Field Notes

Bouldin Corn: 2021-08-17 08:45:00 (DOY 229)
Author: Daphne Szutu
Others: Joe, Ariane

Summary: Regular data collection/cleaning, visitors from UCSC, hazy skies, removed undercanopy picams, veg height, 4-way radiometer PRT bad--fixed

2021-08-17
Bouldin Corn

Joe, Ariane, and I arrived at 8:45 PDT. Visiting us for the day were Susan and Gracie, 2 of Adinaâ€™s students who will be working with the future eddy covariance towers at Elkhorn Slough. It was warm, breezy, and smelled smoky. The skies were hazy from wildfire smoke from fires around the state, but the PA sensor reported the AQI was <50, so it must have been mostly smoke aloft.

There were still feathers everywhere under the tower. Ari ran into a big spider on its spiderweb next to the tower (see photo).

Joe gave a tour of the sensors to Gracie and Susan.

I collect met, cam, and USB GHG data. The NR01 PRT data looked bad, gradually drifting downg since the start of the month. One of the PRT wires on the datalogger was loose. It was one of the channels with both a resistor and a sensor wire connected to it. Since the resistor is a thicker gauge than the sensor wire, sometimes the sensor wire doesn't have a good connection. We've gotten around this in the past by soldering the 2 together so they both maintain their electrical connectivity to the channel. Maybe something to consider, although it does make it annoying in case we need to swap out the resistor or trim the sensor in the future.

I downloaded the FD data and cleared its memory.

I downloaded the PA data and cycled its power. I didnâ€™t see the LED lights on the card slot blinking as I expected, so I ejected the card, put the card back in again, and cycled the power again; the pattern of the LED lights looked better this 2nd time. I want to make sure we get consistent PA data since itâ€™s wildfire season.

I downloaded the IRT data by swapping microSD cards and using CardConvert to convert the fast data to TOB1 and the slow data to TOA5.

I changed the water level desiccant. Ari cleaned flux and rad sensors. We topped off the wash reservoir.

Ari took veg height samples. I used the web browser to shut down the picams, and Ari removed the picams sn RPI0W-001 and sn RPI0W-002 from the field. I will download the data back in the lab.

The barometer here has been weird, sometimes matching with the Licor pressure and sometimes not. The barometer here is still wired to the mux, so its performance might improve if I move it to the datalogger.

LI-7500 readings:
CO2 413ppm
H2O 676ppm
T 26.3C
P 100.7kPa
SS 100-->103 after cleaning
LI7700 readings:
CH4 2.0
RSSI 31-->78 after cleaning

We left at 9:30 PDT.

Veg Height (cm): Tape measure from ground to top of plant - Corn has tassels and well developed cobs
277, 275, 263, 263, 266, 270, 252, 265, 275, 276, avg = 268.2, stdev = 7.93

2 photos found

20210817BC_Spider.jpg ( 2021-08-17 08:49:09 ) Full size: 1440x1920
Alarmingly large spider at face height that Ari walked right smack dab into