Is there evidence of Okmulgee Forest decline in ARM measurements?
Poster PDF
Authors
David R. Cook — Argonne National Laboratory
Tom Stoffel — National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Description
The Okmulgee Forest, particularly oak trees, has declined in health in the past two years from a combination of damage caused by ice, wind, or stress from several years before, and a resulting fungus infestation. The associated condition is called hypoxylon canker. There is little that can be done to prevent it. In October 2012 about one-third of the oak trees in the vicinity of and upwind of the tower had died and another one-third were in significant decline. There was evidence of some decline two years earlier, but the progression of the decline was startling this past October. We use data from the ARM extended facility 21 (E21) site from the past five years to attempt to detect effects of the forest decline on radiation and eddy correlation flux data.
