Three decades of water quality measurements from the Upper Severn experimental catchments at Plynlimon, Wales: an openly accessible data resource for research, modelling, environmental management and education

摘要

Over the last 20–40 years major progress has been made in characterizing the hydrochemical functioning of catchments based on extensive, high-quality monitoring programmes. These data are vital for addressing issues, such as long-term responses of streams to external pressures, to assess the environmental impact. This is critical, for example, in relation to the issue of acidic deposition (Monteith and Evans, 2000; Monteith et al., 2000; Evans et al., 2001). Major long-term investment has been required in terms of personal commitment from scientists, science infrastructure and financial resources. It is now clear that such datasets need to be made available to the community to fully exploit this large public investment (Tromp-van Meerfield et al, 2008). For this to happen, materials and data need to be shared under the least restrictive terms within the context of a dedicated and sustainable commitment to public databases and repositories (Schofield et al., 2009). Within our organization (CEH, Centre for Ecology and Hydrology) and its parent body (NERC, Natural Environment Research Council) major infrastructure investment is being made to develop a readily accessible data portal (the CEH Information Gateway: gateway.ceh.ac.uk) to make available the wealth of environmental information and data collected over several decades.