Field Notes

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Other sites visited today: Hill Slough | Mayberry | Bouldin Corn
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Bouldin Alfalfa: 2022-02-03 12:00:00 (DOY 34)
Author: Daphne Szutu
Others: Dennis, Carlos, Manuela

Summary: Regular data collection/cleaning, alfalfa field looking dry, couldn't open usual exit gate, spectral, veg height

2022-02-03
Bouldin Alfalfa

Dennis, Carlos, Manuela and I arrived at 12:00 PST. This was Manuela's first time to the Delta and I think her first time seeing eddy covariance towers. The alfalfa on our field is looking a bit dry and still pretty short, about ankle-shin height. Farmers are still working on clearing out the ditches parallel to the levee in our corner of the island and you can see long piles of dry dirt running by the ditches. The ditch right next to the tower was still filled with weeds. It was mostly overcast with high thin clouds and a cold breeze. The dirt roads were dry and only a bit dusty.

I downloaded met, cam, and USB GHG data. Carlos and Manuel cleaned the flux and rad sensors. I downloaded the FD data and cleared its memory. I downloaded the IRT data by swapping the microSD card and using CardConvert to convert the fast data to TOB1 and the slow data to TOA5. We topped off the wash reservoir.

Dennis took veg height and spectral measurements, but there were some patchy clouds so we should check the “up” measurements carefully against the reference.

LI-7500 readings:
CO2 425ppm
H2O 335ppm
T 14.5C
P 102.4kPa
SS 101 --> 101 after cleaning
LI7700 readings:
CH4 2.1ppm
RSSI 46 --> 86 after cleaning

We left at 12:30 PST. We couldn’t get out of our usual gate on the north side of the highway. Neither digital keypad worked to open the gate. We might try bringing a spare 9V battery next time. We talked to a farmworker that confirmed the code was the same as usual. We ended up going east on Hwy 12 and looping over and under to get onto westbound Hwy 12. In retrospect we should've gotten the number of Dave Forkel or Ralph when we were at corn.

Next Mowing: 2022-02-07

Veg Height (cm): Tape measure from ground to top of plant
26, 29, 14, 21, 27, 16, 0, 21, 27, 25, 22, 22, 26, 27, 22, 21, avg = 21.6, stdev = 7.07

2 photos found

20220203BA_Dennis.jpg ( 2022-02-03 12:06:15 ) Full size: 1920x1440
Dennis taking veg height measurements on the alfalfa field