| Site | Straits Enclosure, Hampshire, UK |
|---|---|
| Altitude | 80 masl |
| Slope | 0o |
| Soil | A pelo-stagnogley which has a depth of 80 cm to the C horizon of the cretaceous clay. PH is 4.6 in the upper, organic horizon and 4.8 in the mineral layer. |
| Stand description and management | The stand dimensions are 900 m x 1000 m, with the whole area planted as a monospecific stand during the 1930s. The mensuration plot was thinned in 1991, 1994, and 1999. The stand is an area of production forest and as such, management intervention in some areas is almost continuous, the whole of the eastern half was thinned in 2007 with the remainder scheduled for 2011. |
| Meteorology and pollution climate |
Annual precipitation is 779 mm (30 year average); Long term (1950-present) climate data are available (UK Met. Office affiliated) within 5 km of the site (at the same altitude), and an automatic weather station was installed adjacent to the climatic station in 1994. |
| Mensuration data | 495 trees per hectare; Top height = 20.5 m; DBH = 29.0 cm; Basal area = 23.4 m2/ha; General yield class (MAI) = 6 (m3/ha/yr). |
| Species | Quercus spp. (Q. robur and Q. petraea) with approximately 10% Fraxinus excelsior. |
| Ground vegetation | The understorey is dominated by Corylus avellana, Crataegus monogyna, Rubus spp. with a herbaceous layer of various grasses and herbs. Understorey/ground vegetation leaf area index and biomass were determined during the 1999 growing season; LAI of the understorey varied between 2.3 and 3.6 in July, with primary production of the ground flora ranging between 1.2 and 2.4 t ha-1. |
| Flux data | The equipment was installed in March 1998, 85 % data capture has been exceeded since the beginning of May 1998 (>95% for most months). Mean NEE has averaged 4.05t C ha-1 y-1 with a range of between 3.5 & 5.1t C ha-1 y-1. |
Forest Research home > Research > Climate change > Climate change mitigation > Straits carbon flux site
Straits Enclosure long-term carbon flux monitoring - site description
