Field Notes
<--2021-03-02 07:50:00 | 2021-03-16 09:20:00-->Other sites visited today: Sherman Wetland | Bouldin Alfalfa
Hill Slough: 2021-03-11 09:30:00 (DOY 70)
Author: Daphne Szutu
Others: Ariane, Robert, Camilo, Joe
Summary: Installed flux/met/rad sensors, Installed batteries, Ran temporary power line, Added chain link fencing to platform floors, Replaced broken solar panel
| 2021-03-11 Hill Slough Ariane, Robert, and I arrived around 9:30 PST. Camilo arrived shortly afterwards after picking up the LI-7700 sn TG1-0211 from Bouldin Alfalfa. The LI-7700 that fell in the water at Bouldin Corn is still at Licor. Joe arrived around 11:00 after picking up more supplies at Sherman Wetland and West Pond. It has been raining for the past 2 days but the field was still dry enough to drive the rental truck around. There were big fluffy cumulus clouds in the sky and it was an overall nice day that alternated between mild sunshine and chilly breezes. At some point in the afternoon a man released a flock of homing pigeons from the turnout across from our boardwalk. The entry gate has been moved to the eastern edge of the channel – Joe would have liked it further over the channel but it is good enough where it is. We added a combo lock to the gate on the way out. A few wooden steps have also been added to the eastern end of the boardwalk. Joe added a two-foot extension to the radiation boom and got it attached to the long side of the tower so that it points south. There is one bolt missing from the front L-bracket. He added a pipe to the end with mounts for the radiation sensors. We added 2x4 blocks to better support the middle 2x12 plank on both platforms and then rolled out 9 gauge chain link fencing to cover the opening in the platform floors. The ends of the fencing are fixed with tensioning bars. At the tower platform, we drilled holes in the bars and screwed them to the wood but at the solar power platform the drill battery died and we used the fencing U-nails which probably works just as well. We also added U-nails to the long sides of each fencing panel. They are well-enough attached that they can support your weight over the holes. We removed the broken solar panel sn 11ZV0M0836 from the lowest position and installed panel sn 11ZV0M0828 to replace it. The wire we brought were not the best lengths so Joe had to be a little creative in the wire runs. We should also check next time that we tightened all the security bolts. We put the battery box from SW on the west side of the platform and installed the five group 31 flooded batteries from the SW temporary tower. This is now battery bank sn BB-HS. Joe also installed the solar controller sn 11400080 and breakers from the SW temporary site in the battery box. Here again the wiring is not optimal and should be cleaned up. Also because the drill battery died he could not mount the solar controller or bolt the battery box to the platform. We ran a 12 gauge orange extension cord from the solar platform to the tower platform. We were planning to put this inside the 1/2" drip tubing for more protection from critters, weather and water but that proved impossible without a wire fish. The extension cord length was just enough to get from platform to platform so there are splices on either end inside the platform fencing. Ari installed the soil sensors in the ground on the south side of the tower under the radiometer. There are three sets of thermocouples with the following depths: +32cm, +8cm, 0cm, -2cm, -4cm, -8cm, -16cm, and -32cm. A positive depth means above the ground surface, and a negative depth means below the ground. Two sets of thermocouples were also co-located with a soil moisture sensor and a soil heat flux plate. Soil moisture sensors were installed at -8 cm following recommendations in the instrument manual. The soil heat flux plates were installed right under the surface at -2cm depth. We added split-loom to the thermocouple wires. The soil moisture and SHF plates were already in split-loom. We also installed the well sensor in the ground on the south side of the tower, lowering it to the bottom of the well and then raising it about a cm before securing the cable with a zip tie to the top of the well. When digging the well, we saw some peat at the top but most of the soil profile was clay. We hit water about half a meter below the surface. Length of pipe: 1.59m Height of pipe