Field Notes

<--2020-04-03 10:30:00 | 2020-05-01 14:50:00-->
Other sites visited today: Mayberry | Bouldin Alfalfa

Bouldin Corn: 2020-04-17 10:00:00 (DOY 108)
Author: Daphne Szutu
Others:

Summary: Regular data download/cleaning, farmers should be planting soon, removed 3 FD chambers from field, removed water level sensor, added new Arable, moved soil sensors to underneath tower, moved 1 FD chamber under tower

2020-04-17
Bouldin Corn

I arrived at 10:00 PDT. It was windy and cool, with some scattered cirrus clouds, but it was mostly overcast by the time I left. Tyler has moved his chambers back towards the tower since the last site visit, and he is planning to move his chambers even farther back towards the tower early next week.

I downloaded met, camera, USB GHG and PA data. I downloaded the 3 FD chambers and removed them from the field. Today I removed all our sensors from the field because they should be planting soon. I added a new Arable Mark 2 (sn C003251) and solar panel. The green LED lights came on as expected. I forgot to add the bird spikes initially, so had to pull the Mark down again to do that.

I brought 2 FD chambers (sn FD20180047, sn FD20180048) back to the lab and I reinstalled the third sensor (sn FD20180067) under the tower, in the SW corner. I pressed the tall collar about 5cm into the soil. I cleared the data from the FD chamber under the tower and synced its clock with the laptop.

I moved the three soil measurement profiles and the Theta soil moisture probe under the tower. Each profile has a thermocouple rod, a soil heat flux plate, and a Campbell soil moisture sensor. The soil was soft enough that I did not need a pilot rod to put the thermocouple rods back in.
I removed the well and water level sensor from the field. I was trying to dig a bigger and deeper hole to remove the well pipe, but that wasnâ€™t really getting anywhere. Finally I threaded some extra wire through the well pipe holes, and was able to grab the excess wire as handles to pull the pipe up easily. I left the water level sensors hanging in the air from the tower. The well pipe is leaning against the tower.

Before I moved the well pipe:
Top of pipe to water level = 91cm
Top of pipe to soil = 34.5cm
Top of pipe to sensor = 102cm

LI-7500 readings:
CO2 412ppm
H2O 511ppm
T 15.9C
P 100.7kPa
SS 101
LI7700 readings:
CH4 1.95ppm
RSSI 37-->90 after cleaning

I left at 13:30 PDT.

3 photos found

20200417BC_TylersChambers.jpg ( 2020-04-17 11:53:08 ) Full size: 1440x1920
Tyler's chambers on a weedy corn field.

20200417BC_SensorsUnderTower.jpg ( 2020-04-17 12:49:15 ) Full size: 1920x1440
Getting crowded under the corn tower: an FD chamber, 3 soil profile (thermocouple profile, soil heat flux plate, Campbell soil moisture) and a Theta soil moisture probe.

20200417BC_Arable.jpg ( 2020-04-17 11:13:44 ) Full size: 1440x1920
New Mark2 Arable unit installed next to Arable Mark. They are currently overlooking a weedy corn field.