Daily Site Monitoring

Below are instructions for visual checks of the data that should be done every day. Web plots for each site can be found by going to:

Check Critical Variables

Motor Power (%) & Flow Fate for LI-7200 pump

  • Keep checking if this one changes over time (over weeks).
    • Flow drive % should be 50 - 90%
    • Higher power means more air-flow resistance in the tubing indicating either clogged up filter (if we use those), dirty rain cap wire-mesh or damaged tubing
  • We aim for 30-min averages flow rate of slpm = 15 L/min;
    • Below 13 L/min we begin to worry, (data quality drops);
    • Below 10 L/min we need to fix it ASAP (data quality questionable or data missing) by cleaning up the intake tube cap

Good Flow at BB1

Bad Flow at BB2

Thermocouples

  • LI-7200: these two values should be very close to each other (<1 C difference)
    • In (t_in_LI_7200)
    • Out (t_out_LI_7200)
  • LI-7700
    • Air temperature

Climate Data

  • Check if there are new data & if the values are reasonable (for all sites)
    • Click on “last day” / “last week” to filter the time series
    • If you see BB1 and BB2 precip data don’t align with each other, there’s a possibility that the tipping bucket is clogged.

Flux Data

For Fluxes and Gas Concentrations check if there are new data & if the values are reasonable. These will only be calculated if smart flux is running properly.

Gas Concentrations:

  • CO2 mixing ratio (dry) - during daytime should be around 380-420 ppm (umol/mol), during night time it can be quite high depending on the site (sometimes > 600 ppm)
  • CH4 mixing ratio (dry) - should be around 2 ppm

Fluxes:

  • Sensible & Latent heat - Typically between -100 and + 450 w m-2
    • Should generally sum ~ 70%-80% of net radiation
  • FCO2 & FCH4 - site dependent, but look for gaps, extreme spikes, systematic jumps

Signal strength

  • View over a longer period to check for any trends. Schedule a site visit if it’s decreasing rapidly (<10%). It’s normal for 7700’s signal strength to drop during rainy periods, but it’s not normal for 7200’s to drop that frequently (if it does, check the 7200 head’s o-ring).

Voltage

  • Look at data over the past month and tell June or Rick if the battery voltage goes below 24 V at midnight.
    • This usually happens in the winter when we have a few days of clouds & rain.

Remote Login Procedures

Connect to VPN, go to Remote Desktop & connect to vinimet.geog.ubc.ca (or it’s better to do this from your personal computer so you won’t kick off or get kicked off by other people using Vinimet). Note that doing this on your personal computer requires a PC.

LI 7200

Open the LI-7x00 software on desktop and connect using the right IP Address

Connecting to the BB1 7200
  • Once on the main page check:

    • The logger status → should be logging

    • USB Free Space → make sure there’s still enough space in the USB (usually the USB stick can handle 6-weeks data)

    • The SmartFlux module has to be connected to the system, make sure it’s not “none”

    • Head pressure - should be between -0.8 to -3.8 kPa

    • Flow drive - should be around 50% to 90%

    • Flow rate - should be around 13-15 l/m

Checking the BB1 7200

Click on the “Diagnostics” tab - check if all parameters are “OK”

Checking the BB1 7200 Diagnostics

LI 7700

Open the LI-7700 software on desktop and use the same IP address as for the 7200

Connecting to the BB1 7200

Check 7700 Optics RH. If it’s >15%, we should replace the internal chemicals.

Checking the BB1 7700
  • Check SmartFlux internal memory every 2-3 months
    • Instructions to check memory are under Note_SmartFlux internal memory_ssh connection.docx
    • Instructions to clear memory are under Note_SmartFlux internal memory_updater.docx

Info from here