Field Notes

<--2022-08-15 12:25:00 | 2022-09-16 13:05:00-->
Other sites visited today: Bouldin Corn | Hill Slough

Bouldin Alfalfa: 2022-08-31 10:10:00 (DOY 243)
Author: Joe Verfaillie
Others: Daphne, Carlos

Summary: Very sparse, short, flowering alfalfa, Carlos collected data, rewiring of met box, PRI in broken - removed, soil moisture cores, satellite overpass measurements, might be missing 10sec AirT/RH data at main tower

Bouldin Alfalfa
2022-08-31

Daphne, Carlos and I arrived at about 10:10 PDT. It was clear and warm with a light breeze and hazy horizons. They have cleared the main ditch running north of our field and deposited the scrapings on either side of the road. The alfalfa is short and sparse but flowering – maybe 40/60 green alfalfa to bare/litter.

We are a little early for the satellite overpass so Daphne guided Carlos through downloading the data at the tower while I did veg height (such as it is) and spectral measurements.
The 7500 read: 395ppm CO2, 700mmol/m3 H2O, 23C, 101.5kPa, 96SS
We cleaned the windows but didn’t write down the clean values. The 7550 clock as adjusted by +30sec at 9:21 PST. There was some confusion in collecting the 10sec AirT and RH data. Seems like data from 8/15 to 8/31 might be missing. We saved some of the raw Campbell files to be checked in the lab.

When Daphne and Carlos went to do the satellite overpass measurements at about 11:45 PDT, I started to rewire the data logger box to add a new power strip. I’m not sure the box is all that much neater, but more things have their own power plug so it should be easier to maintain things. The Decagon SRS PRI incoming sensor sn 913003012 was shorted and taking down the whole system. I probably damaged it when its loose wires sparked on the 24V power strip. We removed this sensor and probably will not replace it. Everything else seemed to be running correctly after the rewiring.

We took a soil core (0-5cm) by slide hammer for soil moisture.

Bouncer Tower: 12:40 PDT
Carlos collected the data: 23x 30min, CR6 10sec and 20Hz, Licor USB. The 23x Li battery is at 2.63V
The 7500 read: 405ppm CO2, 535mmol/m3 H2O, 30.0C, 101.4kPA, 98SS – 99.5 after cleaning
The eddy clock was adjusted +30sec at 11:51 PST and logging restarted. I removed the remains of a small dead bird that was making Carlos gag from the top of the Licor box.

I cleaned the solar panels and took a soil core (0-5cm) by slide hammer for soil moisture.

Edge Tower (Edward?): 13:10 PDT
Carlos collected the data: 23x 30min, CR6 10sec and 20Hz, Licor USB. The 23x Li battery is at 2.64V
The 7500 read: 392ppm CO2, 697mmol/m3 H2O, 31.0C, 101.4kPA, 97.9
After cleaning: 412ppm CO2, 560mmol/m3, 101SS
The eddy clock was adjusted +20sec at 12:26 PST and logging restarted. We had some problems connecting to the 7500 at first but maybe just weren’t waiting long enough for the software to do its thing.

I cleaned the solar panels and the net radiometer both only a little dirty. I took as soil core (0-5cm) by slide hammer for soil moisture.

Daphne cleared a few mud nests and a paper wasp nest from the box.

We left at 13:40 PDT

On the way out we saw CalTrans laying a new asphalt road under the Hwy 12 bridge. And there was a group of about a dozen folks having a meeting by the levee north of the highway entrance – I didn’t notice anyone I recognized.

Next Mowing: 2022-09-12

Veg Height (cm): Tape measure from ground to top of plant - Lots of bare area not included in the "veg" heights
32, 8, 43, 20, 16, 24, 40, 26, 22, 18, 35, 8, 30, avg = 24.8, stdev = 11.05

0 photos found

7 sets found

4 BA_flux graphs found