A Smooth Start to Summer 2025

In early May, our field teams organized themselves for the start of a new field season. After the intense fire seasons in the recent years, we were prepared for anything. Fortunately, this time around, we were met with clear skies, cooler temperatures and just enough rain to keep things interesting, but never overwhelming.

A nice and cool day at the Aspen site

Our 2025 Team

This season, we've assembled a strong and diverse team. Saeed and Euan are tackling hydrology while Carissa, Ray Z and Joy are focused on the carbon dynamics of the Aspen road. We're also excited to welcome Murdoch, an incoming Post Doctoral Fellow with the team, and Lelia, a returning research technician. Jiaao and Ray P are working on collecting remote sensing datasets of both the Aspen road and other roads in the area. Plus Joe and Veronica, familiar faces from past field seasons, came out to lend a hand with setup.

Smooth Launch and Solid Progress

The launch went off without a hitch. The hydrology team learned how to do a headswalk, while the carbon team learned to flux.

Learning to flux

We reinstalled the IRGASON sensors on their respective towers and gave them names (Bruce and Elliot naturally). It's always good to put a name to a face, even if it's a carbon dioxide/infrared gas analyzer!

Elliot the IRGASON in his natural habitat

Expanding the Aspen Network

We also added to our repertoire of synoptic sites; other sites like Aspen where a road crosses a wetland. At some we installed groundwater wells, and others have had vegetation surveys completed. We will plan to add to this list of measurements as the summer goes on.

New Monitoring Setups

Murdoch laid out some dust samplers at the Aspen road to capture the dust settling on the vegetation from the road. This should help to give us an idea of the extent of dust settling and what impact this might have on plant productivity.

We have also begun to stream gauge the culverts underneath the Aspen road, as well as a stream which has been designated the outlet of the watershed that contains the Aspen road. Thanks to discovering a handy culvert function in our stream gauging device, this work has become much more efficient.

Looking Ahead

May flew by in a blur of progress and good weather. With wildfire seasons now upon us, we're keeping a close eye on the forecast, but spirits are high. We're looking forward to a productive, safe and insightful season ahead.