Field Notes

Mayberry: 2013-11-06 10:30:00 (DOY 310)
Author: Cove Sturtevant
Others: Sara, Patty

Summary: Water level low. Ants in box with cables. Took some notes on vegetation.

Mayberry
2013-11-06

We arrived about 10:30 PST. It was sunny with haze, cool, and calm. The water level was low. The site continues to brown, although there is still a substantial amount of green, especially around the patch edges. Sara and Patty went out to the tule tower to do maintenance and collect water samples while I attended to the tower and downloaded data.

There were a lot of black ants in the box of cables at the tower. Well bring the ant bait next time.

7500 readings:
CO2: 415 ppm (420 after cleaning)
H2O: 364 mmol m-3 (same after cleaning)
signal strength = 94.8% (97.7% after cleaning)
t: 19.7 C
p = 102.6 kPa
sos = 341.0 m s-1

Current 7700 readings:
CH4 = 2.36 ppm (same after cleaning)
RSSI = 52% (80 after cleaning)
The reservoir was full.

MET looked good.
Cleaned solar panels.

Sara and I went back out to the tule tower later to adjust the scaffold legs (the tower was wobbly) and explore the vegetation at the site a bit. Most of the vegetation is cattail, but there are some tule-only patches and many areas where the tule and cattail are mixed. There also seem to be cattail patches of thinner leaves and shorter stature. Based on talking with Iryna these may be typha angustifolia, whereas the broad-leaved larger stands are typha latifolia.

There is currently a lot of spatial variability in vegetation greenness. The patches of the thinner cattail are short and rather scraggly and unhealthy looking. The tule patches are taller, darker green, and senescing throughout. Most of the patches of broadleaf cattail have an outer ring that is very green, thick, and healthy-looking with a senescing interior. However, there are some broadleaf cattail patches dont show this green outer ring. Poking through a few patches with the green healthy outer ring, some are rather sparse in the middle due to an elevated bed of fallen brown thatch. Next time I will bring my camera out and take photos.

I also noticed just how high the vegetation has grown. From the tule tower looking toward the flux tower, the tower instruments are barely above the height of the vegetation. Perhaps we can have a conversation about replacing the tower tripod with a scaffold so we can raise the tower safely.

1 photos found

Mb_autocam_20131105_1245.jpg ( 2013-11-05 12:45:02 ) Full size: 1920x1440
Hawk on 7700