Shale Hills Hydrologic Experiment from the 1970s

In the 1970’s a comprehensive hydrologic experiment was conducted on a 19.8 acre watershed in the Valley and Ridge physiographic province of central Pennsylvania. The study, conducted by the Forest Hydrology group at Penn State, sought to experimentally determine the physical mechanisms of streamflow generation at the upland forested catchment and to evaluate the effects of antecedent soil moisture on stormflow volume and timing. The experiment consisted of a comprehensive network of piezometers, neutron access tubes and 4 weirs. A spray irrigation network was installed to apply a controllable amount of rainfall over all or part of the entire watershed. The data collected were used for many years for teaching and research. Recently, we began a new effort to instrument the watershed with state-of-the-art equipment. The purposes are twofold: (1) to use the watershed as a field classroom in which students get first-hand experience in field experimentation; (2) to develop a comprehensive current dataset which will be made public to researchers for development and calibration of new modeling approaches. We expect to have automated measurements of stream flow, groundwater levels, soil moisture, soil tension, temperature, and precipitation.