To enhance the regional representativeness of the monitoring base and the continuity of long-term network observation and data acquisition, the Shapotou Desert Research and Experiment Station initiated a 1.8×104 m2 extension project of water balance research and observation field at the beginning of 2010.

The original water balance observation field of the station was set up in the late 1980s, with an area of 1.0×104 m2.Caragana korshinskii and Artemisia ordosica were planted in the observation field and 6 types of sand-binding vegetation communities were formed to research the water balance under rainfed condition during the vegetation succession process. The observation items include long-term fixed site soil water monitoring, plant transpiration, canopy interception storage, aerial part and root system growth, litter, atmosphere dust, meteorological factors, soil respiration, and carbon-water flux of the ecosystem and so on.

Because the size and layout of the original observation field no longer meet the demand of newly increased research projects, it was extended westward to increase an area of 1.8×104 m2. 8 types of psammophytic and xerophytic species were planted to form 35 types of sand-binding vegetation communities. The influences of different plant species, density, pattern and straw checkerboard barriers on the pattern of sand-binding vegetation ecosystem, hydrological processes and micro-topography are being studied.

After completing the extension engineering, the area of the water balance observation field reaches 2.8×104 m2, it is the largest water balance observation field in arid zone of China. Together with the existing water saving irrigation experiment field, it forms a nearly 4.0 hm2 flat and standardized observation base, thereby provides a better platform for the station’s future research and international cooperation research.

This project was supported by the station’s key project foundation and the national science foundation for outstanding young scholars. Up to now, the arrangement of sample plots, plant cultivation and instrument installation have been finished.