Jack’s weather report:
It is overcast, cold, and windy this morning. There was light snow overnight, although I didn’t see it. This is according to the national weather service. The high temperature over the past 24 hours was 38 °F.
Temp: 34 °F (1.1 °C)
Winds: Out of the ENE at 13 kt (15 mph)
We have definitely gotten into a regular work pattern here at BASC. Monday was another diurnal flux measurement. That means we take the measurements over 24 hours straight to get a complete picture of when the terrestrial ecosystem is contributing carbon dioxide to the atmosphere and when it is removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
LI-COR Reading
The top number on the LI-COR, PH, is either Net Ecosystem Exchange, NEE, or Ecosytem Respiration, ER. It all depends on whether or not the reading was taken with the dark cloth on or off. This reading is a relatively large negative value, so it is ER, meaning it was taken with the dark cloth on, preventing photosynthesis.
Dark Chamber: No Photosynthesis, only Ecosystem Respiration
Light Chamber: Measuring Net Ecosystem Exchange, NEE.
We are also working in the lab processing data, which is impressive to me, not the fact that we are processing data but that there is an enormous amount of it. Every day in the field must be followed by a day of processing the data.
Jason Shone is using Microsoft Excel to process the data from our last diurnal sampling period.
After going for a run this morning I was asked to take a couple of researchers from San Diego State out to the biocomplexity site. We share vehicles, so if you are going to be out all day, you can’t just drive out and then park it to where it is not in use. On the way back I stopped and took some photos of the ocean. The ice has really broken up now and I’m thinking about that polar bear swim….brrrrrrrrrrrr!
There is still some ice but there is plenty of open water for a swim.
The thought just occurred to me that if I go for a swim in the Arctic Ocean, I will only have one more to go and I will have swam in all of the world's oceans. Can you guess which one that is?