INTRODUCING NEVCAN: THE NEVADA CLIMATEECOHYDROLOGICAL ASSESSMENT NETWORK OF
REAL-TIME VERY HIGH RESOLUTION
ENVIRONMENTAL DATA IN THE GREAT BASIN
Mensing, Scott1, Strachan, Scotty1 , Biondi, Franco1, Devitt, Dale3,
Fenstermaker, Lynn2, Arnone, Jay2, Saito, Laurel1, Bird, Brian3, Lyles, Brad2,
McCurdy, Greg2, Lancaster, Nicholas2, Piechota, Thomas3
(1) University of Nevada, Reno, NV 89557, (2) Desert Research Institute, Reno,
NV 89512 (3) University of Nevada, Las Vegas, NV 89514
Few stations - Valley locations
Even fewer Mountain stations
Nothing capturing the valley to mountain gradient that
characterizes much of the western United States
Scotty Strachan, 2010
NevCAN Site Diagram
Basic Meteorological
Sensors:
-Net radiation
-PAR
-Air Temperature
-Relative Humidity
-Wind Speed/Direction
-Precipitation (Geonor and
ultrasonic snow depth)
Soil Sensors:
-Soil Temp at 5 depths
-Soil Moisture at 5 depths
-Soil Matric Potential
Air Temperature
Plant Sensors:
-Sap flow
-Point Dendrometers
Other:
-Surface Runoff
-Webcam
Soil moisture
Precipitation Sensors
 Tipping bucket rain gauges
 Geonor bulk catch for rain and snow
 Ultra-sonic snow depth and snow stakes
Infiltration and Water Storage
Time domain reflectometry (TDR;
installed vertically and horizontally):
Volumetric water content, soil water storage, water
infiltration rates, depth of wetting front to infer
ground water recharge
TDR installed at
Snake Pinyon-Juniper West
Point, tilt, zoom camera images
Monitoring of weather, phenology, show melt and sensor conditions
Oct 1, 2011
Mar 19, 2012
May 6, 2012
Sept 9, 2011, 12:00
Sept 9, 2011, 16:00
Snake Subalpine West
seasonal changes
Sheep Pinyon Juniper hourly
differences of a nearby
wildfire
1 and 10 min. data transferred in real
time via wireless and IP network
NevCAN instrumentation
Scotty Strachan, 2011
NevCAN: Snake Range Tour
NevCAN: Snake Range West
Scotty Strachan, 2010
1600 m elev. gradient
Sagebrush – 1790 m
Scotty Strachan, 2011
Pinyon Juniper – 2200 m
Montane – 2815 m
White fir
Douglas fir
Limber pine
Carolyn Rosner, 2010
Subalpine – 3400 m
Bristlecone pine
Engelmann spruce
Limber pine
Scotty Strachan, 2011
NevCAN: Snake Range East
Subalpine – 3050 m
Engelmann spruce
Limber pine
Aspen
Scotty Strachan, 2011
Sagebrush – 1700 m
Scotty Strachan, 2011
Salt desert shrub – 1550 m
Scotty Strachan, 2011
NevCAN: Sheep Range Tour
Mojave desert shrub – 800 m
Scotty Strachan, 2011
Blackbrush and Joshua Tree – 1600 m
Scotty Strachan, 2011
Pinyon Juniper – 2000 m
Photo
by ScottyKilpatrick,
Strachan
Mackenzie
2012
Montane – 2350 m
Ponderosa Pine
Pinyon Pine
Juniper
by Scotty Strachan
Scotty Strachan,Photo
2012
Subalpine – 3000 m
Bristlecone pine
(permitted future site)
Scotty Strachan, 2012
Data Analysis: Air Temperature
40
Sagebrush West
Montane West
Subalpine West
Hourly Average Air Temperature (C)
Snake Range Transect
30
20
10
0
-10
-20
10/4/10
10/11/10
10/18/10
Date
Hourly data
10/25/10
11
5/
1/
20
11
6/
1/
20
11
7/
1/
20
11
8/
1/
20
11
9/
1/
20
11
10
/1
/2
01
1
11
/1
/2
01
1
12
/1
/2
01
1
1/
1/
20
12
2/
1/
20
12
3/
1/
20
12
4/
1/
20
11
3/
1/
20
Monthly Average Air Temperature (C)
Snake Range Transect
30
20
Sagebrush West
Pinyon Juniper West
Montane West
Supalpine West
Subalpine East
Sagebrush East
Salt Desert Shrub East
10
0
-10
Data Analysis: Precipitation
Snake Range Transect
180
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
M
ar
/2
01
1
Ap
r/2
01
1
M
ay
/2
01
1
Ju
n/
20
11
Ju
l/2
01
1
Au
g/
20
11
Se
p/
20
11
O
ct/
20
11
No
v/2
01
1
De
c/
20
11
Ja
n/
20
12
Fe
b/
20
12
M
ar
/2
01
2
Total Monthly Precipitiation (mm)
160
Sagebrush West
Pinyon Juniper West
Montane West
Subalpine West
Subalpine East
Sagebrush East
Salt Desert Shrub East
Data Analysis: Soil Temperature
4 Sheep Range sites at 5 depths
Mojave Desert Shrub 800 m
Pinyon-Juniper 2000 m
Blackbrush 1600 m
Montane 2350 m
Vegetation Sensors – experimental observations
Point dendrometer at
Snake Subalpine East
Sap flow sensor at Snake
Pinyon-Juniper West
Photo: B. Johnson
NDVI sensor at Snake
Valley site
Soil Sensors – experimental observations
Temperature
Soil heat flux (G)
plate (self-calibrating “Van
den Bos-Hoeksma” method,
-30o to 70o C)
Soil temperature:
Copper constant thermocouple
(installed at 5 depths)
Moisture
Dual probe heat
pulse
(soil thermal
conductivity, diffusivity,
and specific heat)
Soil water
matric
potential Ψ
(-10 to 2500 kPa)
Combining multiple datasets to determine controls on species growth
Data and analysis from Brittany Johnson and Jay Arnone
Air T
Soil T
Soil VWC
Sap velocity
Air T
Soil T
Soil VWC
Sap velocity
Qualitative phenologic studies combining PTZ cameras and
sapflow sensors to monitor the growing season
Data and analysis from Brittany Johnson and Jay Arnone
Ongoing research that utilizes the transects
Jay Arnone - DRI
• Environmental controls on tree transpiration in the montane and
subalpine “recharge” zones
Franco Biondi - UNR
• Hydroclimatic factors that control tree-ring formation in conifers
along an elevation gradient
Dale Devitt - UNLV
Lynn Fenstermaker - DRI
• Fate of ppt in the Snake Range - soil water content, runoff, plant
water use and environmental demand
Tom Albright - UNR
• Microclimatic spatio-temporal variation in temperature in
complex terrain
http://sensor.nevada.edu