HR: 14:15h
AN: A33A-03    [Abstracts]
TI: New Mexico EPSCoR: a Statewide Ecohydrology and Flux Network Within a Semi-arid Region
AU: * Cleverly, J R
EM: cleverly@sevilleta.unm.edu
AF: Department of Biology, MSC03 2020 1 University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131 United States
AU: Bowman, R
EM: bowman@nmt.edu
AF: Department of Earth and Environmental Science, New Mexico Tech 801 Leroy Place, Socorro, NM 87801 United States
AU: Dahm, C N
EM: cdahm@sevilleta.unm.edu
AF: Department of Biology, MSC03 2020 1 University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131 United States
AU: Allred Coonrod, J E
EM: jcoonrod@unm.edu
AF: Department of Civil Engineering, MSC01 1070 1 University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131 United States
AU: Samani, Z
EM: zsamani@nmsu.edu
AF: Department of Civil and Geological Engineering, MSC 3CE New Mexico State University PO Box 30001, Las Cruces, NM 88003-8001 United States
AU: Thibault, J R
EM: jrtebo@sevilleta.unm.edu
AF: Department of Biology, MSC03 2020 1 University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131 United States
AU: Gosz, J R
EM: jgosz@unm.edu
AF: NM EPSCoR Office, 801 University St, Ste. 301, Albuquerque, NM 87106 United States
AB: Semi-arid regions are often comprised of numerous biomes, from highly productive gallery forests along riparian corridors, to desert shrub or grassland steppes, and high-elevation mixed conifer forests. Each of these vegetation assemblages across the landscape regulates hydrologic and atmospheric fluxes both locally and within basins. We are introducing a recently initiated NSF-EPSCoR project in ecohydrology to integrate measurements within the Rio Grande basin at these appropriate scales. Eddy covariance flux towers are being upgraded or established in four nodes within the state of New Mexico: (1) at five riparian locations along the Middle Rio Grande, (2) four agricultural and open water locations in the Lower Rio Grande, (3) two middle-elevation sites on the Sevilleta NWR, and (4) four upper elevation sites in the Upper Rio Grande. These local measurements are to be scaled throughout the basin using a combination of integrated remote sensing and hydrologic modeling. Each site is additionally instrumented with groundwater wells, where appropriate. Previous results from existing towers illustrate species-specific variation in water and energy fluxes due to the response of vegetation to changes in groundwater depth, groundwater chemistry (e.g., nitrate and chloride), flooding, drought, micrometeorological conditions, and topographical constraints. Constructing the infrastructure for within-basin networking of evapotranspiration and fluxes of water, energy, and carbon will lead to a better understanding of the coupled responses and feedbacks between vegetation, hydrology, and the atmosphere across multiple teleconnected biomes.
DE: 1818 Evapotranspiration
DE: 1851 Plant ecology
DE: 1878 Water/energy interactions
DE: 3307 Boundary layer processes
DE: 3322 Land/atmosphere interactions
SC: Atmospheric Sciences [A]
MN: 2005 Joint Assembly