Field Notes

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East End: 2024-09-26 11:00:00 (DOY 270)
Author: Daphne Szutu
Others: Carlos

Summary: Regular data collection/cleaning, wasps in enclosure

2024-09-26
East End

Carlos and I arrived at 11:00 PST. It was warm and there were lots of wasps flying around. The staff gauge read 50cm.

I downloaded met, cam, and USB GHG data. The water level sensor jumped again. I would like to move it to underneath the met box, hanging straight down, so hopefully it was be disturbed less. I downloaded the miniDOT data and swapped its desiccant. I planned to update its clock today, but this is an older miniDOT and I didn’t bring the correct cable. Next time. Carlos cleaned flux and rad sensors and topped off the wash reservoir. He reported the rain bucket was clean.

We measured the surface water conductivity.
Surface, 296uS, 15.6C

The 7500 read: 409ppm CO2, 720mmol/m3 H2O, 24.4C, 101.1kPa, 98SS - 99 after cleaning
The 7700 read: 2.15ppm CH4, 61RSSI - 75 after cleaning

I noticed that there were some wasps flying in/out of the middle box, the newest installed box that has just a power strip in it. I opened the box and discovered probably 200 wasps. They didn’t seem aggressive, and I didn’t see any honeycomb nests, so I evicted all of the wasps, mostly by knocking on the box. I had to prod a few last wasps out with a reed. I had to unscrew the wooden backing board to get all the wasps behind the board. The board is still loose. I sealed the hole on the bottom of the box with electrical tape. I would like to move the met box datalogger/mux to this box eventually because it’s more pleasant on the middle level than the darker and less ergonomic lower level.

We left at 12:00 PST.

2 photos found

20240926EE_Wasps1.jpg ( 2024-09-26 12:14:31 ) Full size: 1440x1920
Wasps in enclosure. Guess I should have sealed this box better.