Field Notes

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Other sites visited today: Vaira | Bouldin Corn | Bouldin Alfalfa | Hill Slough
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Tonzi: 2024-05-22 13:40:00 (DOY 143)
Author: Joe Verfaillie
Others:

Summary: Tree canopy looking fuller, tried to upgrade power distribution at the tower, reinstalled Theta #2, HISE pt den #4, SoilVue cable, midday water potential, spliced OSU SP2 power line, Zcam1 missing some photos, lots left to do

Tonzi
2024-05-22

I arrived at about 13:40 PDT. I got a late start today with a stop in the Delta to help move the corn tower. It was clear, sunny but a little hazy and warm with a cool breeze not often enough. The trees are looking more normal but some still have the bright green new leaves. The grass is greener here than at Vaira. In the cool shady places the cows have mowed it and it looks like lawn. There was a constant drone of busy insects.

I did midday water potential. Still a little work hunting for twigs on tree 102.

I tried to upgrade the rat’s nest of wires in the solar controller box. The box door was open from last time – no harm no foul. I had to turn everything off for a bit. I added another 5A breaking hoping to separate the ground sensors from the tower sensors so that if cows eat something on the ground the Tower eddy and met will still run. This was not 100% successful yet. The Floor met and the CO2 profile are still on the tower breaker. There are also 12V and 24V lines. I added two half size pluggable power strips (need wood screws to attach them) orange (24V) and green (12V). Seems I was running 24 Volts most places and using DC-DC converts at the ends to step it down where needed. I changed OSU SP2 and the computer box from 24V to 12V. The Floor met could go to 12V too. Better, but still needs work.

I spliced the power line to OSU SP2 with a screw terminal. I could probably solder that.

I reinstalled the Theta probe #2 sn 31/100 in nearly the same place at about -20cm and its cable in conduit. I reinstalled the cable from the SoilVue under the tree. I couldn’t force it through the conduit so it’s just lying on the ground waiting for cows to chew it again.

I collected the Tower flux and camera data. Seems I forgot to swap the USB stick for the Floor Flux data.
The Tower read: 422.5ppm CO2, 445.6mmol/m3 H2O, 27.2C, 98.6kPa, 102.0SS
The Floor read: 421.6ppm CO2, 519.3mmol/m3 H2O, 29.0C, 98.7kPa, 102.7SS
There were a bunch of spider webs on the Tower eddy sensors that I wiped off.

I reinstalled HISE point dendrometer #4 box sn 4083-1 and sensor sn DS-104. The logger box is higher on the tree and the sensor cable is in flexible aluminum conduit. I didn’t have the connector for the solar panel so it’s only got the power in its batteries until next time.

I did the soil moisture, well levels and read the dendrometers. I collected both well data sets. The junction box on the Floor well pipe is missing its cover. The power for the little laptop was fidgety. The cows wrecked the fence around the soil co2 stuff but not much left to munch on there. I fixed the fence and power looked okay. I collected the FD chamber data.

I serviced the Zcams. Zcam1 only had a few photos but it started working on its own a few days after our last visit. Its cable might be damaged.

Still on the todo list:
Solder splice in OSU SP2 power line
New power line for the Floor RH/T fan and conduit
SoilVue cable in conduit – need fish, could have used fence wire
Other SoilVue cable needs screw terminal removed and splice soldered – dry season
Tree 102 dedrometer needs fixing
Improve cow fences, new batteries, more fence posts
Keep working on power distribution, mounting screws, labels
Barbed wire fence for Floor Solar
Floor met program fix rev Bowen columns
Labels for HISE pt dendrometer sensors
Reinstall IRTs
Two more TOMST pt dendrometer
Check/fix Zcam1 cable
Cover for Floor well junction box

I left at about 17:45 PDT

Field Data

No tank data

Well Depth

Date	Location	Depth (feet)
2024-05-22	VR_well	52.63
2024-05-22	VR_pond	19.26
2024-05-22	TZ_floor	18.25
2024-05-22	TZ_road	27.55
2024-05-22	TZ_tower	22.55
2024-05-22	HS	5.2

No TZ Moisture Point data found

No VR Moisture Point data found

No TZ grass heigth found

No VR grass heigth found

Tree DBH

Date	Tag#	Reading (mm)
2024-05-22	1	23.5
2024-05-22	2	17.0
2024-05-22	245	11.4
2024-05-22	3	9.3
2024-05-22	4	11.5
2024-05-22	5	20.6
2024-05-22	6	8.9
2024-05-22	7	16.7
2024-05-22	72	9.9
2024-05-22	79	8.1