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CLIM-MET Stations (meteorological and wind-erosion monitoring) at Ecologically Sensitive Sites

For additional information, please visit http://esp.cr.usgs.gov/info/sw/clim-met/.

Canyonlands

Monitoring eolian processes (saltation and dust deposition) at sites having different land-use histories, including two currently grazed settings, show a range of eolian activity, with most wind erosion at one of the currently grazed sites. Extreme drought in the region during 2002 greatly exacerbated vegetation loss, wind erosion, and dust-event frequency at this site.

Mojave Desert

Three meteorological stations are located in the Mojave National Preserve in the vicinity of Soda Lake. These stations record standard meteorological parameters along with wind-erosion data and include two kinds of traps for eolian (wind-blown) sediment. The stations are located in slightly different geomorphic setting. The stations are located in three distinctive geomorphic settings, each scoured by wind: one site near the playa margin on a shallow-gradient slope that carries sheet wash during rare flooding, a second site near a small but periodically active wash, and the third site in the broad outwash of the Mojave River. At each site small coppice dunes are common, and surficial deposits in the top 15 cm are dominantly sandy (typically greater than 80 percent sand). Deposits between dunes and in washes commonly have higher silt/clay content (20 to 50 percent).

The data from meteorological stations are linked with observations of dust and vegetation change by project members on the ground, remote digital cameras, and satellites to test and improve wind-erosion models. The project work is coordinated with the management issues of the National Park Service, especially the Mojave National Preserve.

Over the past three years, interannual variations in the frequency of spring-time dust emission from the study area were related to variations in winter precipitation and perhaps in wind strength that apparently reflected different northern hemispheric zonal flow patterns. During the spring season of 2002, very high levels of dust emission from the region (Mojave Desert and at least locally on the Colorado Plateau) were related to very low amounts of regional, accumulated precipitation from the preceding autumn and winter, resulting in low vegetation cover.