The BOREAS TE-01 team collected various data to characterize the soil-plant systems in the BOREAS SSA. Particular emphasis was placed on nutrient biochemistry, the stores and transfers of organic carbon and how the characteristics were related to measured methane fluxes. The overall transect in the Prince Albert National Park (Saskatchewan, Canada) included the major plant communities and related soils that occurred in that section of the boreal forest. Soil physical, chemical and biological measurements along the transect were used to characterize the static environment, which allowed them to be related to methane fluxes. Chamber techniques were used to provide a measure of methane production/uptake. Chamber measurements coupled with flask sampling were used to determine the seasonality of methane fluxes. This particular data set contains carbon dioxide and methane flux values from the SSA-OBS site. The data were collected from 09-JUN to 04-SEP-1994.

The BOREAS TE-01 team collected various data to characterize the soil-plant systems in the BOREAS SSA. Particular emphasis was placed on nutrient biochemistry, the stores and transfers of organic carbon and how the characteristics were related to measured methane fluxes. The overall transect in the Prince Albert National Park (Saskatchewan, Canada) included the major plant communities and related soils that occurred in that section of the boreal forest. Soil physical, chemical and biological measurements along the transect were used to characterize the static environment, which allowed them to be related to methane fluxes. Chamber techniques were used to provide a measure of methane production/uptake. Chamber measurements coupled with flask sampling were used to determine the seasonality of methane fluxes. This particular data set contains methane flux and soil profile methane concentration values from the SSA-OA site. The data were collected from 29-MAY to 17-SEP-1994.

This data set was collected by TE-01 to provide a set of soil properties for BOREAS investigators in the SSA. The soil samples were collected at sets of soil pits. Each set of soil pits was in the vicinity of one of the five flux towers in the BOREAS SSA. The collected soil samples were sent to a lab, where the major soil properties were determined. These properties include, but are not limited to, soil horizon; dry soil color; pH; bulk density; total, organic, and inorganic carbon; electric conductivity; cation exchange capacity; exchangeable sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, and hydrogen; water content at 0.01, 0.033, and 1.5 MPascals; nitrogen; phosphorus; particle size distribution; texture; pH of the mineral soil and of the organic soil; extractable acid; and sulfur.

This data set contains the major soil properties of soil samples collected at the tower flux sites in the NSA. The soil samples were collected by Hugo Veldhuis and his staff from the University of Manitoba. The mineral soil samples were largely analyzed by Barry Goetz, under the supervision of Dr. Harold Rostad at the University of Saskatchewan. The organic soil samples were largely analyzed by Peter Haluschak, under the supervision of Hugo Veldhuis at the Centre for Land and Biological Resources Research in Winnipeg, Manitoba. During the course of field investigation and mapping, selected surface and subsurface soil samples were collected for laboratory analysis. These samples were used as benchmark references for specific soil attributes in general soil characterization. Detailed soil sampling, description and laboratory analysis were performed on selected modal soils to provide examples of common soil physical and chemical characteristics in the study area. The soil properties that were determined include soil horizon; dry soil color; pH; bulk density; total, organic, and inorganic carbon; electric conductivity; cation exchange capacity; exchangeable sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, and hydrogen; water content at 0.01, 0.033, and 1.5 MPascals; nitrogen; phosphorus; particle size distribution; texture; pH of the mineral soil and of the organic soil; extractable acid; and sulfur.

The BOREAS group TE-05 collected measurements in the NSA and SSA on gas exchange, gas composition and tree growth. Soil respiration data collected in the BOREAS NSA and SSA to compare the soil respiration rates in different forest sites using a Li-Cor 6200 soil respiration chamber (model 6299).

The BOREAS TF-01 team collected several data sets in support of its efforts to characterize and interpret soil information at the SSA-OA tower site in 1994 as part of BOREAS. Data sets collected include soil respiration, temperature, moisture, and gravimetric data.

The BOREAS TGB-12 team made measurements of soil carbon inventories, carbon concentration in soil gases, and rates of soil respiration at several sites to estimate the rates of carbon accumulation and turnover in each of the major vegetation types. TGB-12 data sets include soil properties at tower and selected auxiliary sites in the BOREAS NSA and data on the seasonal variations in the radiocarbon content of CO2 in the soil atmosphere at NSA tower sites. The sampling strategies for soils were designed to take advantage of local fire chronosequences, so that the accumulation of C in areas of moss regrowth could be determined. These data are used to calculate the inventory of C and N in moss and mineral soil layers at NSA sites and to determine the rates of input and turnover (using both accumulation since the last stand-killing fire and radiocarbon data). This data set includes physical parameters needed to determine carbon and nitrogen inventory in soils. The data were collected discontinuously from August 1993 to July 1996.

The BOREAS RSS-17 team collected several data sets in support of its research in monitoring and analyzing environmental and phenological states using radar data. This data set consists of tree bole and soil temperature measurements from various BOREAS flux tower sites. Temperatures were measured with thermistors implanted in the hydroconductive tissue of the trunks of several trees at each site and at various depths in the soil. Data were stored on a data logger at intervals of either 1 or 2 hours. The majority of the data were acquired between early 1994 and early 1995. The primary product of this data set is the diurnal stem temperature measurements acquired for selected trees at five BOREAS tower sites.

The BOREAS TGB-03 team collected several data sets that contributed to understanding the measured trace gas fluxes over sites in the NSA. This data set contains information about the composition of plant species that were within the collars used to measure NEE. The species composition was identified to understand the differences in NEE among the various plant communities in the NSA fen. The data were collected in July of 1994 and 1996.