An Accomplishment-Based Request for Renewal of the Susquehanna-Shale Hills Critical Zone Observatory (SSHO)

萨斯奎汉纳-页岩山临界区观测站（SSHO）更新的基于成就的请求在NSF临界区观测站（CZO）计划的资助下，由PI Susan Brantley和合作研究员Chris Duffy（宾夕法尼亚州立大学）领导的CZO工作人员将专注于萨斯奎汉纳页岩山CZO的跨学科综合，数据共享和推广。最初成立于20世纪70年代，作为研究森林集水区水流的场所，8公顷的页岩山流域于2007年扩大为CZO，以了解针对水，能源，大气气体，生物群，土壤和地表相互作用的更广泛问题。除了小页岩山集水区，CZO还包括一套卫星站点，这些站点覆盖相同的基岩类型（页岩），但位于不同的气候条件下。另一个卫星站点位于富含有机物的Marcellus页岩上。这些卫星使研究人员能够了解气候和有机物含量如何控制水流和土壤形成，同时与少数民族和本科生服务机构合作。 CZO的研究人员正在研究i）模拟水从大气到地下水的年龄和化学性质的新方法; ii）合成土壤水分测量的新技术，以纳入陆地-大气模型; iii）约束与树木相关的水，能量和溶质通量的观测; iv）量化土壤如何在页岩上生长的模型; v）同位素测量土壤形成的新用途;以及vi）关于描述深度特征（例如基岩中的裂缝分布）的变量如何与地球表面特征（例如山坡的日照）结合联合收割机以控制土壤和山坡随时间的演变的观测。同位素、化学、土壤水分、CO2和能量通量、激光雷达、sapflux以及以高空间和时间分辨率收集的其他可观测数据集在线发布。外联活动包括关于页岩天然气开发的社区教育和K-12教育机会。

An Accomplishment-Based Request for Renewal of the Susquehanna - Shale Hills Critical Zone Observatory (SSHO)With funding from the NSF Critical Zone Observatory (CZO) program, CZO workers led by PI Susan Brantley and coInvestigator Chris Duffy (Pennsylvania State University) will focus on cross-disciplinary synthesis, data sharing, and outreach at the Susquehanna Shale Hills CZO. Established originally in the 1970s as a site to study water flow in forested catchments, the 8-hectare Shale Hills watershed was expanded in 2007 as a CZO to understand broader questions targeting the interplay of water, energy, atmospheric gases, biota, soils, and the land surface. In addition to the small Shale Hills catchment, the CZO includes a suite of satellite sites that overly the same bedrock type (shale) but which are situated in different climate regimes. One additional satellite site is located on organic-rich Marcellus shale. These satellites allow researchers to understand how climate and organic content control water flow and soil formation while working with minority-and undergrad-serving institutions. CZO researchers are investigating i) new methodologies to model the age and chemistry of water as it moves from the atmosphere to groundwater; ii) new techniques to synthesize measurements of soil moisture for incorporation into land-atmosphere models; iii) observations that constrain water, energy, and solute fluxes related to trees; iv) models that quantify how soil grows on shale; v) new uses of isotopes to measure soil formation; and vi) observations concerning how variables describing characteristics at depth such as the fracture distribution in bedrock combine with features at Earth's surface such as the sunniness of hillslopes to control the evolution of soils and hillslopes over time. Datasets of isotopes, chemistry, soil moisture, CO2 and energy flux, LiDAR, sapflux, and other observables collected at high spatial and temporal resolution are published online. Outreach activities include community education about natural gas development on shale and K-12 educational opportunities.