Field Notes

Bouldin Alfalfa: 2018-02-28 15:10:00 (DOY 59)
Author: Daphne Szutu
Others: Elke, Alex, Sigrid

Summary: Regular data collection/cleaning, deployed Arable, birds on field causing bedraggled alfalfa

2018-02-28
Bouldin Alfalfa

We arrived at 15:10. It was cool and overcast with a light breeze.

It looked like the alfalfa was dry and bedraggled across the field, except around the tower. We originally thought they had sprayed via plane recently, but the edges of the field still had fresh-looking alfalfa, and we did not notice any oily spray residue on our instruments. Upon looking at the phenocam photos, we didnâ€™t see any obvious spraying activity, but we could see a flock of geese that were on the field, slowing encroaching towards our tower over 6 hours on 2018-02-23.

We did not do clip plots, veg height, LAI, or spectral because of the possible recent spraying.

Elke downloaded met, camera, and USB data. She also checked the Licor GHG columns. There have been extra 7700 wind columns (-9999) in the GHG data, but those columns were not selected in the 7550 Site Setup. Iâ€™m not sure why this extra data is showing up in the GHG files. Elke un-selected 7500 Diagnostic Value 2 and selected 7500 Diagnostic Value; Diagnostic Value tells us more information about the 7500; Diagnostic Value 2 only tells us if the 7700 is connected.

There was a 7700 clock sync error. 7500 and 7700 were both set to automatic time settings. Elke restarted the 7550 box and the error disappeared. We replaced the 7700 wash power cable (had been chewed by sheep and temporarily repaired with a screw terminal) and tested the 7700 wash. We refilled the wash reservoir; it was mostly full.

Alex cleaned the radiation and flux sensors. There was a dead mouse in the rain gauge that she discarded.

I installed Tim's Arable (sn A000591) on the south side of the scaffolding, on the top rail between the radiation boom and the precip bucket. I leveled the sensor, but it was not pointing N because I prioritized aiming the downward-facing sensors towards the alfalfa. I also set up the Arableâ€™s auxillary solar panel between the Arable and the precip bucket.

LI-7500 readings:
CO2 412 ppm
H2O 364 ppm
T 17.3 C
P 102.0 kPa
SS 107--> 108 after cleaning

LI7700 readings:
CH4 1.98 ppm
RSSI 56 --> 84 after cleaning

We left at 15:45.

Next Mowing: 2018-03-30

1 photos found

bouldinalfalfa_2018_02_27_081610.jpg ( 2018-02-27 08:16:48 ) Full size: 1296x960
Snow on Mt Diablo