Search NASA⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “ATMOSPHERIC PRECIPITATIONS”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 19 records

Statistical Relations among Solid Precipitation, Atmospheric Moisture and Cloud Parameters in the Arctic

Observations collected during cold-season precipitation periods at Utquagvik, Alaska and at the multidisciplinary drifting observatory for the study of Arctic climate (MOSAiC) are used to statistically analyze the relations among the atmospheric water cycle parameters including the columnar supercooled liquid and ice amounts (expressed as liquid-water and ice-water paths, i.e., LWP and IWP), the integrated water vapor (IWV) and the near-surface snowfall rate. Data come from radar and radiometer-based retrievals and from optical precipitation sensors. While the correlation between snowfall rate and LWP is rather weak, correlation coefficients between radar-derived snowfall rate and IWP are high (~0.8), which is explained, in part, by the generally low LWP/IWP ratios during significant precipitation. Correlation coefficients between snowfall rate and IWV are moderate (~0.45). Correlations are generally weaker if snowfall is estimated by optical sensors, which is, in part, due to blowing snow. Correlation coefficients between near-surface temperature and snowfall rates are low (r < 0.3). The results from the Alaska and MOSAiC sites are generally similar. These results are not very sensitive to the amount of time averaging (e.g., 15 min averaging versus daily averages). Observationally based relations among the water cycle parameters are informative about atmospheric moisture conversion processes and can be used for model evaluations.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

An Overview of ARTMIP's Tier 2 Reanalysis Intercomparison: Uncertainty in the Detection of Atmospheric Rivers and Their Associated Precipitation

Atmospheric rivers, or long but narrow regions of enhanced water vapor transport, are an important component of the hydrologic cycle as they are responsible for much of the poleward transport of water vapor and result in precipitation, sometimes extreme in intensity. Despite their importance, much uncertainty remains in the detection of atmospheric rivers in large datasets such as reanalyses and century scale climate simulations. To understand this uncertainty, the Atmospheric River Tracking Method Intercomparison Project (ARTMIP) developed tiered experiments, including the Tier 2 Reanalysis Intercomparison that is presented here. Eleven detection algorithms submitted hourly tags--binary fields indicating the presence or absence of atmospheric rivers--of detected atmospheric rivers in the Modern Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications, version 2 (MERRA-2) and European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts' Reanalysis Version 5 (ERA5) as well as six-hourly tags in the Japanese 55-year Reanalysis (JRA-55). Due to a higher climatological mean for integrated water vapor transport in MERRA-2, atmospheric rivers were detected more frequently relative to the other two reanalyses, particularly in algorithms that use a fixed threshold for water vapor transport. The finer horizontal resolution of ERA5 resulted in narrower atmospheric rivers and an ability to detect atmospheric rivers along resolved coastlines. We found that the fraction of hemispheric area covered by ARs varies throughout the year in all three reanalyses, with different atmospheric river detection tools having different seasonal cycles.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Contribution of Atmospheric Rivers to Antarctic Precipitation

Abstract Atmospheric rivers (ARs) are efficient mechanisms for transporting atmospheric moisture from low latitudes to the Antarctic Ice Sheet (AIS). While AR events occur infrequently, they can lead to extreme precipitation and surface melt events on the AIS. Here we estimate the contribution of ARs to total Antarctic precipitation, by combining precipitation from atmospheric reanalyses and a polar‐specific AR detection algorithm. We show that ARs contribute substantially to Antarctic precipitation, especially in East Antarctica at elevations below 3,000 m. ARs contribute substantially to year‐to‐year variability in Antarctic precipitation. Our results highlight that ARs are an important component for understanding present and future Antarctic mass balance trends and variability.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

A Climatology and Life‐Cycle Characteristics of Atmospheric Fronts and Their Associated Precipitation

