grain and grass dominated catchment located in the south-eastern part of Norway, monitored by The Norwegian Agricultural Environmental Monitoring Programme (JOVA)

grain dominated catchment located in the south-eastern part of Norway, monitored by The Norwegian Agricultural Environmental Monitoring Programme

Paired experimental watersheds in sub-humid tropical climate, plus nested watersheds, located in South India in the Kabini watershed. The experimental watersheds are: (1) Mule Hole (semi-deciduous dry forest), monitored since 2003, 4.3 km2; (2) Maddur (cultivated), monitored since 2005, 7.1 km2; (3) Berambadi (higher order of/including Maddur watershed), monitored since 2010, 80km2; for evaluating the influence of agriculture on water and biogeochemical cycle in sub-humid tropics, and the effect of the monsoon variability on these cycles

The site of the Boknis Eck Time Series (BE) is located at the entrance of the Eckernförde Bay (54°31.2' N, 10°02.5' E) in the southwestern Baltic Sea. It has a water depth of 28 m with muddy sediments. Riverine inputs into the Eckernförde Bay are negligible and thus the overall hydrographic setting at BE is dominated by the regular inflow of North Sea water through the Kattegat and the Great Belt. Seasonal stratification occurs usually from mid-March until mid-September and causes pronounced hypoxia which sporadically become anoxic.

Runoff and runoff chemistry at LTER Zöbelboden, Austria

To support the marine biodiversity and ecosystem dynamics research community in Belgium, the Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ) has set up a local marine biodiversity observatory.

The site consists of a marine databuoy equipped with a suite of sensors that monitor water quality parameters and acoustic receivers for the detection of Porpoises and tagged fish. The buoy is moored near an offshore windmill farm, approx. 30km off the coast on the Belgian Continental Shelf.

S’Ena Arrubia Lagoon is located along the central western coast of Sardinia (39.83° N, 8.57° E); it is 1.2 km2 in area and has a mean depth of 40 cm. Freshwater input is supplied from the watershed by two rivers: Rio Sant’Anna (also called Diversivo), which drains an area of 78.4 km2 and showed no runoff from April 2001 to March 2002; and the Canale delle Acque Basse (also called Idrovora), which drains 50 km2 mostly originating from the drying up of a pond over 3000 ha wide and dedicated mainly to farming and cattle-breeding. This channel is below sea level and water is pumped from it into the lagoon. A large part of the catchment area is used for intensive arable farming and cattle breeding, and as a result, the freshwater in the Idrovora canal is very rich in nutrients. The water in the lagoon is exchanged with sea water by means of a sea-mouth canal built in the 1970s (length = 230m, width = 25m, depth = 1.3m). Engineering works were carried out in 2000 to widen the sea mouth of the lagoon in order to improve tidal flushing and thus reduce its high trophic levels and improve its hydrodynamics. The dimensions of the new inlet vary in different places. It is 30 m wide and 0.70 m deep near the lagoon, 60 m wide and 2 m deep in the central part and 32 m wide and 1.30 m deep at the sea mouth. Climate is Mediterranean with long hot summer and short mild rainy winter, generally precipitation and consequent water inflows are low, the year average is 650 mm. S’Ena Arrubia Lagoon is very eutrophic because of the intense arable and stock-rearing activities in its watershed and dystrophic crises and fish kills occur occasionally. Anoxia and dystrophic crises were observed as early as the 1960s. The principal human activities in this wetland are fishing, outdoor recreation, education and scientific research. From 1990, a long-term series of data is available and derives from high-frequency measurements and samplings to assess environmental and biological parameters. In particular the data concern the main trophic descriptors (Secchi depth, temperature, pH, conductivity, dissolved oxygen and saturation, alkalinity, NH4-N, NO2-N, NO3-N, total nitrogen, soluble reactive phosphorus, total phosphorus, dissolved silica) and phytoplankton abundances, as chlorophyll a, cell densities and biomass, class and species composition. The collection of data was interrupted in 2003.

UK ECN site. The River Lathkill is located in the Peak District National Park and is designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). The site is part of a the Peak District Dales SAC under the Habitats Directive. It is the only river in Britain which rises in, as well as flows through limestone for its entire length. The upper parts are a winterbourne, and in summer the stream issues from bubble springs lower down the valley. Downstream there are alternately moderately flowing gravelly sections and silted pools, some formed by natural tufa dams, others artificially. In the pools there are abundant submerged plants including species of Veronica, Ranunculus, Potamogeton and Callitriche, while faster sections are carpeted with bryophytes, some of which are nationally rare (eg. Cratoneuron commutatum). There are no direct discharges to the river. There are two licensed abstractions for fish rearing purposes and there are concerns over low flows which may affect water quality and the biota.

UK ECN site. The River Coquet rises at Coquet Head on the Scottish border and flows generally eastward, draining the southern flanks of the Cheviot Hills, finally discharging to the North Sea at Amble. The Warkworth Dam marks the tidal limit. The River Coquet is an excellent, clean river system of high conservation and ecological value. The river is designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). Bankside habitats range from woodland fringed lower river and wooded lowlands through the hay meadows, herb rich valleys and gravel haughs of lower Coquetdale to the upper moorlands of the Cheviots. This relatively undisturbed environment provides excellent habitats for wildlife including a number of protected species. The principal habitats protected are hay meadows, woodland and the estuary. The main river supports a healthy and diverse invertebrate fauna of mayflies, stoneflies, caddis flies and other taxa which are sensitive to pollution. Their presence indicates the absence of chronic pollution and the in-stream biology is generally of excellent quality. The ECN site on the Coquet is at Warkworth, Grid Reference NU 236 050, approximately 2 kilometres upstream of the tidal limit.