GCE-LTER Signature Data Sets
Signature data sets are the data streams that the GCE maintains to document long-term changes in external drivers and to assess the spatial and temporal variability of key ecosystem variables within the GCE domain.
External Drivers. Data on abiotic conditions are critical for interpreting our ecological observations and for identifying perturbations to the system.
- Long-term sea level observations in the GCE domain
- Weather station data from Sapelo Island
- Freshwater discharge from the Altamaha River
- Salinity, temperature, and pressure records at GCE hydrographic moorings
LTER Core Areas. GCE collects long-term data in all five LTER core areas, with most data streams initiated in the early 2000s. Core variables measured at the long-term monitoring sites in the GCE domain are as follows:
- primary production
- population dynamics
- marsh macroinvertebrates:
- marsh plant communities in transitional areas
- organic matter
- dissolved and particulate organic constituents in river inflow
- dissolved and particulate organic constituents in estuarine water
- soil organic matter in intertidal areas
- movements of materials through the ecosystem
- inorganic nutrients in the river inflow
- inorganic nutrients in the estuarine water
- chlorophyll and suspended sediment in estuarine water
- patterns and frequency of disturbance
