Field Notes

Bouldin Alfalfa: 2024-12-19 14:25:00 (DOY 354)
Author: Daphne Szutu
Others: Kyle

Summary: Cold and foggy, 1 zcam dead from water intrusion, 1 soil heat flux plate chewed and missing, Campbell and Sentek VWC sensors NAN--fixed after power cycle

2024-12-19
Bouldin Alfalfa

Kyle and I arrived at 14:25 PST. It was cold and foggy. We had a big storm last week and more rain coming all next week. The water in the slough by the boathouses is very turbid and a light brown color.

The wheat looks a little taller than last time but still <10cm tall. Some of the alfalfa plants looked yellow around the edges, which might just be from frost. There was a decapitated mouse on the 7550 box which I left for now.

There was water in the met box, which I wiped out. Some of the rubber gasket is coming loose, so maybe I can glue it back into place. There is some silicone remnants near the gasket so I probably tried that in the past. Or maybe putty as a substitute for the gasket.

SHF plate 1 was chewed where it came out of the metal conduit. Its data ended in the evening of 2024-12-08. Kyle poked around in a 50cm diameter around the end of the conduit; she found some more cable scraps but no plate. Maybe it will reveal itself after some more rain. The cable is still in the conduit but I disconnected it from the datalogger.

I downloaded met, cam, and USB GHG data. The three Campbell VWC sensors and the Sentek VWC profile were all NAN, but they seemed fine after a power cycle. I can't remember if they are on the same C port or not. Maybe an SDI-12 hiccup. Kyle cleaned flux and rad sensors and took spectral measurements.

The 7500 read: 445pm CO2, 457mmol/m3 H2O, 10.2C, 102.1kPa, 100SS—100 after cleaning

Zcam 1 is dead from the rain (corrosion on the miniUSB port), Zcam 2 is alive but it only had partial photos and was damp inside. I brought both Zcams sn RPI0W-002 and sn RPI0W-007 back in for improved weatherproofing. We usually have the zcams out in the summer, so this is the first time they’ve been in the rain.

We left at 15:20 PST. There were sheep on the alfalfa field all the way to our west.

Estimated Next Mowing: 2024-11-02

0 photos found

7 sets found

4 BA_flux graphs found