Field Notes

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Other sites visited today: Mayberry | East End

West Pond: 2023-01-18 13:25:00 (DOY 18)
Author: Daphne Szutu
Others: Joe, Robert

Summary: Regular data collection/cleaning, inspected power system--removed 2 bad batteries, calibrated 7700, installed picam for intercomparison, replaced wood in lower boardwalk

2023-01-18
West Pond

Joe, Robert, and I arrived around 13:25 PST. It was cold with a slight breeze and some faint sunshine coming through the clouds. The staff gauge read 52cm. Today was for maintenance and for regular data collection. We checked the power system and calibrated the 7700. Seems like most of the willows we drove by have some buds on them. Some of the willow that has fallen into the wetland has re-sprouted and started to spread deeper into the pond.

The first thing we did when we arrive was to drop both gas regulators in the mud, getting soil in the openings. Joe took the regulators apart to clean them with compressed air and put them back together. Luckily we had some Teflon tape in the toolbox. No leaks!

Robert replaced the plywood in the lower boardwalk. We left the old boardwalk by the side of the road.

We have been losing power at this site so Joe checked the power line and the solar system. The power line is spliced with wire nuts on the tower side of the berm near where it goes under the berm in conduit. On the solar panel side, cattails had buried the line pulling it taught and pinning the charge controller to the side on the battery box. Joe was able to clear most of the dead cattails off of the line and get some slack in it, but it is buried under roots (willow and cattail) near the berm. At the solar system there were cesspools of raccoon poop on top of each box the Joe dumped off. The sn BB-WP batteries inside looked clean and in good condition. After disconnecting and isolating them, two of the six tested bad: 4 and 5 counting from the west. The system is wired in pairs for 24V and the two bad batteries were members of adjacent pairs. They were also the only ones that had cells that were low on water. Joe removed the two bad batteries the reconnected the remaining four. The screw terminals on the charge controller and in the datalogger enclosure were tight.

After the batteries were reconnected and the tower was back up and running, I restarted the Canon camera.

I installed a new picam sn RPI0W-006 to run a camera comparison with the current Canon camera. We don’t get many good photos from the Canon camera, especially in the winter. The Canon enclosure window frequently has condensation on it, even with a small computer fan blowing across it. The Canon camera also remains off after a power outage, not booting up automatically when the power comes back on.

We calibrated the 7700. Both the zero and span offsets were small. Since the optics RH was 10%, I did not change the desiccant or flush the headspace with zero air. We replaced the spiky hat and the spray nozzle afterwards.

Robert cleaned flux and rad sensors. I downloaded met, cam, and USB GHG data. The reservoir was mostly full so I did not refill it.

I reran the wires of the two NDVI sensors to make the cable runs a little neater. There are too many rad boom cables to fit into the current split loom, so it could use additional split loom another time.

The 7500 read: 432ppm CO2, 415mmol/m3 H2O, 12.7C, 102.0kPa, 102SS—103 after cleaning
The 7700 read: 2.3ppm CH4, 43RSSI – 85 after cleaning

We left at 15:10 PST.

1 photos found

WP_autocam_20230119_1715.jpg ( 2023-01-19 17:15:01 ) Full size: 1920x1440
Flock of birds in flight at sunset