Woods Hole Research Center

This work brings WHRC researchers to a number of different locations throughout the North American boreal region. Conducting research in northern, southern, and central boreal zones allows us to observe ecosystem processes across a wider range of landscape types, and allows for a more comprehensive understanding of the North American boreal system.

Map of Alaska showing the extent of the Delta Junction study region. Large cities are indicated in red.

Delta Junction

The Delta Junction study area is located approximately 100 miles Southeast of Fairbanks, AK, in the Upper Tanana River Valley. Black spruce dominates the vegetation of the region except for areas which have been developed, burned, or converted to agriculture. The region contains a chronosequence of fires from 1956, 1987, 1994, and 1999 which are currently under intense observation through direct ground based measurement and remote satellite observation. These fires burned with various degrees of severity, depending on a number of conditions including forest type, topography, time of fire during the growing season, and general site conditions. The variability in the age and intensity of burns throughout the region allows examination in relative detail how differences in burn severity and timing of fire affect forest recovery and regrowth.

A detailed map of the Delta Junction study region.

Landsat satellite image of the Delta Junction study region.

Boreal Ecosystem Atmosphere Study (BOREAS)

Map of the greater BOREAS study region, the Northern Study Area and the Southern Study Area, overlaid on a map showing the extent of the Canadian boreal forest.

The BOREAS study region encompasses an area of 1 million square kilometers and spans a number of different landscape types from agriculture in the southwest to tundra in the north. The area includes much of the provinces of Canada and spans both northern and southern boreal biomes.

Vegetation types contained in the region include fens, bogs, black spruce and larch on poorly drained lowland sites, jackpine and paperbirch on sandy uplands, quaking aspen and white spruce on mesic, well developed soils, and a number of mixed composition stands on intermediate sites.

This project, part of a large multi-year interdisciplinary experiment, focused on the use of satellite imagery to drive models of carbon dynamics.

Minnesota Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCA)

Study area in Northeastern Minnesota.

The BWCA study area encompassed a 2280 square Kilometer portion of the North American boreal forest at its southern terminus in the Superior National Forest of Northeast Minnesota. The region experiences cold winters (average winter temperature is -8.1°C) and cool short summers (average temperature 17.6°C). Precipitation is concentrated in the summer months, and annual rain and snow fall average approximately 600mm per year. The region is classified as Great Lakes Boreal, and vegetation is dominated by stands of Black Spruce, quaking aspen, and jack pine.

The Woods Hole Research Center’s work in the region focused on assessing the potential use of satellite imagery in models of net primary production across boreal stands.