Local Research Sites


In addition to hydrology research performed by Duke University scientists throughout the world, four local hydrology research sites exist on or adjacent to the Duke campus. These sites provide a unique opportunity to incorporate research problems into class work.

A network of rain gages, pressure transducers, weirs and data loggers have been strategically located on Duke’s campus to provide data to a calibrated kinematic wave model of storm water runoff. This model is used to predict flows and water quality on Duke’s more than 1,400 acres.

Within the adjacent 8,000-acre Duke Forest, an extensive array of micrometerological equipment is used to monitor gas exchange in the forest canopy and forest soil. Duke Forest is the site of the Free Air CO-2 Enrichment (FACE) experiment by the US Department of Energy. A contaminated groundwater research facility within the Duke Forest contains 15 wells that are monitored with automated sensors. Pumping tests and extensive geophysical surveys have been performed at this site also in the forest, two 25-acre natural watersheds have been gauged and monitored continuously since 1991.



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