Abstract Atmospheric fronts are one of the main sources of mid‐latitude variability. We employ a novel method for identifying and tracking fronts and frontal precipitation. Thermal and dynamical variables are used to identify fronts as areal objects in space, which are tracked in time using the open‐source TempestExtremes software package. Precipitation objects are co‐located to identify frontal precipitation. The method is subjected to validation and sensitivity tests using manually curated data from the National Weather Service. Climatologies of fronts and frontal precipitation are computed from reanalysis and observations; fronts are present upwards of 14% of the time in the storm tracks, and represent the majority (up to 90%) of total and extreme precipitation. Novel aspects of the method are showcased through the lifetime characteristics of fronts across North America. Three sets of warm and cold fronts were discovered, and their duration, distance‐traveled, and translation velocity are examined. Plain Language Summary Mid‐latitude low‐pressure systems and weather fronts are important for our day‐to‐day experience of weather events, particularly in the mid‐latitudes. This work makes use of standardized atmospheric data and creates a method of automatically tracking these important atmospheric features and their precipitation to quantify their relative role in global precipitation. Weather fronts are persistent in the mid‐latitudes and are associated with the majority of precipitation–particularly the most intense precipitation. Trajectories of fronts over North America are categorized to create a set of archetypal fronts that occur in that region. The differences between these types of fronts are characterized. Key Points An automated, efficient, and skillful frontal detection algorithm is developed and validated Fronts contribute a larger fraction of extreme precipitation than all precipitation in mid‐latitude storm tracks Fronts across North America have substantial variation in characteristics depending on their origin location

extratropical cyclone↗

Synoptic Drivers of Atmospheric River Induced Precipitation Near Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica

Atmospheric rivers (ARs) that reach the Antarctic Ice Sheet (AIS) transport anomalous moisture from lower latitudes and can impact the AIS via extreme precipitation and increased downward longwave radiation. ARs contribute significantly to the interannual variability of precipitation over the AIS and thus are likely to play a key role in understanding future changes in the surface mass balance of the AIS. Dronning Maud Land (DML) is one of four maxima in AR frequency over coastal East Antarctica, with AR precipitation explaining 77% of the interannual variability in precipitation for this region. We employ a 16-node self-organizing map (SOM) trained with MERRA-2 sea-level pressure anomalies to identify synoptic-scale environments associated with landfalling ARs in and around DML. Node composites of atmospheric variables reveal common drivers of precipitation associated with ARs reaching DML including anomalous high-low surface pressure couplets, anomalously high integrated water vapor, and coastal barrier jets. Using a quasi-geostrophic framework, we find that upward vertical motion associated with the occlusion process of attendant cyclones dominates atmospheric lift in AR environments. We further identify mechanisms that explain the variability in AR precipitation intensity across nodes, such as the lift associated with the occlusion process of attendant cyclones and the spatial coincidence of ascent induced by the occlusion process and frontogenesis. Here, the latter suggests that ARs making landfall during the mature phase of cyclogenesis result in higher precipitation intensity compared to landfalling ARs that occur during the occluded phase.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Sources of Subseasonal-To-Seasonal Predictability of Atmospheric Rivers and Precipitation in the Western United States

Atmospheric rivers (ARs) account for a large portion of winter precipitation in the western US. To evaluate the sources of AR and precipitation predictability at subseasonal-to-seasonal timescales, we examine the relationships between two climate modes, the El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and Madden-Julian oscillation (MJO), and winter hydroclimate in the western US. Our analysis uses a large ensemble of the Weather Research and Forecast (WRF) model simulations from 1981 to 2017, facilitating the assessment of uncertainty in climate mode-AR relationship due to climate variability and short length of observations. Over the North Pacific basin, we find ENSO-related latitudinal shifts of ARs, but ENSO has little effect on basin-wide averaged AR frequency. Over the western US, there is some uncertainty in the ENSO-AR connection due to the impacts of ENSO indices and datasets. However, extreme El Niño events defined by the ENSO longitude index are consistently linked to increased landfalling AR activity. The MJO can lead to significantly enhanced or suppressed landfalling AR activity in the large-ensembles, depending on the phase of MJO and time lag, while observations are too short in length to robustly show this signal. ENSO substantially modulates the MJO-AR relationship, triggering variegated responses of landfalling ARs and AR precipitation in La Niña and El Niño years. Our findings highlight the need to evaluate concurrent effects of different climate modes on ARs and precipitation, and may shed light on a path toward more accurate subseasonal-to-seasonal prediction of ARs and precipitation over the western US.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Atmospheric-river-induced precipitation in California as simulated by the regionally refined Simple Convective Resolving E3SM Atmosphere Model (SCREAM) Version 0