above ground: 0.525m Well sensor depth below ground: 1.05m Camilo and Robert installed the flux sensors. We filled the 7700 wash reservoir and tested the spray/spin. The 7700 pump was not pushing much water. Joe improved the flow by removing the in-line filter, which we should replace. Ari and Camilo installed the radiometers on the boom. We have a NR-LITE temporarily installed while we are still testing the NR01 that fell in the water at BC. We also have our usual PARin/out and NDVIin/out. The flux data looked fine, and I renamed the 7550 from SWTT-0650 to HS-0650. I synched the clocks (+/- 1 min change) and reset the box. I checked that the clocks looked good, the USB was logging and the CH4 was connected. By pure coincidence sn 75H-2180 was also used the last time we used this box, so I got confused and did not upload the new config file. The pressure coefficients were correct, though, and the flux numbers looked reasonable. Next time I’ll upload the new config file. LI-7500 readings: CO2 416ppm H2O 330ppm T 17.3C P 102.0kPa SS 98 LI7700 readings: CH4 1.98ppm RSSI 65 The met data looked ok, except that both soil sensors were reading VWC=9999. The other data from the sensors (temperature, etc.) seemed ok, so we thought maybe the soil is too saline for the TDR method to distinguish conductivity between soil and water. We installed the pi-cam and adjusted its view. Lat/long: ?? Average veg height: 0.36 m (average of 5 measurements) See SMAP link for updated sensor height information https://nature.berkeley.edu/biometlab/bmetdata/equipment.php?screen=smap&site=Hill%20Slough Tower height: ?? cm from middle of sonic to soil Sonic orientation: 3 deg true N Sonic-7500 distance: 0.225 m 7500 towards sonic 'separation_dir': 318 deg true N Sonic-7700 distance: 0.20 m 7700 towards sonic 'separation_dir': 5 deg true N Equipment installed: Sonic sn 120907 LI-7700 sn TG1-0211 LI-7500A sn 75H-2180 LI-7550 sn AIU-0650 CR1000 sn 50889 AM13/26B sn ?? AM25T sn 2856 NR-LITE sn 990350 PARin sn 050597 PARout sn 050596 NDVIin sn 2046503368 NDVIout sn 2046503402 HMP 155A sn S3410851 SHF plate A sn 00245 SHF plate B sn 10809 VWC A sn 17131, -8 cm VWC B sn 17130, -8 cm Water level sn 20010770 RPi cam sn RPI0W-004 We all left around 16:30 PST. To-do list Add missing bolt from front L-bracket on rad boom Tighten security bolts on solar panels Mount solar charge controller Bolt battery box to platform Replace orange extension cord with another power cord inside ½†drip tubing (done) Upload new config file for sn 75H-2180 Replace 7700 wash pump in-line filter Add split-loom to radiometer cables (1/4â€) and well sensor cable Measure instrument heights Add bolts to instrument scaffolding |
8 photos found
20210311HS_Ari.jpg ( 2021-03-11 11:07:25 ) Full size: 1920x1440
Ariane installing soil sensors for the new site
20210311HS_MetBox.jpg ( 2021-03-11 16:53:50 ) Full size: 1440x1920
The start of a site -- a clean and organized datalogger encosure
20210311HS_SiteSetup.jpg ( 2021-03-11 11:07:33 ) Full size: 1440x1920
Camilo and Robert installing flux sensors. The rad boom will be installed in a different position later in the day.
20210311HS_Chainlink.jpg ( 2021-03-11 12:48:06 ) Full size: 1920x1440
Joe and Daphne installing chain link fencing to cover holes in platform. The ends of the fencing are fixed with tension bars that are either drilled into the platform or secured with u-nails.
20210311HS_Robert.jpg ( 2021-03-11 10:35:27 ) Full size: 1440x1920
Robert installing flux sensors
20210311HS_ScaffoldFeet.jpg ( 2021-03-11 12:37:06 ) Full size: 1920x1440
We moved a 2x12 plank from the edge of the platform to the middle so that we had more area to secure the scaffolding foot. The feet were drilled into the platforms and the scaffolding was tied down with a chain and turnbuckle attached to an eyebolt screwed into the platform (not pictured). The holes in the platform were later covered by chain link fencing.
20210311HS_Thermocouple.jpg ( 2021-03-11 16:36:55 ) Full size: 1440x1920
Thermocouple wires covered in split loom to prevent rodents or other animals from chewing on them.
20210311HS_Well.jpg ( 2021-03-11 12:15:14 ) Full size: 1920x1440
Daphne putting thermocouple wires in split-loom conduit. Well sensor in foreground.
4 sets found
No data found for HS_met.
No data found for HS_flux.
No data found for HS_cam.
Can't check HS_Processed
2 HS_Processed graphs found