SGP/EBBR/E15 - Soil Moisture Coefficients Incorrect

The soil Moisture coefficients used for E15 were incorrect from the time of
installation of the system in program version 8.  On 9 July 02 parameter 4  (an offset 
value) of program step 136 was changed from 9.5264 to the correct value 0.95264 (this error 
had been made by the vendor). The error masked the real problem (wrong soil type) and 
after 9 July 02 resulted in very low soil moisture measurements.  The coefficients used were 
for coarse sand.  On 28 Sep 04 I visited the E15 site and found the soil type a fine 
sandy clay or fine sandy loam.  I changed the coefficients  at 1509 GMT to those for a very 
fine sandy loam; this produced reasonable soil moistures for the soil type.

The old coefficients in parameters 4 through 9 for step 136 of the program were: 0.95264, 
-6.7859, 36.224, -58.619, 25.073, 4.2278

The new coefficients are: 10.241, -27.943, 49.523, -12.648, -52.643, 38.054

• volumetric soil moisture, site 3(sm3)
• soil heat flow, site 3(g3)
• 0-5 cm change in soil heat storage with time, site 3(ces3)
• 0-5 cm change in soil heat storage with time, site 4(ces4)
• volumetric soil moisture, site 2(sm2)
• soil heat flow, site 2(g2)
• latent heat flux(e)
• volumetric soil moisture, site 1(sm1)
• 0-5 cm change in soil heat storage with time, site 5(ces5)
• soil heat flow, site 1(g1)
• 0-5 cm change in soil heat storage with time, site 2(ces1)
• soil heat flow, site 5(g5)
• average surface soil heat flow(ave_shf)
• volumetric soil moisture, site 4(sm4)
• 0-5 cm change in soil heat storage with time, site 2(ces2)
• h(h)
• soil heat flow, site 4(g4)
• volumetric soil moisture, site 5(sm5)

SGP/EBBR/E15 - Improved EBBR CR10 Program

Effective 20050329.1900, the EBBR.E15 CR10 program was revised to improve 
the quality of the primary measurements as follows:
   
1) An RMS procedure is used to determine max and min limits of acceptable
soil heat flow.  This is applied to the individual soil sets.  Measurements
outside the limits are rejected and the measurements within the limits are
used to calculate the average soil heat flow.
   
2) Max and min limits are used to determine incorrect values of net
radiation, sensible heat flux (h), latent heat flux (e), and automatic
exchange mechanism (AEM) signal.  If AEM signal is outside the limits, h 
and e are set to 999s.  If net radiation is outside the limits, h and e are 
set to 999s. If h or e are outside the limits, h and e are set to 999s.
   
Virtually no incorrect soil measurement will affect the primary 
measurements of h and e.
   
By setting h and e to 999s, it can be easily seen that the primary 
variables are incorrect; no other interpretation is possible.
   
Prior to 20050329, the improved CR10 program was NOT in effect.  DQRs have
been submitted for known instances of incorrect soil measurements which
affected the quality of the primary measurements of h and e.
   
Note: the DQR begin date is the begin date of the sgp30ebbrE15.b1 data
stream.  The earlier version of the CR10 program was also used on previous
EBBR datastream names (e.g. sgp30ebbrE15.a1).

• latent heat flux(e)
• average surface soil heat flow(ave_shf)
• h(h)

SGP/EBBR/E15 - metadata corrections

On 20050723, a series of metadata corrections and additions were completed.  These 
metadata changes apply to all EBBR.E15 data collected by ARM back to the installation of the 
instrument in September 1992. Please see the current metadata for correct information.  
These changes do not affect data values or quality.	

The changes are summarized below:
1) Update of "sensor location" information
2) Addition of installation dates for the systems
3) Correction of soil type
4) Correction of soil moisture units (from "by volume" to "gravimetric")

• base time(base_time)

• base time(base_time)

• base time(base_time)