TERENO is embarking on new paths with an interdisciplinary and long-term research programme involving six Helmholtz Association Centers. TERENO spans an Earth observation network across Germany that extends from the North German lowlands to the Bavarian Alps. This unique large-scale project aims to catalogue the longterm ecological, social and economic impact of global change at regional level. Scientists and researchers want to use their findings to show how humankind can best respond to these changes.
TERENO Eifel-Rur Observatory. TERENO (TERrestrial ENvironmental Observatories) spans an Earth observation network across Germany that extends from the North German lowlands to the Bavarian Alps. This unique large-scale project aims to catalogue the longterm ecological, social and economic impact of global change at regional level.The central monitoring site of the TERENO Eifel/Lower Rhine Valley Observatory is the catchment area of the River Rur. It covers a total area of 2354 km² and exhibits a distinct land use gradient: The lowland region in the northern part is characterised by urbanisation and intensive agriculture whereas the low mountain range in the southern part is sparsely populated and includes several drinking water reservoirs. Furthermore, the Eifel National Park is situated in the southern part of the Rur catchment serving as a reference site. Intensive test sites are placed along a transect across the Rur catchments in representative land cover, soil, and geologic settings. The Rollesbroich site is located in the low mountain range “Eifel” near the German-Belgium border and covers the area of the small Kieselbach catchment (40 ha) with altitudes ranging from 474 to 518 m.a.s.l.. The climate is temperate maritime with a mean annual air temperature and precipitation of 7.7 °C and 1033 mm, respectively, for the period from 1981 to 2001. The study site is highly instrumented. All components of the water balance (e.g. precipitation, evapotranspiration, runoff, soil water content) are continuously monitored using state-of-the-art instrumentation, including weighable lysimeters, runoff gauges, cosmic-ray soil moisture sensors, a wireless sensor network that monitors soil temperature, and soil moisture at 189 locations in different depths (5, 20 and 50 cm) throughout the study site. Periodically also different chamber measurements were made to access soil or plant gas exchange.Soil water content was determined using the wireless sensor network SoilNet (Bogena et al., 2010) in 15 minute intervals at 87 locations within the southern part of catchment. The SPADE soil water content sensors (Hübner et al., 2009; Qu et al., 2013) were installed at 5 cm, 20 cm and 50 cm depth along a vertical profile. In order to increase the measurement volume and to allow examination of inconsistencies in sensor output (e.g. due to imperfect contact of sensors with the soil matrix), two sensors were installed in parallel at each depth with a distance of ~8 cm.Soil water content measurements outside the physical plausibility range (0.05 to 0.85 cm3cm-3) caused by temporary sensor failure or reduced current supply were identified and flagged. The same was done for soil temperature (-5 and 30 °C). Unreliable measurements were identified and flagged based on the continuity of the time series data. For this, the first derivative of the soil water content time series was used. If the increase in soil water content at a particular time step was larger than two times the standard deviations of the soil water content measurements in the preceding 24 hours, the soil water content measurement was identified and flagged as an unreliable measurement. All the data from the wireless sensor network were visualized to identify the performance of this automatic flagging method.LiteratureBogena, H.R., M. Herbst, J.A. Huisman, U. Rosenbaum, A. Weuthen and H. Vereecken (2010): Potential of wireless sensor networks for measuring soil water content variability. Vadose Zone J., 9 (4): 1002-1013, doi:10.2136/vzj2009.0173.Hübner, C., Cardell-Oliver, R., Becker, R., Spohrer, K., Jotter, K., and Wagenknecht, T., 2009, Wireless soil moisture sensor networks for environmental monitoring and vineyard irrigation: Helsinki University of Technology, no. 1, p. 408-415.Qu, W., Bogena, H. R., Huisman, J. A., and Vereecken, H., 2013, Calibration of a novel low-cost soil water content sensor based on a ring oscillator: Vadose Zone Journal, v. 12, no. 2., doi: 10.2136/vzj2012.0139.
