Environmental monitoring results: Edale rainfall

In our last post we showed the water table data and how this changes by month and season. One big factor contributing to these changes is of course rainfall. Here we have the monthly and seasonal rainfall averages for the last 4 years.

With the rainy season just around the corner, will we be in for another wet winter? Or will it be one of the drier ones? Our volunteers will be out this week starting the annual dipwell campaign, adding to our dataset so we can follow trends across time.

Big thanks again to volunteer Andy Burn for producing these graphs.

Environmental monitoring results: Edale water table

In our last post we showed the monthly and seasonal average (mean) air temperatures collected by Community Science volunteers from our Edale environmental monitoring site, which is situated at about 605m above sea level on Kinder Scout.

Another variable which volunteers monitor at the same site is the water table depth - i.e. how far beneath the peat surface water sits. Thanks again to Andy Burn for producing these graphs which summarise water table depth figures for 2016 and 2017 by month and by season:

Environmental monitoring results: Edale temperature

Over the next few weeks, we'll post a series of blogs showing some of the results for our Community Science monitoring sites in graphical format.

We'll start with here temperature information collected from our Edale site on Kinder Scout  - which shows monthly as well a seasonal averages across the years of monitoring so far.

Huge thanks to volunteer Andy Burn for producing these graphs:

 

 

Let it snow...

Community scientists Mollie and John visited Kinder Scout this weekend to carry out the monthly downloads of data collected by the loggers on our environmental monitoring site. Their job was made more challenging (but also more fun!) by the thick layer of snow which fell there on Friday night...

Mollie surveys the scene...

As Mollie explained: "We dug through over 2 feet of snow to find the rain gauge, air pressure logger and humidity and temp logger. Luckily the auto dipwell was sticking out so we had a reference point to start our digging from!"

John connects the rain gauge logger to the shuttle

John and Mollie were rewarded for their efforts with spectacular views of a magical looking landscape...

Autumn cloud inversions

Autumn is a fantastic time of year to witness some stunning scenery and landscapes - and perhaps one of the very best sights is a cloud inversion:

Above is the view of Edale valley from Mam Nick yesterday. Inversions like this need specific conditions to form. They are most likely to be seen in early morning when a layer of saturated cold air becomes trapped underneath a layer of warmer air higher up the valley sides.

The inversion was still visible from Kinder Scout later yesterday morning as Community Science volunteers headed to the Environmental Monitoring site:

Looking back towards Edale - Rob Westrick

Remnants of cloud still visible in Edale from higher up the hill - Rob Westrick

From the plateau cloud could be seen still clinging to the Hope Valley in the middle distance; while the crystal clear upper layers of air allowed a stunning view for miles:

View from Kinder - Richard Walker

November's Environmental Monitoring

Guest blog entry by Rowan Shand McIntosh - Environmental Monitoring Volunteer

The Environmental Monitoring site on Kinder Scout above Edale has given up its first set of results from its new data loggers.

Air humidty logger. Photo by Rowan Shand McIntosh

First stop was the moorland centre to pick up the shuttle, notepad and GPS. Setting off at around 12:00, it was a nice warm walk up in the clear November air before having a picnic lunch. Soon setting to work began by criss-crossing between 10 primary quadrats collecting ground temperature readings with the waterproof shuttle. Back and forth - it began to feel like a treasure hunt - looking far ahead of the GPS to spot the tell-tale dipwell tube to show the quadrat. 

Being engrossed in the job, it is refreshing just to be working steadily outdoors.

Stopping for lunch - the view. Photo by Rowan Shand McIntosh

After checking all the kit is still in your bag it’s fantastic to look up and take in the view after concentrating for so long. The sun is low in the sky. Long shadows in the valley and just a cup of tea before the amble back to upload the data.