Notes from Breakout Group

Alternative models for regional observatory design

 

Report from Pat Mulholland, ORNL

 

The following is a summary of some alternative models suggested (these are not necessarily mutually exclusive):

  1. One or more defined, fixed wildland to urban (intensive human use) gradients (100- 200 km) containing on central site and a number of other sites for locating instrumentation, combined with satellite sites at other locations in the broader region that capture the variation in wildland and intensively used lands within the region. 
  2. One or two (intersecting) long corridors (e.g., east to west, north to south) that include the variation in physiographic, vegetation, and human use lands in the region.
  3. Sites along a virtual gradient based on ecosystem services and disturbance (human alteration).  Sites would be located throughout the region and would tie in to remotely sensed data as ground truth and/or would represent areas providing key ecosystem services.
  4. Limited number of fixed sites (possibly along a wildland to urban gradient), a larger set of rotated sites (3-5 years rotation frequency), and substantial capability for mobile instrumentation to take advantage of opportunistic disturbances.

 

Several key points were raised in conjunction with the above suggestions:

 

a)     Considerable variation in physiography, etc. in region.

b)    Transects donŐt have to be linear.

c)     Sites should be located within watershed hierarchy (1st to higher order catchments).

d)    Is replication important in gradient designs?  Or are extremes more important?  Consensus was the latter.  Must be able to identify thresholds (need good distribution of sites across gradients)

e)     Focus should be on ecosystem services and vulnerability (human pressures)

f)     Urban really means intensively used lands (commercial, residential, intensive agriculture).

g)     Use remote sensing to monitor some variables across the entire region and then use ground-based instrumentation for ground truth and to expanding variables.

h)    Involvement of K-12 education.  Every school tied to at least one site.  Curriculum provided to teachers.

 

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