of the sites measured in 1999. There were three flux and climate towers operating at Council, Seward Peninsula, during 1999. Two towers were located at the tundra and forest sites. The third tower was a mobile tower and covered four different surface types (Lowshrub, shrub, woodland, and burned tundra). The data have been divided by surface type and also whether it was flux or climate data. The following convention is used for site names and descriptions are given below: SPRUCE FOREST C1 TUNDRA C2 SHRUB C3 WOODLAND C4 LOWSHRUB C6 BURNED TUNDRA C8 C1 - SPRUCE FOREST Location: N 64o 54.456' W 163o 40.469' Elevation: 275 feet Slope: 3.3% (3o) Aspect: 140 o TN Grid orientation (A1-A11): 058o TN C4 - WOODLAND Location: N 64o 53.997' W 163o 39.863' Slope: 5.6 % (5o) Aspect: 140 o TN Data dates:06/20-07/13 C6 - LOWSHRUB Location: N 64o 53.47' W 163o 38.61' Elevation: 140 m Slope: ~9o Aspect: 236o TN C2 - TUNDRA SITE Location: N 64o50.499' W163o41.591' Elevation: 160 feet Slope: flat Aspect: flat Grid orientation: 058o TN C8 - BURN SITE Location: N 65o12.147' W 164o18.477 (fire scar length 3.15 km and 1.3 km wide) Elevation: 450 feet Slope: 6% (5o) Aspect: 315 oT C3 - SHRUB SITE Location:N 64o56.141 W 164o44.142 Elevation: 450 feet Slope:6.6 % (6.0 o) Aspect: 160o TN Grid orientation: 074o TN CFORE - SPRUCE FOREST Location: N 64o 54.456' W 163o 40.469' Elevation: 275 feet Slope: 3.3% (3o) Aspect: 140 o TN Grid orientation (A1-A11): 058o TN DATA COLLECTION AND PROCESSING: Data were collected at Council (N64o50.499' W163o41.591') on the Seward Peninsula, located approximately 70 miles to the northeast of Nome. The Peninsula itself encompasses a diversity of landscape and ecosystem types created by the various climatic and topographical settings. The climate of the Peninsula is annually slightly wetter and warmer than the north slope of Alaska [Fleming et al. 2000]. In the summer, climate is somewhat continental with relatively cool and windy conditions along the coast with the inland climate being relatively hotter and drier. The Council area provides an excellent field site to investigate a variety of high-latitude ecosystem types that may be important in future climate change in close proximity. It also allowed us to examine what may happen under a changing vegetation regime brought about by future warmer and wetter conditions. Seven different vegetation/surface types were selected for study along a gradient from Heath through to mature white spruce (Picea glauca) forest. The seven sites were termed heath, tundra, burned tundra, replicate tundra ISS2, tall shrub, shallow lake and forest. These sites were located within a 5 km radius of Council. This region of tundra and forest is representative of the contrast in vegetation that may be observed across northern treeline [Lafleur et al. 1992]. Leaf area index (LAI) was measured in these sites at peak season biomass using optical techniques (Licor Inc., model LAI-2000). See Copass data Samples of each of the following layers (moss/fibric/humic/mineral) were collected using a large (30cm diameter) soil corer and at least 3cm of each layer was collected. Care was takem not to compress the samples. Total volume of the sample was recorded. The samples were then weighed. Dried and weighed again to obtain bulk density (g.cm-3). DATA FORMAT: There is only one file that contains bulkdensity data bdsumry These files are saved in two formats *.xls being an Excel4 worksheet and *.txt being a comma delineated text file. The files contain one or more of the following parameters and the parameter names are given at the top of each column. The following table gives the parameter definitions. SITE -9999 16.6 Council 1999 sites LAYER -9999 16.6 Moss/fibric/humic or mineral layers SITELAYE -9999 17.8 Code denoting site and layer together BD_G_CM3 -9999 16.6 Mean bulk density of layer over 10 samples BD_G_CM3 -9999 16.6 Standard error of bulk density for ten measurements (g.cm-3)