Abstract. Using the regionally refined mesh (RRM) configuration of the US Department of Energy's Simple Cloud-Resolving Energy Exascale Earth System Model (E3SM) Atmosphere Model (SCREAM), we simulate and evaluate four meteorologically distinct atmospheric river events over California. We test five different RRM configurations, each differing in terms of the areal extent of the refined mesh and the resolution (ranging from 800 m to 3.25 km). We find that SCREAM RRM generally has a good representation of the AR-generated precipitation in CA, even for the control simulation which has a very small 3 km refined patch, and is able to capture the fine-scale regional distributions that are controlled largely by the fine-scale topography of the state. It is found that SCREAM generally has a wet bias over topography, most prominently over the Sierra Nevada mountain range, with a corresponding dry bias on the lee side. We find that refining the resolution beyond 3 km (specifically 1.6 km and 800 m) has virtually no benefit towards reducing systematic precipitation biases but that improvements can be found when increasing the areal extent of the upstream refined mesh. However, these improvements are relatively modest and only realized if the size of the refined mesh is expanded to the scale where employing RRM no longer achieves the substantial cost benefit it was intended for.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Changing Trends in Drought Patterns over the Northeastern United States Using Multiple Large Ensemble Datasets

Since the infamous extreme drought of the 1960s, the climate of the northeastern United States (NEUS) has generally trended toward warmer and wetter conditions. Nonetheless, there is mounting evidence that short-term droughts will continue to pose a significant risk for this region. To better explore the processes governing events such as these, climate models have adopted more complex representations of the fully coupled atmosphere–land–ocean–sea ice system; however, large uncertainties in future projections still persist, with internal variability necessitating large ensembles to understand trends in both rare and high-impact extreme events such as rapidly developing droughts (a term here that includes flash droughts developing on monthly scales). In this study, seven large ensemble (LE) models are employed to answer the outstanding question: How are the frequency and character of drought in the NEUS changing under a warming climate? We find that most LE models indicate the NEUS will experience a long-term wetting trend with more “extremely wet” months, but also more frequent short-term extreme droughts. These changes are associated with increasing precipitation, atmospheric water demand, and climate variability. We also conclude that discrepant trends in precipitation and evapotranspiration variability will lead to increasing anticorrelation of these variables, which is relevant to the intensification of rapidly developing drought, particularly in the spring season. These changes are associated with an increase in evapotranspiration from plants, brought by an earlier emergence of the growing season and denser vegetation.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

E3SM‐Arctic: Regionally Refined Coupled Model for Advanced Understanding of Arctic Systems Interactions

Earth system models are essential tools for climate projections, but coarse resolutions limit regional accuracy, especially in the Arctic. Regionally refined meshes (RRMs) enhance resolution in key areas while maintaining computational efficiency. This paper provides an overview of the United States (U.S.) Department of Energy's (DOE's) Energy Exascale Earth System Model version 2.1 with an Arctic RRM, hereafter referred to as E3SMv2.1-Arctic, for the atmosphere (25 km), land (25 km), and ocean/ice (10 km) components. We evaluate the atmospheric component and its interactions with land, ocean, and cryosphere by comparing the RRM (E3SM2.1-Arctic) historical simulations (1950–2014) with the uniform low-resolution (LR) counterpart, reanalysis products, and observational data sets. The RRM generally reduces biases in the LR model, improving simulations of Arctic large-scale mean fields, such as precipitation, atmospheric circulation, clouds, atmospheric river frequency, and sea ice thickness. However, it introduces a seasonally dependent surface air temperature bias, reducing the LR cold bias in summer but enhancing the LR warm bias in winter, which contributes to the underestimated winter sea ice area and volume. Radiative feedback analysis shows similar climate feedback strengths in both model configurations, with the RRM exhibiting a more positive surface albedo feedback and contributing to a stronger surface warming than LR. These findings underscore the importance of high-resolution modeling for advancing our understanding of Arctic climate changes and their broader global impacts, although some persistent biases appear to be independent of model resolution at 10–100 km scales.

