The Stream Team

(L to R) Tyler, Christen, Kyle, and Ben
investigate the sources of HB streams!

Greetings from the Stream Team (aka Team Hydro)! We actually come from a multitude of backgrounds, including hydrology, geology, and biology. It's a perfect combination, because as it turns out, studying the hydrology of Hubbard Brook lays the framework for much of the other work that occurs here. As recent research has shown, hydrology governs processes related to soil formation, nitrogen cycling, and is the primary interface through which acid rain acts on the environment: a topic of particular importance here at Hubbard Brook. This summer our team project has sought to explore the origins of headwater streams within the experimental watersheds. One of sites has been in Watershed 9, where we've drastically expanded the mapped stream network, from a very short surveyed length as shown by the USGS zero'th order stream, to sub-zero'th order streams that expand all the way to the watershed divide!

As we've found, the connection between the forest and stream is a very complex thing, and not easily defined. We've explored subterranean streams, streams coming from underneath yellow birches, persistant wetlands, seepy areas, dripping moss-covered bedrock, and many other manifestations of the water cycle in effect within the watersheds!

Original map of Watershed 9 on the left, and our newly mapped stream network on the right!

Christen at Rain Gauge 25 at the
top of Watershed 9

There have been plenty of adventures out in the woods, including many wet boots, but we've seen an incredible amount of variety, from a cascading brook to bouldery cascades to water flowing over leaf litter and dripping moss patches.

Ben and Tyler fording Cascade Brook

It's been a real challenge to turn our observations in the field into usable quantitative data that can be examined on a watershed-scale, but even more challenging has been slapping labels on the sections of stream we are walking along, and this has spurred plenty of discussion.

Kyle and Christen with a large tree
throw along Cascade Brook

Much has changed since the beginning of the summer: mostly, that most of the streams we once walked along have since gone dry. We've taken a break from mapping to explore our own individual research topics, delving further into the story or how the streams at Hubbard Brook influence and are influenced by their environment. You can read more about our projects in other blog posts!

Thanks for reading!