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Long-term monitoring of riparian water tables and groundwater chemistry began in 2000 along four first or second order steams in and around the Gwynns Falls watershed in Baltimore City and County, MD. One site (Oregon Ridge) is in the completely forested Pond Branch catchment that serves as a ""reference"" study area for the Baltimore LTER (BES). Two sites (Glyndon, Gwynbrook) were in suburban areas of the watershed; one just upstream from the Glyndon BES long-term stream monitoring site in the headwaters of the Gwynns Falls, and one along a tributary that enters the Gwynns Falls just above the Gwynnbrook BES long-term stream monitoring site farther downstream. The final, urban site (Cahill) was along a tributary to the Gwynns Falls in Leakin Park in the urban core of the watershed. Water table data and more detailed descriptions of soils, vegetation, stream channel properties and microbial processes at these sites can be found in Groffman et al. (2002, Environmental Science and Technology 36:4547-4552) and Gift et al. (2010, Restoration Ecology 18:113-120).
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Landscape characteristics for urban gradients in United States cities across multiple scales
This dataset contains tabular data at three scales (city, tract, and synoptic site) and related vector shapefiles (for watersheds or buffers around synoptic sites) for areas included in the Carbon in Urban River Biogeochemistry Project (CURB) to assess how social, built, and biophysical factors shape aquatic functions. The city scale included 486 urban areas in the continental United States with greater than 50,000 residents. Tabular data are provided for each urban area (CURB_CensusUrbanArea.csv) and all U.S. Census tracts within seven urban areas (Atlanta, GA, Boston, MA, Miami, FL, Phoenix, AZ, Portland, OR, Salt Lake City, UT, and San Francisco, CA; CURB_CensusTract.csv) to characterize a range of social, built, and biophysical factors. In six focal cities (Baltimore, MD, Boston, MA, Atlanta, GA, Miami, FL, Salt Lake City, UT, and Portland, OR) up to 100 sites were selected for synoptic water quality sampling. For each synoptic site tabular data (CURB_SynopticSite.csv) are provided to characterize a range of social, built, and biophysical factors within the watershed (Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Portland, Salt Lake City) or within a buffer of the site (Miami). Vector shapefiles are provided for the watershed boundaries (CURB_Synoptic_Watersheds.zip) for all synoptic sites in each city except Miami, FL where 400-m buffers (CURB_Miami_Synoptic_Buffers.zip) around the synoptic site were used.
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- PAR ID:
- 10613236
- Publisher / Repository:
- U.S. Geological Survey
- Date Published:
- Subject(s) / Keyword(s):
- boundaries society Water Resources Hydrology Water Quality Land Use Change Urbanization
- Format(s):
- Medium: X Other: csv; xml; zip
- Right(s):
- Creative Commons Zero v1.0 Universal
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Denitrification potential and a series of ancillary variables (inorganic nitrogen concentrations, moisture content, organic matter content, microbial biomass carbon and nitrogen content, potential net nitrogen mineralization and nitrification, microbial respiration, root biomass) has been measured in riparian zone soils and stream geomorphic features by a series of undergraduate and graduate student researchers as part of the Baltimore Ecosystem Study since the early 2000s. These studies often center on the series of sites where there has been long-term monitoring (since 2000) of riparian water tables and groundwater chemistry along four first or second order steams in and around the Gwynns Falls watershed in Baltimore City and County, MD (https://doi.org/10.6073/pasta/f7721ec5a4fab5b031f8056824e07e7d). One site is in the completely forested Pond Branch catchment that serves as a "reference" study area for the Baltimore LTER (BES). Two sites (Glyndon, Gwynbrook) are in suburban areas of the watershed; one just upstream from the Glyndon BES long-term stream monitoring site in the headwaters of the Gwynns Falls, and one along a tributary that enters the Gwynns Falls just above the Gwynnbrook BES long-term stream monitoring site farther downstream. The final, urban site (Cahill) is along a tributary to the Gwynns Falls in Leakin Park in the urban core of the watershed. Other sites were used in different studies as described in the publications associated with each study. The different studies also varied in just which ancillary variables were measured.more » « less
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In the Baltimore urban long-term ecological research (LTER) project, (Baltimore Ecosystem Study, BES) we use the watershed approach to evaluate integrated ecosystem function. The LTER research is centered on the Gwynns Falls watershed, a 17,150 ha catchment that traverses a gradient from the urban core of Baltimore, through older urban residential (1900 - 1950) and suburban (1950- 1980) zones, rapidly suburbanizing areas and a rural/suburban fringe. Our long-term sampling network includes four longitudinal sampling sites along the Gwynns Falls as well as several small (40 - 100 ha) watersheds located within or near to the Gwynns Falls. The longitudinal sites provide data on water and nutrient fluxes in the different land use zones of the watershed (rural/suburban, rapidly suburbanizing, old suburban, urban core) and the small watersheds provide more focused data on specific land use areas (forest, agriculture, rural/suburban, urban). Each of the gaging sites is continuously monitored for discharge and is sampled weekly for chemistry. Additional chemical sampling is carried out in a supplemental set of sites to provide a greater range of land use. Weekly analyses includes nitrate, phosphate, total nitrogen, total phosphorus, chloride and sulfate, turbidity, fecal coliforms, temperature, dissolved oxygen and pH. Cations, dissolved organic carbon and nitrogen and metals are measured on selected samples. This dataset presents stream chemistry from the Cub Hill stream sites. The Cub Hill site is 14 km from the Baltimore city center (39 degrees 24'30.20N, 76 degrees 30'50.62W) and is the location of the first permanent urban carbon flux tower in an urban/suburban environment, established in 2001 by the U.S. Forest Service. Three stream monitoring sites were established in the residential area in the footprint of the tower; Jennifer Branch at North Wind Rd. (JBNW) and two headwater tributaries to Jennifer Branch: Harford Hills (JBHH) and Ontario (JBON). These sites were sampled weekly from August 2003 through June 2010.more » « less
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In the Baltimore urban long-term ecological research (LTER) project, (Baltimore Ecosystem Study, BES) we use the watershed approach to evaluate integrated ecosystem function. The LTER research is centered on the Gwynns Falls watershed, a 17,150 ha catchment that traverses a gradient from the urban core of Baltimore, through older urban residential (1900 - 1950) and suburban (1950- 1980) zones, rapidly suburbanizing areas and a rural/suburban fringe. Our long-term sampling network includes four longitudinal sampling sites along the Gwynns Falls as well as several small (40 - 100 ha) watersheds located within or near to the Gwynns Falls. The longitudinal sites provide data on water and nutrient fluxes in the different land use zones of the watershed (rural/suburban, rapidly suburbanizing, old suburban, urban core) and the small watersheds provide more focused data on specific land use areas (forest, agriculture, rural/suburban, urban). Each of the gaging sites is continuously monitored for discharge and is sampled weekly for chemistry. Additional chemical sampling is carried out in a supplemental set of sites to provide a greater range of land use. Weekly analyses includes nitrate, phosphate, total nitrogen, total phosphorus, chloride and sulfate, turbidity, fecal coliforms, temperature, dissolved oxygen and pH. Cations, dissolved organic carbon and nitrogen and metals are measured on selected samples. Streamflow data for this site are posted at: http://waterdata.usgs.gov/md/nwis/nwisman?site_no=015835701more » « less
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