Trnovski Gozd "Smrekova Draga"/Spruce Trees Valley; Northern Coastal Karst Region, Severna Primorska, Ajdovščina, Slovenija
07-May-2022: the basin below represents perhaps the best explicit example of thermal and vegetational inversion of the entire area that I follow.
Smrekova Draga is...
...an area of difficult access (and photography...), with dense forest all around and towards the trees-free bottom (which only a little part can be seen just in the lower part of the shot).
It is closed on all sides and protected to the Mediterranean-Southern currents by the highest peaks in this Karstic plateau area, or mounts Golaki: Mali Golak, 1495m a.s.l., by altitude is the second highest in the Karst-Dinaric Region, after the tops of the Snežnik area, on the opposite side of the Region.
This allows the accumulation and stagnation of icy masses that are difficult to be undermined (sometimes/rarely in case of strong winds and/or with sun heating, but from early may to late august only), favoring gelicide (freezing rain into black ice), when the external temperatures are too high to snow, which can be had for long periods of the year, due to persistent 24h negative values on the bottom, especially from mid october to late april.
The whole area is subject to the phenomenon of vegetational inversion, due to the semi-permanent thermal inversion, with the temporarily red Beech trees (Fagus sylvatica: partially thermophilic deciduous trees) and Silver firs (Abies alba, common fir on Dinarides and Apennines) giving way to the Spruces (Picea abies, Smreka in Slovenian, that gives the name to the valley and it is the fir that makes up the Siberian taiga) towards the basin floor, with the bottom of which devoid of tall vegetation, limiting high mountain vegetation such as dwarf Willows and a couple of Birches (Betula pendula), montana Pine (Pinus mugo) and lichens.
Thanks to the high humidity of the area, the vegetation is very flourishing, but there are many trees battered, especially by the weight of the ice or ice-snow mix, from the edge, descending towards this large, deep (200 meters lower than where I was photographing, at about 1300m a.s.l.), icy basin.
It should also be noted that the broad-leaved trees are still bare, even further behind in the foliage than in the Alpine valleys, and among these the widespread Beech (Fagus sylvatica var dinarica) emerges with its branches temporarily of a decisive burgundy red color.
They exhibit this color for short periods both immediately after losing their leaves, in autumn, and just before foliar, in May.
Trnovski Gozd "Smrekova Draga"/Spruce Trees Valley; Northern Coastal Karst Region, Severna Primorska, Ajdovščina, Slovenija
07-May-2022: the basin below represents perhaps the best explicit example of thermal and vegetational inversion of the entire area that I follow.
Smrekova Draga is...
...an area of difficult access (and photography...), with dense forest all around and towards the trees-free bottom (which only a little part can be seen just in the lower part of the shot).
It is closed on all sides and protected to the Mediterranean-Southern currents by the highest peaks in this Karstic plateau area, or mounts Golaki: Mali Golak, 1495m a.s.l., by altitude is the second highest in the Karst-Dinaric Region, after the tops of the Snežnik area, on the opposite side of the Region.
This allows the accumulation and stagnation of icy masses that are difficult to be undermined (sometimes/rarely in case of strong winds and/or with sun heating, but from early may to late august only), favoring gelicide (freezing rain into black ice), when the external temperatures are too high to snow, which can be had for long periods of the year, due to persistent 24h negative values on the bottom, especially from mid october to late april.
The whole area is subject to the phenomenon of vegetational inversion, due to the semi-permanent thermal inversion, with the temporarily red Beech trees (Fagus sylvatica: partially thermophilic deciduous trees) and Silver firs (Abies alba, common fir on Dinarides and Apennines) giving way to the Spruces (Picea abies, Smreka in Slovenian, that gives the name to the valley and it is the fir that makes up the Siberian taiga) towards the basin floor, with the bottom of which devoid of tall vegetation, limiting high mountain vegetation such as dwarf Willows and a couple of Birches (Betula pendula), montana Pine (Pinus mugo) and lichens.
Thanks to the high humidity of the area, the vegetation is very flourishing, but there are many trees battered, especially by the weight of the ice or ice-snow mix, from the edge, descending towards this large, deep (200 meters lower than where I was photographing, at about 1300m a.s.l.), icy basin.
It should also be noted that the broad-leaved trees are still bare, even further behind in the foliage than in the Alpine valleys, and among these the widespread Beech (Fagus sylvatica var dinarica) emerges with its branches temporarily of a decisive burgundy red color.
They exhibit this color for short periods both immediately after losing their leaves, in autumn, and just before foliar, in May.