Energy Exascale Earth System Model (E3SM)↗

Automated Operational Forecasting of Monsoon Low Pressure Systems

Monsoon low pressure systems (LPSs) are the dominant rain-bearing weather system of South Asia, often producing extreme precipitation and hydrological disasters in a region inhabited by nearly two billion people. Despite the importance of these storms, no operational system has automatically identified and tracked LPS in real time in numerical weather prediction model output; many commonly used vortex-tracking algorithms are ill suited for monsoon LPS because of the weak winds and cold cores of these systems. Here, we describe a new system that uses optimized algorithms to identify monsoon LPS in short- to medium-range forecasts from the U.S. Global Ensemble Forecast System (GEFS) and a version of the deterministic Global Forecast System (GFS) adapted and used operationally by the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM). We also assess the historical performance of these models in forecasting South Asian monsoon LPS, comparing this with the performance of the Integrated Forecasting System of the ECMWF. We assess the accuracy of model predictions of LPS genesis, position, intensity, and precipitation rates for forecast lead times of 1–5 days, yielding quantitative information on model biases to guide operational forecasters and disaster managers. The system we introduce here could be extended to other low-latitude regions affected by dynamically weak, heavily precipitating atmospheric vortices that are often not included in tropical cyclone inventories.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Seasonality and Albedo Dependence of Cloud Radiative Forcing in the Upper Colorado River Basin

Mountains create and enhance their own clouds, which both scatter and absorb shortwave radiation from the sun and absorb and re-emit land surface and atmospheric longwave radiation. However, the impacts of clouds on the surface radiation balance in high elevation snowy mountain terrain are poorly explored. In this study, we use data collected by the SAIL field campaign and partner organizations in the upper elevations (2,880 m.a.s.l) of the Upper Colorado River Basin (UCRB) over a 21-month period from September 2021 to June 2023 to estimate Cloud Radiative Forcing (CRF) in the shortwave, longwave, and the net effect. Longwave warming effects dominate during the winter when snow albedos are high (0.8–0.9) and the background atmospheric precipitable water vapor is low (<0.5 cm), yielding a maximum monthly average net CRF of +34.7 W·m -2 , meaning that clouds increase the net radiation relative to clear skies during this time period. The sign of net CRF switches in the warm season as snow recedes, sun-angles increase, and the North American monsoon arrives, yielding a minimum monthly average net CRF of -47.6 W·m -2 with hourly minima of -600 W·m -2 . The sign of net CRF is typically positive, even at solar noon, when the surface is snow covered, except for a brief period over melting, low-albedo snow (0.5–0.6) impacted by dust impurities. Sensitivity tests elucidate the role of the surface albedo on the net CRF. The results suggest that net CRF will increase in magnitude and lead to a more persistent cooling effect on the surface net radiation budget as the snow cover declines.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Two Year Cosmology Large Angular Scale Surveyor (CLASS) Observations: Long Timescale Stability Achieved with a Front-end Variable-delay Polarization Modulator at 40 GHz

The Cosmology Large Angular Scale Surveyor (CLASS) is a four-telescope array observing the largest angular scales (2≲ ℓ ≲ 200) of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) polarization. These scales encode information about reionization and inflation during the early universe. The instrument stability necessary to observe these angular scales from the ground is achieved through the use of a variable-delay polarization modulator as the first optical element in each of the CLASS telescopes. Here, we develop a demodulation scheme used to extract the polarization timestreams from the CLASS data and apply this method to selected data from the first 2 yr of observations by the 40 GHz CLASS telescope. These timestreams are used to measure the 1/f noise and temperature-to-polarization (T → P) leakage present in the CLASS data. We find a median knee frequency for the pair-differenced demodulated linear polarization of 15.12 mHz and a T → P leakage of <3.8 × 10 -4 (95% confidence) across the focal plane. We examine the sources of 1/f noise present in the data and find the component of 1/f due to atmospheric precipitable water vapor (PWV) has an amplitude of 203 ± 12 µK RJ $\sqrt{{s}}$ for 1 mm of PWV when evaluated at 10 mHz; accounting for ~17% of the 1/f noise in the central pixels of the focal plane. In conclusion, the low levels of T → P leakage and 1/f noise achieved through the use of a front-end polarization modulator are requirements for observing of the largest angular scales of the CMB polarization by the CLASS telescopes.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Ocean fronts and eddies force atmospheric rivers and heavy precipitation in western North America

