This year, the Welsh long-term climate manipulation experiment ‘Clocaenog’ was refurbished. The site is not only part of the ECT, but has also been part of a European long-term climate change network since 1998.
Over the past 18 years, the infrastructure of the manipulation scaffolding has been weakened by rough outdoor conditions. The Clocaenog site is located on top of a hill and is exposed to high rainfall coming from the Irish Sea delivering high amounts of salt to the site. The climate manipulation infrastructure is also exposed to high winds and storms each year. Numerous drought and warming curtains had to be replaced due to the harsh conditions and the metal infrastructure was weakened.
Aerial view of some of the BRIGNANT PLOTS
The picture details problems that were encountered at the site in the last year (roof scaffolding bended and crushed, and the movement of the curtains was restricted due high frictions and snapped wires).
Over the past two years, our highly skilled engineers from the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology worked on the refurbishment of the roof scaffolding. New materials and instrumentation became available since 1998, making the new roofs lighter but less sensitive to the environmental pressures. We hope that this refurbishment will provide the infrastructure for the continuation of our long-term climate change research at the UK site for another 10 to 20 years.
Brignant plot comparison: showing the new (shiny) infrastructure for one of the plots in May 2017.
We’d like to thank the team of the CEH Engineering Workshop for their great effort to make the structures more robust and reliant under the tough outdoor conditions in the Welsh mountains. We’d also like to thank all staff involved in the setup and maintenance of the site over the years, and the researchers contributing to the scientific knowledge derived from the site and the network, and all funders. To date, the UK site has published more than 60 papers and more than 20 datasets.
Additional information
See the ECT page on Clocaenog for more information about the site. If you are interested in working with us or if you have questions, please contact Dr Sabine Reinsch.
