A Pristine Headwaters Ecosystem as an Outdoor Laboratory for Foundational Science - USGS (.gov)

The Value of Long-Term Data at Headwater Sites While the value of monitoring is sometimes underrecognized, according to Shanley, long-term datasets gain value each year because they track environmental changes and unexpected disturbances. “The long-term streamflow, water quality, snow, and precipitation datasets provide immense value to those who wish to better understand environmental changes. Monitoring programs allow you to study and see how things react,” USGS hydrologist Serena Matt said. “They not only inform policy, but they also reveal when policy changes have succeeded.” For instance, without 30-year long-term precipitation and chemistry data sets, scientists would not have measured the distinct drop of sulfate in rainwater in the SRRW as a result of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990. The isolated location of Sleepers, far from any acid rain source, makes it an ideal ecosystem for study. Despite being a pristine, forested area, in the early 1990s Sleepers had high levels of sulfate in its rainwater, a characteristic of acid rain formed from air pollution miles away.