Albuquerque,NM South Valley Site

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Site Description

The Albuquerque, NM South Valley site (SHK) was established in November of 1999 and original funded by NASA. This site, located in the South Valley of Albuquerque, NM is on the east side of the Rio Grande River, downstream from the Albuquerque wastewater treatment facility and upstream of the Isleta diversion structure The site’s actual location is 33.958711˚N and 106.682848˚W with an elevation of 1496.82 meters above sea level. The soil profile at this site is dominated by sand and loamy sand with large silty loam and silty clay loam layers near the surface.

The triangulated 25 m tower was erected upon 3-m deep concrete footing by Longhorn Construction Services, Inc with a final tower top-height of 27.2 meters. The 3SEC systems on these towers were in operation by spring 2000, in time for leaf out. In 2003, the mast assembly was extended to add a pair of OPEC systems as part of the ISC project. The sensors were directed into prevailing winds that were primarily from the south. This site has been decommissioned.

Site history timeline:

October/November 2000: tower erected by Longhorn Construction, Inc.
Winter 2002/2003: non-native understory removal begins. The nearest 30-m to the tower face were cleared by the beginning of the growing season. The remaining forest to the south of the tower was undisturbed.
Winter 2003/2004: vegetation removal completed before growing season begins
early spring/summer 2005: understory regrowth of saltcedar and Russian olive thickens
June 2006: fire burned and removed understory within tower fetch. Cottonwood tree crowns damaged, many dead. Fire line established on the south face of the tower.
2007: Annuals grow thick in open/cleard spots (due to fire or otherwise) after monsoon precipitation begins.
March 2008: extreme windstorm breaks/topples a fire-damaged cottonwood tree which falls on the SE guy cables, snapping the northern guy capble and breaking the tower in half.

Vegetation

The Albuquerque, NM South Valley site’s vegetation is composed of a sparse cottonwood forest with a non-native understory. The cottonwood (Populus deltoides) overstory extends to 23.5 meters above the ground. The non-native understory is composed of Russian olive (Elaeagnus angustifolia), saltcedar (Tamarix chinensis), willow and some other shrubs. This site has undergone several habitat disturbances. In the winter of 2003-2004, between the 2003 and 2004 growing seasons, understory vegetation was removed by the Middle Rio Grande Conservatory District (MGRCD) as a precaution to reduce fire hazard. During the summer of 2006, the area was impacted by a fire, which burned large areas of the understory.

Hydrologic Status

This area last flooded before 1950.

Instrumentation

Sensor	Height (meters) relative to ground surface
CSAT 3-D Sonic Anemometer	25.61
KH2O Krypton Hygrometer	25.61
Kipp & Zonen CNR2 2-channel Component Net Radiometer (2008 - current)	26.25
Q7.1 REBS Net Radiometer (2000 - 2007)	26.25
HMP45C Vaisala Temperature/ RH Probe	23.5
CS105 Vaisala PTB101B Barometric Pressure	23.33
TE525 Texas Electronics 6" Tipping Bucket Raingauge	27.17
HFT3 REBS Soil Heat FLux Plates (quantity 2)	(0.08)
TCAV Averaging Soil Termocouple Probes	(0.02 & 0.06)
CS616 Water Content Reflectometer	(0.025)
03001 Wind Sentry	24.77
CR23X datalogger	23.33
LI190 Pyranometer	26.25
CM3 Up-looking Solar Radiometer	26.25