The Niwot Ridge and Green Lakes Valley (NWT) long-term ecological research (LTER) site collects environmental observations spanning both alpine and subalpine regimes. The first observations began in 1952 and have since expanded to nearly 300 available datasets over an area of 99 km² within the north-central Colorado Rocky Mountains that include hydrological (n = 101), biological (n = 79), biogeochemical (n = 62), and geographical (n = 56) observations. The NWT LTER database is well suited to support hydrologic investigations that require long-term and interdisciplinary data sets. Experimentation and data collection at the NWT LTER are designed to characterize ecological responses of high-mountain environments to changes in climate, nutrients, and water availability. In addition to the continuation of the many legacy NWT datasets, expansion of the breadth and utility of the NWT LTER database is driven by new initiatives including (a) a catchment-scale sensor network of soil moisture, temperature, humidity, and snow-depth observations to understand hydrologic connectivity and (b) snow-albedo alteration experiments using black sand to evaluate the effects of snow-disappearance on ecosystems. Together, these observational and experimental datasets provide a substantial foundation for hydrologic studies seeking to understand and predict changes to catchment and local-scale process interactions.

中文翻译：

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Niwot Ridge 长期生态研究站点的流域尺度观测

Niwot Ridge 和 Green Lakes Valley (NWT) 长期生态研究 (LTER) 站点收集跨越高山和亚高山地区的环境观察结果。第一观测始于1952年，并扩展到近300可用的数据集在一个99公里的地区²，其包括水文北部和中部科罗拉多洛矶山脉（内Ñ  = 101），生物（Ñ  = 79），生物地球化学（Ñ  = 62) 和地理 ( n = 56) 观察。NWT LTER 数据库非常适合支持需要长期和跨学科数据集的水文调查。NWT LTER 的实验和数据收集旨在表征高山环境对气候、养分和水资源可用性变化的生态响应。除了许多传统 NWT 数据集的延续之外，NWT LTER 数据库的广度和效用的扩展还受到新举措的推动，包括 (a) 流域尺度的土壤湿度、温度、湿度和积雪深度传感器网络观察以了解水文连通性和 (b) 使用黑沙评估雪消失对生态系统影响的雪反照率改变实验。一起，