The BOREAS Information System
1993 was a year of planning and organization in preparation for the massive field campaign season starting in 1994. There were many important things accomplished during this year, including:
The SSA-OBS map (see map) shows the detailed layout of the southern study area black spruce tower flux site -- similar layouts were employed for the other tower flux sites. In this case, 1.7 km of trail had to be cleared through the forest, and a boardwalk (see picture) constructed for investigator access. A 4 x 8 m hut (see picture) was built for equipment and computers, as well as a tent platform (see picture) to protect delicate equipment from the weather and local wildlife (bears). In the southern study area, line power was brought in from the nearest existing electrical distribution point, while in the northern study areas, power had to be supplied by diesel generators.
All sites were equipped with towers extending at least 5 m above the forest canopy. The SSA-OBS flux tower (see picture) shows the 25 meter double-scaffold tower that was erected in the SSA Old Black Spruce site (go to site page). Screw anchors for tower foundations and guy-wire anchors had to be drilled into the mineral soil beneath a one-meter deep mat of sphagnum moss; similar construction techniques had to be used at most of the other sites. Most of the NSA tower flux sites were equipped with Rohn telecommunications-type towers (see picture of a typical flux tower). The NSA-Fen aerial picture (see picture) provides an aerial overview of a completed site at a fen in the northern study area where approximately 200 m of boardwalk was constructed to allow access to the tower.
In August 1993, many of the BOREAS investigators and staff were in place in the study areas as part of a 'shake-down' intensive field campaign, IFC-93. This 21-day IFC was used to test the experiment infrastructure and investigators instruments as well as to refine coordination and communication procedures. All of these experiences were pooled to rewrite the four volume experiment plan which served as the basis for running operations in 1994, see Sellers et al. (1994). During IFC-93 and the 1994 field campaigns, operations were coordinated out of two centers, one in the NSA (go to NSA-Ops page) and one in the SSA (go to SSA-Ops page). Each center was equipped with ground-to-ground and ground-to-air radio links, telephones, fax machines, etc. to maintain real-time management of the airborne and related surface operations. Nightly BOREAS Operations Group meetings analyzed the results of the days completed operations and set up the next day's activities.
