Field Notes

Twitchell Alfalfa: 2017-03-01 10:50:00 (DOY 60)
Author: Daphne Szutu
Others: Sam Chamberlain

Summary: Data collection/cleaning, turned eosense FD back on, installed ultrasonic pest repeller

2017-03-01
Twitchell Alfalfa

We arrived at 10:50. The weather was clear, sunny, and breezy. There were freshly shorn sheep to the east of the tower. We drove along the edge of the field and parked by the tower. The ditch road seems dry enough to drive on.

We noticed the eosense FD was very quiet. I re-wired the power wires and it turned on. Seems like it has been off since 2/14/2017.

Sam took soil respiration measurements and cleaned the radiation and EC sensors and the solar panel.

I downloaded the USB GHG, met, and soil CO2 data and swapped the camera card.

LI7500 readings:
CO2 415.8 umol/mol
H2O 339.6 mmol/m3
T 13.6 Celsius
P 103.1 kPa
SS 102.9 -> 103.6 after cleaning.

Sam also installed the PestSoldier, an untrasonic pest repeller powered with four C(?) batteries. The frequency was set to mid-rodent. The ultrasonic mode was set to continuous sweep (different frequencies at random time intervals). The sonic volume was turned all the way down. Sam attached it to the top bar of the scaffolding on the north side of the tower. It is facing south, toward the solar panels.

We left at 11:40.

1 photos found

20170301TA_PestSoldier.jpg ( 2017-03-01 00:00:00 ) Full size: 480x640
We installed a Pest Soldier, which is an ultrasonic and sonic device designed to keep pests away. We set it on the "rodent" setting to discourage ground squirrels from burrowing by our scaffolding.