Atmospheric rivers (ARs) are responsible for over 90% of poleward water vapor transport in the mid-latitudes and can produce extreme precipitation when making landfall. However, weather and climate models still have difficulty simulating and predicting landfalling ARs and associated extreme precipitation, highlighting the need to better understand AR dynamics. Here, using high-resolution climate models and observations, we demonstrate that mesoscale sea-surface temperature (SST) anomalies along the Kuroshio Extension can exert a remote influence on landfalling ARs and related heavy precipitation along the west coast of North America. Inclusion of mesoscale SST forcing in the simulations results in approximately a 40% increase in landfalling ARs and up to a 30% increase in heavy precipitation in mountainous regions and this remote impact occurs on two-week time scales. The asymmetrical response of the atmosphere to warm vs. cold mesoscale SSTs over the eddy-rich Kuroshio Extension region is proposed as a forcing mechanism that results in a net increase of moisture flux above the planetary boundary layer, prompting AR genesis via enhancing moisture transport into extratropical cyclones in the presence of mesoscale SST forcing.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

The controlling role of atmosphere in dawsonite versus gibbsite precipitation from tetrahedral aluminate species

In highly alkaline solution, aluminum speciates as the tetrahedrally coordinated aluminate monomer, Al(OH)4- and/or dimer Al2O(OH)62-, yet precipitates as octahedrally coordinated gibbsite (Al(OH)3). This tetrahedral to octahedral transformation governs Al precipitation, which is crucial to worldwide Al production, and to the processing of caustic high-level radioactive wastes. Despite its significance, the transformation pathway remains unknown. Here we explore the roles of atmospheric water and carbon dioxide in mediating the transformation of the tetrahedrally coordinated potassium aluminate dimer salt (K2Al2O(OH)6) to gibbsite versus potassium dawsonite (KAl(CO3)(OH)2). A combination of in-situ attenuated total reflection infrared spectroscopy, ex-situ micro X-ray diffraction, and multivariate curve resolution-alternating least squares chemometrics analysis reveals that humidity plays a key role in the transformation by limiting the amount of alkalinity neutralization by dissolved CO2. Lower humidity favors higher alkalinity and incorporation of carbonate species in the final Al product to form KAl(CO3)(OH)2. Higher humidity enables more acid generation that destabilizes dawsonite and favors gibbsite as the solubility limiting phase. Because the transformation was restricted to occur in thin water films, the results suggest that transition from tetra- to octahedrally coordinated Al does not have to occur in bulk solution, as has often been hypothesized, but may instead appear on the source mineral surface.

Dembowski, Mateusz↗

NGEE Arctic Rainfall Simulator Validation Data from Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico, Summer 2022

