Water Balance in a Mid-Latitude, Mixed Grass Prairie
Abstract
Covering more than 50,000 square kilometers, the Nebraska Sand Hills are the largest stabilized dune field in the world. A unique feature of this region is the close proximity of the land surface to the vast High Plains Aquifier. The land-surface is classified as a mixed grass prairie, and except for a few very small instances, has never been put under the plow. The region is currently home to most of the rangeland cattle industry in Nebraska, and prior to European settlement, was the primary home-range for large herds of North American bison. The co-location of an extensive sub-surface water resource and an inherently semi-arid climate produces an interesting ecosystem, which affords many unique opportunities to study plant-water relationships. We are currently operating a pair of Energy Balance/Bowen Ratio (EBBR) systems to measure evapotranspiration and other ecosystem parameters within key land surface types. We now have 2 growing seasons or more than 20 months of data. We will discuss this data and compare the two seasons in terms of water inputs and outputs.
- Publication:
-
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2003
- Bibcode:
- 2003AGUFM.H32C0593B
- Keywords:
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- 1818 Evapotranspiration;
- 3322 Land/atmosphere interactions