Pan lysimeter Wuestebach (deforested area) 2
Pan lysimeter Wuestebach (deforested area) 3
Water level station Obermaubach reservoir UW
Water level station Heimbach reservoir UW
Climate station Lutterbach - Imgenbroich
Climate/Runoff station Olef reservoir inflow
Water level station Wehebach reservoir UW
Water level station Vichtbach - Mulartshuette
Climate station Wuestebach, deforested area
Groundwater level/Water sampling station 8
Climate/Preciptiation sampling station Wuestebach forest
Groundwater level/Water sampling station 9
Groundwater level/Water sampling station 1
Water level station Urft - Kall/Sportplatz
Groundwater level/Water sampling station 3
Groundwater level/Water sampling station 2
Groundwater level/Water sampling station 7
Water level station Muelhlteich - Kirchberg
Pan lysimeter Wuestebach (deforested area) 1
Climate station Rur reservoir Schwammenauel
Climate station Olef reservoir Betriebsgelaende
TERENO Eifel-Rur Observatory. TERENO (TERrestrial ENvironmental Observatories) spans an Earth observation network across Germany that extends from the North German lowlands to the Bavarian Alps. This unique large-scale project aims to catalogue the longterm ecological, social and economic impact of global change at regional level.The central monitoring site of the TERENO Eifel/Lower Rhine Valley Observatory is the catchment area of the River Rur. It covers a total area of 2354 km² and exhibits a distinct land use gradient: The lowland region in the northern part is characterised by urbanisation and intensive agriculture whereas the low mountain range in the southern part is sparsely populated and includes several drinking water reservoirs. Furthermore, the Eifel National Park is situated in the southern part of the Rur catchment serving as a reference site. Intensive test sites are placed along a transect across the Rur catchments in representative land cover, soil, and geologic settings. The Rollesbroich site is located in the low mountain range “Eifel” near the German-Belgium border and covers the area of the small Kieselbach catchment (40 ha) with altitudes ranging from 474 to 518 m.a.s.l.. The climate is temperate maritime with a mean annual air temperature and precipitation of 7.7 °C and 1033 mm, respectively, for the period from 1981 to 2001. The study site is highly instrumented. All components of the water balance (e.g. precipitation, evapotranspiration, runoff, soil water content) are continuously monitored using state-of-the-art instrumentation, including weighable lysimeters, runoff gauges, cosmic-ray soil moisture sensors, a wireless sensor network that monitors soil temperature, and soil moisture at 189 locations in different depths (5, 20 and 50 cm) throughout the study site. Periodically also different chamber measurements were made to access soil or plant gas exchange. operative 2011-09-11 to 2012-05-15
Runoff/Water sampling station Wuestebach 14
Climate/Cosmic Ray/Soil/Deposition sampling station Schoeneseiffen
TERENO Eifel-Rur Observatory. TERENO (TERrestrial ENvironmental Observatories) spans an Earth observation network across Germany that extends from the North German lowlands to the Bavarian Alps. This unique large-scale project aims to catalogue the longterm ecological, social and economic impact of global change at regional level: Climate/Soil/Deposition sampling station Schoeneseiffen;HostingInstitution: Research Centre Juelich GmbH, IBG-3
Cosmic Ray/Climate/Soil station Wildenrath
Runoff/Water sampling station Rollesbroich 2
Runoff station Broicher Bach - Herzogenrath
Climate station FZJ/IBG-3 lysimeter facility
Runoff/Water Quality sampling station Erkensruhr-Einruhr
Groundwater level/Water sampling station 5
Groundwater level/Water sampling station 6
Climate/Runoff/Water Quality station Rollesbroich
TERENO Eifel-Rur Observatory. TERENO (TERrestrial ENvironmental Observatories) spans an Earth observation network across Germany that extends from the North German lowlands to the Bavarian Alps. This unique large-scale project aims to catalogue the longterm ecological, social and economic impact of global change at regional level.The central monitoring site of the TERENO Eifel/Lower Rhine Valley Observatory is the catchment area of the River Rur. It covers a total area of 2354 km² and exhibits a distinct land use gradient: The lowland region in the northern part is characterised by urbanisation and intensive agriculture whereas the low mountain range in the southern part is sparsely populated and includes several drinking water reservoirs. Furthermore, the Eifel National Park is situated in the southern part of the Rur catchment serving as a reference site. Intensive test sites are placed along a transect across the Rur catchments in representative land cover, soil, and geologic settings. The Rollesbroich site is located in the low mountain range “Eifel” near the German-Belgium border and covers the area of the small Kieselbach catchment (40 ha) with altitudes ranging from 474 to 518 m.a.s.l.. The climate is temperate maritime with a mean annual air temperature and precipitation of 7.7 °C and 1033 mm, respectively, for the period from 1981 to 2001. The study site is highly instrumented. All components of the water balance (e.g. precipitation, evapotranspiration, runoff, soil water content) are continuously monitored using state-of-the-art instrumentation, including weighable lysimeters, runoff gauges, cosmic-ray soil moisture sensors, a wireless sensor network that monitors soil temperature, and soil moisture at 189 locations in different depths (5, 20 and 50 cm) throughout the study site. Periodically also different chamber measurements were made to access soil or plant gas exchange.Runoff is measured at the catchment outlet using a gauging station equipped with a combination of a V-notch weir for low flow measurements and a Parshall flume to measure normal to high flows. Runoff data of the two weir types are combined by using V-notch values for water levels below 5 cm, Parshall flume values for water levels greater than 10 cm and the weighted mean of V-notch and Parshall flume values for water levels between 5 and 10 cm, where the water levels refer to those of the V-notch weir. Meteorological data, i.e. precipitation, air temperature, air humidity, radiation components, and wind speed, were recorded at 2 m height next to the runoff gauging stationAs a first quality check, time series of both gauge types were compared for consistency. In addition, both runoff time series were visually inspected for inexplicable outliers (e.g. runoff peak without preceding rainfall event) and sensor failures. Unreliable data were identified by visual inspection and appropriate flags were set.
