Black Rock Forest Consortium
Data Resources
Data Available Online

A variety of data from Black Rock Forest is available online. 

  • Data from the Forest’s environmental monitoring network’s Ridgetop (RT) and Open Lowland (OL) sites are available through the Data Library at the International Research Institute (IRI) for Climate and Society at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory.  The data consist of hourly and daily weather observations, including barometric pressure, dew point solar radiation, precipitation, humidity, soil and air temperature, vapor pressure, and wind direction and speed.  They can be viewed in several chart formats and over a variety of time scales.
  • Data about the performance of the Forest’s solar panels are available through the web site of the main contractor for the system, Northern Power Systems.  You will need a password to access these data; please contact the Forest’s Data/Network Manager to obtain this.  Real time (and archival) data on peak instantaneous power (kW), total power produced (kW-h), insolation (a measure of sunlight in W/m2), and temperature of the solar panel cells (which relates to their efficiency) are available.
  • Data from the Forest’s seismic station are available through the Lamont Doherty Cooperative Seismic Network.  Scroll to the bottom of the page and select BRNY for the station to view the Forest’s data.
  • Data on acid precipitation gathered at the National Acid Deposition Program (NADP) site at adjoining West Point are available through the NADP web site.  The data go back to 1983 and include daily, weekly, monthly, seasonal, and annual data on acidity (hydrogen concentrations) and concentrations of sulfate, nitrate, and ammonium chlorate, and of calcium, magnesium, potassium and sodium ions, as well as other information.
  • The Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s web site includes information on Black Rock Forest flora.
  • The Forest’s species lists for trees, mammals, birds, and reptiles and amphibians.
Other data listed in the Forest’s data catalog (pdf) are available by contacting the Forest’s Data/Network Manager.