Field Notes

<--2016-11-17 08:30:00 | 2016-12-06 13:30:00-->

East End: 2016-11-21 09:15:00 (DOY 326)
Author: Joe Verfaillie
Others:

Summary: Troubleshot power problem, removed EosGP CO2 probe, knocked down cattails under tower, replace HMP60 fan, Collected data

East End
2016-11-21

I arrived about 9:15am. It was cool and mostly sunny with more clouds moving in later in the day. The wetland is mostly brown. The water level is about the same at the top of the well pipe.

This site has been having power problems over the weekend. When I got there the system was off due to a low battery disconnect. The battery bank was just over 12V and the solar panels were giving 5 to 20A depending on passing clouds. There was a bunch of wasps, ants and spiders in the charge controller box. After chasing most of the critters out I turned on the system and it was pulling more than 8A. At the tower I put an Amp meter on the EosGP CO2 probe power lead and it said it was pulling 6A. After disconnecting the EosGP probe the charge controller was reporting 2.2A. I tried to seal up the holes in the charge controller box.

I removed the EosGP CO2 probe sn GP20150109

Some of the data logger channels were giving strange readings especially DO and atmospheric pressure. Part of the problem were bugs in the code. I had to upload programs a number of times to fix it. It also seems that AM16/32 channel 5 where the atmospheric pressure was attached in not working. I rewrote the code to use channel 5 on the CR1000.

About noontime I collected data.
The 7500 read: 408.9ppm CO2, 597.9mmol/m3 H2O, 17.28C, 101.7kPa, 99.2SS â€“ 101.5 after cleaning
The 7700 read: 1.975ppm CO2, 49.9RSSI â€“ 90.5 after cleaning.
I heard the auto wash cycle run earlier in the day.

The HMP60 fan was broken. I took apart the solar shield and cleaned out a bunch of cattail fluff and spider webs. I put a new fan in.

I knocked down a lot of the cattail under the tower and along the power line to the solar panels. I raised the power line hopefully high enough so that the dead cattails wonâ€™t hang on it. I cleaned the solar panels a bit, but there is still a big spot from some hawkâ€™s meal on the center panel.

Bryan Brock stopped by with a bunch of students from the California Council on Science and Technology Policy Fellowship. If I understood correctly these were a bunch of grad students in a program at the State capital to bring science to policy makers and to learn about the policy making.

0 photos found

11 sets found

14 EE_met graphs found