Field Notes

<--2020-04-03 11:40:00 | 2020-04-27 00:00:00-->
Other sites visited today: Mayberry | Bouldin Corn
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Bouldin Alfalfa: 2020-04-17 14:00:00 (DOY 108)
Author: Daphne Szutu
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Summary: Regular data collection/cleaning, alfalfa still very tall, added a 2nd FD chamber, added Apogee red/far-red sensor, added new Arable unit, added undercanopy PAR sensor, spectral, veg height measurements

2020-04-17
Bouldin Alfalfa

I arrived at 14:00 PDT. It was mostly overcast, with some blue sky near the horizons. The temperature was mild, but it was windy. The alfalfa is still very tall. I saw a few flowers, and at least half of the plants had yellowing leaves. I hope they mow soon, but I didnâ€™t see any mowed fields around our area. I parked my car on the dirt road and walked in to the tower. There were some shorn sheep on the levee roads munching on the weeds.

I collected met, cam, USB GHG, and FD data. I cleared the FD chamber after downloading. I tried to put a collar on the FD chamber (sn FD20160001), but the collar would not fit, so in the end I just reinstalled it without a collar in its original location (NE corner under tower). I also added a 2nd FD chamber (sn FD20190028) with a collar in the SE corner under the tower. Both the chambers are on cleared soil. The 2nd FD chamber is wired to the same pluggable power as the original FD chamber, and its data connection is hanging outside, underneath the datalogger box. To connect to the 2nd FD chamber, I left a USB-eos cable in the datalogger box.

I replaced the Arable Mark 2 prototype with a new Arable Mark 2: sn C002469 came down and sn C003240 went up. The green LED lights on the new Mark came on as expected.

I added an Apogee Red/Far-red sensor to the radiation boom. It is named AW310 in the datalogger program and wired to C3 (I think shared with the Theta soil moisture probe?). The â€œKâ€ addressed sensor (sn 1061) is pointing upwards, and the â€œLâ€ addressed sensor (sn 1063) is point downwards.

I added an undercanopy PAR sensor to the alfafa field, about 2.4m from the SW corner of the tower. The PAR sensor (sn 030380) is buried just slightly below ground level. It is resting on top of a foam block and protected on the sides by a PVC pipe. The sensor cable is protected by metal conduit and buried just belowground.

I cleaned flux and rad sensors, added some black plastic plugs to the radiation booms to prevent wasps from building nests, did spectral, and took some veg height measurements. The wash reservoir was mostly full; I left it as is.

LI-7500 readings:
CO2 400ppm
H2O 549ppm
T 18.3C
P 101.2kPa
SS 98--> 99 after cleaning
LI7700 readings:
CH4 1.8ppm
RSSI 42-->76 after cleaning

I left at 17:40 PDT.

Next Mowing: 2020-04-25

Veg Height (cm): Tape measure from ground to top of plant
95, 83, 83, 88, 65, 67, 76, 61, 78, 77, avg = 77.3, stdev = 10.64

6 photos found

20200417BA_UndercanopyPARInstall.jpg ( 2020-04-17 16:26:40 ) Full size: 1920x1440
A PAR sensor was installed under the alfalfa canopy to try to measure undercanopy PAR. It is about 2.4m from the SW corner of the BA tower.

20200417BA_UndercanopyPAR.jpg ( 2020-04-17 16:20:00 ) Full size: 1920x1440
A PAR sensor was installed under the alfalfa canopy to try to measure undercanopy PAR. The sensor is resting on a piece of foam and is protected on the sides by a PVC pipe.

20200417BA_FDChambersUnderTower.jpg ( 2020-04-17 17:18:12 ) Full size: 1920x1440
Two FD chambers under the alfalfa tower. Both are on bare soil.

20200417BA_ApogeeSensor.jpg ( 2020-04-17 15:12:54 ) Full size: 1440x1920
Apogee red/far-red sensor installed on the alfalfa radiation boom.

20200417BA_FDChamberConnectors.jpg ( 2020-04-17 17:34:09 ) Full size: 1440x1920
The newly installed FD chambers at both BA and BC has their data connector hanging underneath the datalogger box.