Operations of the ISFS at PCAPS

Field operations of PCAPS took place between Nov 2010 and February 2011. This page provides documentation of the surface measurements of the ISFS at seven sites in the Salt Lake Valley.

Available Datasets

• 30 Minute Flux Dataset
• One Second Dataset

Other Links

University of Utah PCAPS Website

OFAP Documents (EOL Staff only)

Field Logbook

The Field Logbook resides on the UCAR wiki.

Web Plots

48 hour plots of the un-edited data

Instrumentation

PCAPS Instrument and Site Mapping Table

A blank cell indicates the measurement was not made.

Quality Control

kh2o

The use of a Splus script, "kh2o.qc()," was utilized to plot; 'kh2o,' 'kh2oV', 'h2o,' and theoretical 'h2o' (where the RH=100%). The plots identified areas in time where the 'kh2o' values strayed away from 'h2o' in any significance as well if the Krypton value read higher than the theoretical 'h2o (RH=100).' A calculation was computed between the relationship of the theoretical value and measured Krypton value and was rendered in the third panel of plots creating a flag, to distinguish 'kh2o' values measured beyond limits. The dominant reason for sensor malfunction was usually spotted in instances of high moisture levels and was distinguished by sudden drops in, 'kh2oV,' usually whenever the value fell below 1.0 Volt.

kh2oV

No corrections were made to 'kh2oV.' The voltage was used as a tool to map out failures or malfunctions of the 'kh2o' variable.

P.2m

Very little quality control was needed for the pressure variables as there was a strong correlation between stations (even with the geographic distance between stations).

Rsw.in/Rlw.in

Based on daily solar events, the value of 'Rsw.in' measured between sunset and sunrise meant that any values markedly different from zero at night were obvious sensor malfunctions. Plotting multiple stations together during daylight hours showed errors as values deviated from the norm. Also it should be noted that there were instances throughout the project where the sensors required cleaning for bird droppings or other foreign bodies on the lenses.

Rsw.out/Rsw.dfs/Rsw.dfs.spn1/Rsw.global/Rsw.global.spn1/Rlw.out

Sources for edits were deviations mainly during non-daylight hours in which measurements were non-zero (those errors usually persisted into the daylight hours and were also edited as necessary). It should be noted that there were instances where a stations' measured value would read magnitudes larger than that of the other stations but such was dependent on the presence of snow and an albedo influence.

RH.2m

Instances when the mast was down for service were edited to reflect those occurrences as noted in the logbook. Because of a correlation between the stations it was easiest to plot all data simultaneously and determine where any on station deviated from the norm (stations such as the Playa site usually lagged or advanced changes of other stations due to the difference in geographic location, so certain dynamics would dictate the characteristics of that relationship).

T.2m

The quality control for temperature measurements consisted of removing times when the mast was down as well as noted deviations from the normal as determined when plotting overlapped data. Also, some sensor failures as noted in the logbook were edited out as needed.

Gsoil/Gsoil.aux/Qsoil/Qsoil.aux/Cvsoil/Cvsoil.aux

Edits to the soil data occurred in instances usually where a high level of moisture caused the data-system or sensor to fail. There were also a couple of instances as noted in the logbook where the sensors were dug up and either replaced or just reburied. In those situations it would take a length of time for the soil to cure after burying the sensors and therefore measurements were distinguished as abnormal.

Tsoil.0.6cm/Tsoil.1.9cm/Tsoil.3.1cm/Tsoil.4.4cm/Tsoil.aux.0.6cm/Tsoil.aux.1.9cm/Tsoil.aux.3.1cm/Tsoil.aux.4.4cm

Note that the 4-component soil sensor; measured at 0.6, 1.9, 3.1, and 4.4cm, was replaced by a 1-component sensor partway through the project as mentioned in the logbook. Temperatures for the four sensors were still populated in the high-rate data in times thereafter but in a redundant manner such that temperatures recorded at different depths are reported as equal to one another. Quality control for the sensors consisted of plotting values at individual stations to spot erratic measurements in relation to sensors on same probe (the relationship between sensors would vary dependent on soil properties but could be characteristically distinguished between stations). Miscellaneous instances of sensor malfunctions were noted in the logbook as well; one instance was due to an unpredicted scenario where a voltage disruption occurred upon the removal of an unrelated sensor connected to the data system.