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Carbon Balance in Warming and Drying Tundra 2013

Hey Tom,

First I am loving the journals! Caught up on them this morning and I really like the pictures and the science -- you explain it well!

Questions: 1) When you measure the snow depth, do you then calculate the snow mass/volume and then make some calculations to figure out how many people and how long it will take to dig out?

2) How often is the CiPHER calibrated and how is this done in the field?

I had to laugh at the pictures of your frozen beard and slurring your words in the video. I flew in a climate controlled aircraft and lived with daily hot showers and flush toilets :-) But you are a lot tougher than I am!

Take care Tom,

Mark Buesing

Sun, 04/21/2013 - 22:57

Tom Lane

Hi Mark, Welcome back. You really set the standard on journaling. Nice job. You put out lots of great information. And...thank you for the questions.1) No, all we do is measure snow depth to get an idea of how the warming side compares to the control side. Given the equipment we have seems like 9 people works fairly well for removing the snow by hand. We do measure snow density when collecting CO2 data from the snow pits. Smiley's (the collection cap Elizabeth brought to orientation) interior volume is measured very accurately when it is fitted over the PVC pipes in the ground it fits 1cm. The PVC pipe part that is sticking above ground is filled evenly with snow. The density of that snow is tested on a weekly basis so that we can very accurately measure the amount of CO2 being emitted from the area inside the PVC pipe.
2) The LI-COR is calibrated anytime the settings on it are changed or the programming is changed. It is done at the field cabin where we have a tank of accurately measured CO2 concentration gas.