1. Southern Sierra – Conceptual Model
The Southern Sierra CZO is designed to improve our ability to understand and predict: i) fluxes of water, nutrients and sediments, ii) regolith properties, and iii) ecosystem distribution and function, across a 3000-m elevation gradient extending from the oak savannah that lies just above the agricultural Central Valley, through the mixed conifer forest, to the subalpine forest. 

2. Century-long ``experiment” Current ``experiment”
How forests cope with dry periods
Diagnosis of ongoing drought-induced mortality
Scaling results through strategic measurements & modeling
Interdependence of critical-zone processes
Measuring regolith attributes
Geochemical controls on weathering
How regolith water storage buffers drought
Predicting regolith attributes

3. Interdependence of critical-zone processes
Regolith water storage buffers drought
Coordinated, linked research at SSCZO enables explaining and predicting the response of southern Sierra water cycle to drought.
Runoff (Q) reduced in Kings River basin during drought
P = ET + Q - ΔS +
No y axis label on multi-site graph. X axis labels are overlapping and illegible
Before
drought
During
drought

4. Changing the debate on Forest & Water Management
Southern Sierra – Broader Impacts
Education
Outreach
K-12
Changing the debate on Forest & Water Management
Resource managers
Society
Research Community
(top left) 2014 SCE science days
(top right) 2015 Wolverton Meadow visit with SEKI scientists and land managers
(lower left) Stanislaus-Tuolumne Experimental Forest – USFS (Pinecrest project, thinned unit in front of control)
(lower right) 2014 Sept All Hands field trip to Providence, at Wireless Sensor network installation
The Southern Sierra Critical Zone Observatory’s outreach and education program has a three-fold mission:
Foster field site and data use among the critical zone research community
in order to rapidly and thoroughly understanding of Earth’s critical zone and advance Earth systems models
Inform ecosystem and resource management decisions
for the security and resilience of local and global resources and societies
Increase public awareness of and interest in critical zone science
by educating the next generation of STEM professionals and reaching out to learners of all ages
Agencies and land management
CZO All Hands