Runoff/Water sampling station Wuestebach 17
Water level station Inde - KornelimuensterW
Cosmic Ray/Climate/Soil station Merzenhausen
Runoff/Water sampling station Rollesbroich 1
Cosmic Ray/Climate/Soil station Gevenich
Climate/Soil/Deposition sampling station Selhausen
Runoff/Water sampling station Wuestebach 10
Water level station Schaagbach - Schaufenberg
The permanenent Eddy Covariance station 'MEEC001' in Jülich-Merzenhausen collects meteorological and soil observations. The site is located in the southern part of the Lower Rhine Embayment. The dominant land use is cropland. The test site has a winter wheat/winter wheat/ sugar beet rotation. The observatons consist of weekly updated, quality controlled flux, meteorological and soil measurements of this station.
TERENO Eifel-Rur Observatory. TERENO (TERrestrial ENvironmental Observatories) spans an Earth observation network across Germany that extends from the North German lowlands to the Bavarian Alps. This unique large-scale project aims to catalogue the longterm ecological, social and economic impact of global change at regional level.The central monitoring site of the TERENO Eifel/Lower Rhine Valley Observatory is the catchment area of the River Rur. It covers a total area of 2354 km² and exhibits a distinct land use gradient: The lowland region in the northern part is characterised by urbanisation and intensive agriculture whereas the low mountain range in the southern part is sparsely populated and includes several drinking water reservoirs. Furthermore, the Eifel National Park is situated in the southern part of the Rur catchment serving as a reference site. Intensive test sites are placed along a transect across the Rur catchments in representative land cover, soil, and geologic settings.The Rollesbroich site is located in the low mountain range “Eifel” near the German-Belgium border and covers the area of the small Kieselbach catchment (40 ha) with altitudes ranging from 474 to 518 m.a.s.l.. The climate is temperate maritime with a mean annual air temperature and precipitation of 7.7 °C and 1033 mm, respectively, for the period from 1981 to 2001. Soils are dominated by (stagnic) Cambisols and Stagnosols on Devonian shales with occasional sandstone inclusions that are covered by a periglacial solifluction clay–silt layer. The mountainous grassland vegetation is dominated by perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne) and smooth meadow grass (Poa pratensis).The study site is highly instrumented. All components of the water balance (e.g. precipitation, evapotranspiration, runoff, soil water content) are continuously monitored using state-of-the-art instrumentation, including weighable lysimeters, runoff gauges, cosmic-ray soil moisture sensors, a wireless sensor network that monitors soil temperature, and soil moisture at 189 locations in different depths (5, 20 and 50 cm) throughout the study site. Periodically also different chamber measurements were made to access soil or plant gas exchange.This data set contains weekly updated flux-, meteorological and soil measurements of the permanent operating EC/Climate station Rollesbroich 1 (50.621°N, 6.304°E,515 m a.s.l.), which was installed in spring 2011 at the border of two fields of grassland (5.8 and 7.8 ha) within the study site. Management of both fields is typical for the low mountain range of the Eifel region with one fertilizer application and three cuts per year. The area within the fetch of the eddy covariance tower is relatively flat with slopes ranging between 0.35° and 3.12°. The station is equipped with a CSAT3 sonic anemometer and LI7500 gas analyser. Besides flux measurements and typical climate parameters (radiation, air temperature, air humidity, soil moisture, soil temperature etc.) also the plant height and farming activities are recorded.Meteorological and soil data was at least controlled by visual inspection by using common plausibility ranges and cross checks with nearby stations. Afterwards the data was flagged according to it's quality (O.K., suspect, moderate, bad etc.). Flux data was processed and checked according to the TERENO QC scheme (Mauder, M., Cuntz, M., Drüe, C., Graf, A., Rebmann, C., Schmid, HP., Schmidt, M., Steinbrecher, R., 2012. A strategy for quality and uncertainty assessment of long-term eddy-covariance measurements. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology 169, 122-135, 2013).
EC/Climate station Selhausen (old location)
Water level station Urft - Gemuend, inflow Urft reservoir
EC/Climate station Wuestebach (deforested area)
Pan lysimeter Wuestebach (deforested area) 5