Planning document of water, energy, and biogeochemical-budget (WEBB) research project, Loch Vale watershed, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado
Turk JT, Spahr NE, Campbell DH. 1993. Planning document of water, energy, and biogeochemical-budget (WEBB) research project, Loch Vale watershed, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado. U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Open-File Report. 92-628. US Geological Survey. Denver, CO
The interaction of climate change with water, energy, and biogeochemical budgets will be most profound in watersheds having biotic communities at the limit of their tolerance to climatic conditions. One such class of watershed is the alpine/subalpine/montane watersheds typical of the Rocky Mountains. Minor shifts in climate can markedly alter boundaries of community structure that define transitions in the processes controlling watershed function. Because such transitions are especially well defined in these watersheds, and because such watersheds are widespread throughout the Rocky Mountains and other great mountain ranges worldwide, these transitions and watersheds are a critical element in understanding the most immediate effects of climate change on watershed processes and the feedback of watershed processes to climate change. This report describes a plan of study for three research topics in which there is a critical lack of understanding of watershed processes in the alpine/subalpine/montane watersheds of the Rocky Mountains: (1) Processes controlling weathering and biogeochemical budgets. (2) Processes controlling the energy balance and chemistry of snowpacks. (3) Processes controlling the flow path and flux of water.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Turk, John; Spahr, Norman; Campbell, Donald
- Date of Issue
- 1993
- Publisher
- US Geological Survey
- Units
- HIST , ROMO
- Keywords
- basin characteristics, Biogeochemical budget, Biology, Chemistry, Ecology, ehistory, Energy, energy balance, History, Loch Vale Watershed, Snowpack, Water, Weathering