Santee Experimental Forest, Watershed 80: streamflow, water chemistry, water table, and weather data

This data publication contains streamflow, water chemistry, water table and weather data measured at Watershed 80 (WS80) on the Santee Experimental Forest near Cordesville, South Carolina starting in 1968. Watershed 80 is an approximately 160 hectare first-order control watershed that was established in 1968 as part of a paired watershed system (Watershed 77, established earlier in 1963, was the treatment watershed). Daily streamflow data are provided from 1968-2022, and 10/15-minute streamflow from 2003-2022. Water chemistry data collected, upstream from the WS80 weir, nearly daily are provided from 2004-2022, and approximately weekly water chemistry data are provided from November 1976-1982 and October 1989-1994. Groundwater water table levels were monitored manually approximately weekly from 1992-1995 in a network of 33 non-recording wells, and from 2003-2019 in a network of nine manual wells. Hourly water table levels collected electronically are provided from 2003-2022 at wells D and H. Daily rainfall totals and average air temperatures collected at meteorologic station 25 (Met25) are provided from 1990-2001, and hourly data (including soil temperature) are provided from 2001-2022. Weather data (air and soil temperature, relative humidity, wind speed and direction, solar and net radiation, etc.) collected at the WS80 tower are provided as 15-minute averages from 2010-2022. Non-recording manual gauge rainfall data collected approximately weekly from 1966-1984 are also provided for multiple gauges in WS80.
The purpose of Watershed 80 when established in 1968 was to serve as a control site for research on the effects of management treatments (taking place since 1976 on Watershed 77, the treatment watershed established in 1963) such as thinning and prescribed burns on the hydrology, water quality, soils, carbon dynamics and vegetation of low gradient, poorly drained forested watersheds in the South Carolina Coastal Plain.