Field Notes

Hill Slough: 2021-08-17 07:20:00 (DOY 229)
Author: Daphne Szutu
Others: Joe, Ariane

Summary: Regular data collection/cleaning, hazy skies, fixed TC1 and TC6 but more thermocouples need to be checked

2021-08-17
Hill Slough

Joe, Ariane, and I arrived at 7:20 PDT. It was windy as usual and cold. The skies were hazy from wildfire smoke from fires around the state. The sun rose as a red circle in the sky on our drive up. The outer gate padlock was closed but not latched, so I need to double check that next time. There is no fence up yet along the road but there are 2 short steel posts in the ground by our boardwalk, so they are probably going to leave a gate for us.

I collect met, cam, and USB GHG data. I downloaded the FD data and cleared its memory. I changed the water level desiccant. Ari cleaned flux and rad sensors. We topped off the wash reservoir.

I added a rubber band around the precip bucket funnel to complement the 3 clips it already has. We had an extra rubber band in the lab and this is our windiest site.

I tightened the grounding lug in the box because it was loose and there have been some weird incoming radiation spikes recently. Joe hypothesizes that there might be stray radar from Travis AFB inducing currents in analog lines.

Several of the thermocouples here have had NANs, such as TC1, TC6, and TC21. Joe removed the Profile A rod and checked TC1 (+32cm on Profile A) by unwrapping it. There was no solder on the ends so he used the portable soldering iron to re-solder the ends. However, then the soldering iron ran out of fuel, so instead of soldering TC6 (-8cm on Profile A) he put a layer of heatshrink around the ends. He put the Profile A rod back into the ground at the same height. At some point all the thermocouples should be pulled out and inspected for good connections between the 2 wires at the end.

LI-7500 readings:
CO2 393ppm
H2O 664ppm
T 16.9C
P 100.9kPa
SS 98 --> 102 after cleaning
LI7700 readings:
CH4 1.89ppm
RSSI 54 --> 72 after cleaning

We left at 8:00 PDT to meet Susan and Gracie, 2 of Adinaâ€™s students who will be working at Elkhorn Slough.

Back in the lab, Joe noticed the dfPAR stopped working on Aug 6. I'll have to check it at the next site visit.

0 photos found

4 sets found

20 HS_met graphs found