Experiments evaluating the uniformity and intensity of rainfall produced by the NGEE Arctic Rainfall Simulator (NARS) were conducted at Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico, over summer 2022. Petri dishes were placed in a grid within the NARS plot. Simulated rainfall was collected in each petri dish and the intensity and uniformity of the simulator was subsequently calculated. This data package contains two .csv files, one that summarizes the rainfall intensity and uniformity for each experiment, the other that contains individual petri dish water volume and intensity for each plot location and experiment. The Python scripts to control NARS are also included. The NGEE Arctic Rainfall Simulator (NARS) is a variable intensity rainfall simulator (RFS) with a frame design based on the Humphry et al. (2002) RFS and a water delivery system based on the Walnut Gulch (Paige et al., 2004) RFS. The NARS uses an aluminum frame that is fully deconstructable for transportation to field locations and a water system that enables variable rain intensity. Rain intensity control and data collection are automated using a Raspberry Pi microcomputer. The Next-Generation Ecosystem Experiments: Arctic (NGEE Arctic), was a 15-year research effort (2012-2027) to reduce uncertainty in Earth System Models by developing a predictive understanding of carbon-rich Arctic ecosystems and feedbacks to climate. NGEE Arctic was supported by the Department of Energy's Office of Biological and Environmental Research. The NGEE Arctic project had two field research sites: 1) located within the Arctic polygonal tundra coastal region on the Barrow Environmental Observatory (BEO) and the North Slope near Utqiagvik (Barrow), Alaska and 2) multiple areas on the discontinuous permafrost region of the Seward Peninsula north of Nome, Alaska. Through observations, experiments, and synthesis with existing datasets, NGEE Arctic provided an enhanced knowledge base for multi-scale modeling and contributed to improved process representation at global pan-Arctic scales within the Department of Energy's Earth system Model (the Energy Exascale Earth System Model, or E3SM), and specifically within the E3SM Land Model component (ELM).

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Using stable isotopes in water vapor to study the interdependence of clouds, atmospheric aerosols, and precipitation processes

This project deployed water vapor isotope measurements at the La Porte, Texas TRACER site during June-September 2022 to quantify mixing processes in sea breeze circulations. Using a Picarro L2130 analyzer, we collected high-frequency measurements of δD and δ¹⁸O that revealed how marine and terrestrial air masses mix during 46 identified sea breeze events. The isotopic tracers showed systematic changes during frontal passages, with composite analyses demonstrating vertical mixing between cool marine air and warmer air aloft. We developed a transilient matrix model that explicitly treats non-local mixing and isotopic fractionation to interpret the observations. The work directly supports TRACER's core objective of understanding convective initiation by constraining the vertical transport of water vapor and its interaction with Houston's aerosol-laden urban plume during sea breeze-convection coupling.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

Environmental monitoring data from the 2022-2023 field experiment at Game Ridge, Missoula County, Montana, USA

This dataset contains sensor data from programmed loggers as well as handheld moisture probes, including weather data, air and soil temperature, and soil volumetric water content. Data files and data dictionary(ies) are uploaded as .csv files. The Users Guide is a .pdf file. Location data can be found in the Google Earth file GameRidge_SitePlotCoordinates.kmz.kml included here. These datasets were collected for Plant Carbohydrate Depletion, Mycorrhizal Networks, and Vulnerability to Drought: An Experimental Test in the Field. This experiment examined the interdependency between plant hydraulics and carbohydrate availability and sought to develop ways to incorporate interactions with below ground symbiotic organisms to better model and quantify forest response to drought. This environmental data was collected to provide context for the fungal community data and Pinus ponderosa physiological data.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

SPRUCE Precipitation Chemistry and Bulk Atmospheric Deposition Beginning in 2013

This data set reports the chemistry of precipitation water that was collected at the SPRUCE site located in the S1 bog and calculated values of bulk atmospheric deposition of solutes in precipitation. Sample collection and analyses started during December of 2013 and will continue for the duration of the experiment. Precipitation samples were collected year round on an event-basis from up to three individual collectors. Samples were either composited or individually analyzed, depending on the total volume of water available relative to the amount needed to complete all laboratory analyses. Funnel/bottle collectors were used to collect rainfall and buckets were used to collect snowfall and mixed precipitation. Samples were analyzed for pH, specific conductivity, nutrient concentrations (ammonium, nitrate, soluble reactive phosphorus, total nitrogen), cation concentrations (calcium, magnesium), anion concentrations (chloride, sulfate), total organic carbon concentrations, and natural-abundance stable isotopes of water (δ18O-H2O and δD-H2O). Bulk deposition was calculated by multiplying rainfall amount by solute concentration for ammonium, nitrate, soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP), total nitrogen, calcium, magnesium, chloride, sulfate, and total organic carbon. All measurements were made at the 8.1-ha S1 bog forest site in northern Minnesota, 40 km north of Grand Rapids, in the USDA Forest Service Marcell Experimental Forest (MEF).

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