Relict Channel Locations

Summary

Abstract: 

As part of the Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) project in the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica, water was diverted to a relict stream channel in order to reactivate the streamflow. The purpose of this experiment was to quantify the time scales of response to the arrival of water after many years of dessication. This table contains data showing the measurement locations (latitude, longitude and elevation) for the Relict Channel in the Fryxell basin. 

Date Range: 

January 1, 1996 to December 31, 2000
Data Citation
Mcknight, D.M. Relict Channel Locations. Environmental Data Initiative. DOI: 10.6073/pasta/b8a304e75b0df06c6aefc29f429b0b7d. Dataset accessed 16 January 2025.
Dataset(s)

Variables (click to expand): 

Dataset code
  • Label:
  • Definition: Code representing Relict Channel experiment locations dataset
  • Type: Nominal
  • Missing values: None specified
Stream
  • Label:
  • Definition: Name of McMurdo Dry Valley stream / channel
  • Type: Nominal
  • Missing values: None specified
Location code
  • Label:
  • Definition: Code representing a given location within the Relict Channel
  • Type: Nominal
  • Missing values: None specified
Location name
  • Label:
  • Definition: Name of sampling point within the Relict Channel
  • Type: Nominal
  • Missing values: None specified
Latitude
  • Label:
  • Definition: Latitude / angular distance south of equator for sampling site
  • Type: Physical quantity
  • Unit: degree
  • Maximum: -70
  • Minimum: -80
  • Precision: 0.01
  • Missing values:
    • Required entry = None given
Longitude
  • Label:
  • Definition: Longitude / angular distance east of Greenwich meridian for sampling site
  • Type: Physical quantity
  • Unit: degree
  • Maximum: 165
  • Minimum: 160
  • Precision: 0.01
  • Missing values:
    • Required entry = None given
Elevation
  • Label:
  • Definition: Height of sample location above sea level
  • Type: Physical quantity
  • Unit: meter
  • Maximum: 500
  • Minimum: 0
  • Precision: 0.1
  • Missing values:
    • Null = None given
Comments
  • Label:
  • Definition: Helpful hints about the sampling site; may show other names of site used in the past
  • Type: Nominal
  • Missing values: None specified

Short name: 

relict_locs

Dataset ID: 

26
People

Principal Investigator(s): 

Diane M. McKnight

Contact: 

McMurdo Dry Valleys LTER
Related
Methodology

Methods: 

 In October 1998, the MCM LTER data manager asked the team making stream measurements to track down coordinates for the Relict Channel measurement sites. Mike Gooseff  provided the resulting information. It is unknown what was initially used to measure these  latitudes, longitudes and elevations.

Maintenance: 

 Records generated from monitoring the Relict Channel had been submitted to Denise Steigerwald (the MCM LTER data manager) in the same files as core LTER data sets.       Denise therefore went through these files, separated out any records dealing with the Relict Channel, and created new files with a similar layout as the core datasets. Coordinates  (latitude, longitude and elevation) were then tracked down for each of the records, and synonymous location names were updated. The resulting 'relict_locs.dat' and 'relict_locs.txt' files were posted on the web in July, 2000. Fields for dataset code and location code were included in order to simplify generating links between different data and metadata fields, and assist in making the data more relational / useful in Oracle and ArcInfo.

Categories

Research Section: 

MCM Keywords: 

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