Brightwater Creek Observatory Update

Warren HelgasonAndrew Ireson

Aaron BergCCRN Theme B ‘Process Workshop’

McMaster UniversitySept. 11, 2013

Brightwater Creek

• gross area: 900 km2

• effective area: 282 km2

• 100% agricultural land-use (annual crops, pasture)

2013

WSC gauged: 1960-current

Research Basin History

• Established 2007• 10 km x 10 km grid (Environment Canada)

– 24 monitoring sites (soil moisture, precipitation)– 1 energy balance station

• 60 km x 60 km grid (U of Guelph)– 16 monitoring sites (soil moisture, precipitation)

• Purpose: model validation, remote sensing of soil moisture (SMOS, SMAP)

Stream Gauge

fluxtower

soil moisture grid

Guelph station

U of Guelph Soil Moisture Monitoring Network

3 depths/orientation•5 cm vertical (EC), horizontal (EC and U of G)•20 cm horizontal•50 cm horizontalStevens Hydra Probe II Site specific calibration

U of G 16 sitesTemporal Frequency HourlyVariables Observed:

Soil temperatureSoil MoisturePrecipitation

Instrumented also for soil Freeze/Thaw

Environment Canada Soil mesonet

• 24 seasonally-operated sites @ edge of field– all agricultural land surfaces represented– TBRG (Hydrologic Services TB3)– Soil moisture (Stevens Hydra Probe II)

• 0-5 cm, 20 cm, 50 cm depths• calibrated

– data from 2007-current– data processed by Environment Canada

AAFC Soil Moisture Validation Sites• 4 sites located in 3 pastures• soil moisture profile x 3• TBRG / Pluvio• wind speed• telemetry• data processed by Ag. Canada

Main Pasture Energy Flux Tower• Radiation balance: CNR1• Eddy Covariance: CSAT, KH2O• Heat flux plates: (Campbell HFT3)• Wind speed profile: RM Young 05103• T/RH profile: HMP45• Snow depth: SR50• Precip: TBRG / Geonor

Comments:• replaced KH20 July 2013• updated logger on EC system• new heat flux plates• will re-work tower this fall

Soil moisture scalingCOSMOS• COsmic-ray Soil Moisture

Observation System• ~700 m diameter• <30 cm measurement depth

Neutron Probe array• 25 cm – 160 cm• 22 holes

Soil Moisture Scaling• 20 m grid survey of surface soil moisture

Remote Sensing of Soil Moisture

• Canadian Experiment for Soil Moisture (Kenaston 2010)

• Soil Moisture Active Passive Validation Experiment (Carman Manitoba, 2012)

Ann Walker Environment Canada

Remote Sensing of Soil Moisture

• Summary of data sets collected during the CanEX-SM10 and SMAPVEX campaigns

Data Type Methods

Satellite data RADARSAT-2, AMSR-E, SMOS, SPOT

Air craft data Active and Passive L-Band (sensors to mimic SMAP) for soil moisture retrieval

Ground data For ~50+ fields collected – soil moisture, soil temperature, thermal infrared, vegetation (NDVI, LAI, biomass, height), soil characteristics

Campaign Durations CanEX-SM10 (June 1-June 16, 2010)SMAPVEX12 (June 6 – July 19, 2012)

Subsurface Processes• 3 subsurface measurement sites (textural

gradient)• soil moisture: 5,20,50,75,100,130,160 cm• matric potential: 20, 50, 100, 160 cm• tensiometers: 100, 200, 300 cm• Piezometers: ~ 5 m.• soil thermocouple: 2,8, 14, 30, 40, 60, 115 cm

Land-Atmosphere Processes• Large Aperture Scintillometer:

– large scale measurement of sensible heat

• Phase 1: 1.2 km path length over homogeneous land cover– wintertime / thaw– summer ET– validated by single EC system

• Phase 2: ~4 km path length over multiple ag. land cover types– summer ET– validated by multiple EC systems

Distributed Surface Energy Fluxes• 3 mobile eddy covariance systems w/

complete energy balance• distributed radiation measurements

along transect

Near surface atmosphere characterization

32 m mobile tower• wind speed profile• T / RH profile• to be installed Fall 2013

SODAR w/ windRASS• windspeed & temperature

profiles 20 – 1000 m• to be installed Fall 2013

Misc.

• Snow surveys– characteristic land cover types (2007-current)– COSMOS footprint (2012-current)

• Time-lapse photography (30 min Jan-2013-current)• Geological weighing lysimeter “Annie’s Well” 2007-current

RCM scale16 km x 16 km

Field scale0.8 km x 0.8 km

Point scale1 m x 1 m

Watershed scale 900 km2

Tipping bucket

COSMOS

Scintillometer / Energy Residual

stream gauge

Moisture Probe

Rainfall:

Evaporation:Eddy covariance

Δ Soil moisture:

matric Ψsensors

piezometers

remote sensing

Geolysimeter

Snow surveyCOSMOS (?)

Snow on ground:

Drainage flux:(hydraulic head)

Runoff:

MEASUREMENT of WATER BALANCE COMPONENTS

Snowfall: Weighing gauge

Mass balance: