SGP/SWATS/E24 - Bad soil temperature and moisture measurements

During the specified time range, soil temperature measurements ("tsoil") were normal
except for 3 sensors: 5-west, 60-west, 60-east.

• Soil Water Potential, East Profile(soilwatpot_E)
• Sensor Temperature Rise, East Profile(trise_E)
• Volumetric Water Content, West Profile(watcont_W)
• Volumetric Water Content, East Profile(watcont_E)
• Soil Water Potential, West Profile(soilwatpot_W)
• Soil Temperature, East Profile(tsoil_E)
• Soil Temperature, West Profile(tsoil_W)
• Sensor Temperature Rise, West Profile(trise_W)

SGP/SWATS/E24 - Missing data

All soil temperature, soil moisture, and soil-water
potential measurements within the time range are 
missing. Archived files contain no useful data.
Removal of the files from May17'03 to June13'03 from the
archive will be requested.

• Soil Water Potential, East Profile(soilwatpot_E)
• serial_numbers_E
• lat
• Volumetric Water Content, West Profile(watcont_W)
• base_time
• alt
• tref
• Soil Temperature, West Profile(tsoil_W)
• Sensor Temperature Rise, West Profile(trise_W)
• Sensor Temperature Rise, East Profile(trise_E)
• serial_numbers_W
• time_offset
• Volumetric Water Content, East Profile(watcont_E)
• Soil Water Potential, West Profile(soilwatpot_W)
• depth
• Soil Temperature, East Profile(tsoil_E)
• lon

SGP/SWATS/E19 - Sensor failure, 85cm E

The temperature rise readings from the 85-cm depth on the east profile are incorrect. This 
also causes the matric potential and water content data for the 85-cm depth to be 
incorrect.

• Volumetric Water Content, East Profile(watcont_E)
• Soil Water Potential, East Profile(soilwatpot_E)
• Sensor Temperature Rise, East Profile(trise_E)

SGP/SWATS/E27 - Incorrect Soil Moisture Data

The temperature rise readings from all depths on both the east and west profiles (trise_E, 
trise_W) are incorrect. This also causes the matric potential (soilwatpot_E, 
soilwatpot_W) and water content (watcont_E, watcont_W) data to be incorrect.

• Volumetric Water Content, East Profile(watcont_E)
• Soil Water Potential, East Profile(soilwatpot_E)
• Soil Water Potential, West Profile(soilwatpot_W)
• Sensor Temperature Rise, West Profile(trise_W)
• Sensor Temperature Rise, East Profile(trise_E)
• Volumetric Water Content, West Profile(watcont_W)

• AVHRR satellite images for Darwin from BOM (RAW)(raw)

SGP/SWATS/E19 - Unrecorded Precipitation

During this time period, the tipping bucket was obstructed and prevented from measuring 
precipitation, so any precipitation events will have erroneous measurements of 0. The 
obstruction is probably due to maintenance on 20030807 (YYYYMMDD) which resulted in erroneous 
recorded precipitation (nonzero) at 1450 GMT.

• Precipitation, total(precip)

SGP/SWATS/E24 - Incorrect Soil Moisture Data

The temperature rise readings from all depths on both the east and west profiles (trise_E, 
trise_W) are incorrect. This also causes the matric potential (soilwatpot_E, 
soilwatpot_W) and water content (watcont_E, watcont_W) data to be incorrect.

• Soil Water Potential, East Profile(soilwatpot_E)
• Sensor Temperature Rise, East Profile(trise_E)
• Volumetric Water Content, West Profile(watcont_W)
• Volumetric Water Content, East Profile(watcont_E)
• Soil Water Potential, West Profile(soilwatpot_W)
• Sensor Temperature Rise, West Profile(trise_W)

• Raw data stream - documentation not supported

SGP/SWATS/E19 - Unrecorded Precipitation

During this time period, the tipping bucket was obstructed and prevented from measuring 
precipitation, so any precipitation events will have erroneous measurements of 0. The 
problem was corrected on 20040205 (YYYYMMDD) with erroneous recorded precipitation (nonzero) 
due to maintenance ending at 1551 GMT.

• Precipitation, total(precip)

SGP/SWATS/E24 - Incorrect Soil Moisture Data

The temperature rise readings from both the west and east profiles
(trise_W, trise_E) were incorrect at all depths. This also caused the
matric potential (soilwatpot_W, soilwatpot_E) and water content
(watcont_W, watcont_E) data to be incorrect.

• Soil Water Potential, East Profile(soilwatpot_E)
• Sensor Temperature Rise, East Profile(trise_E)
• Volumetric Water Content, West Profile(watcont_W)
• Volumetric Water Content, East Profile(watcont_E)
• Soil Water Potential, West Profile(soilwatpot_W)
• Sensor Temperature Rise, West Profile(trise_W)

• Raw data stream - documentation not supported

SGP/SWATS/E19 - Metadata Errors

The latitude, longitude and altitude of the El Reno (E19) site were
incorrectly entered into the ARM database.  The correct location
of the SWATS.E19 instrument is:
   Lat: 35.557N
   Lon: 98.017W
   Alt:    421m

• alt
• lon
• lat

• alt
• lon
• lat

• alt
• lat
• lon

SGP/SWATS/E24 - Incorrect Soil Temp and Moisture Data

The soil temperature and temperature rise readings from all depths on both the east and 
west profiles (tsoil_W, tsoil_E, trise_E, trise_W) were incorrect. This also caused the 
matric potential (soilwatpot_E, soilwatpot_W) and water content (watcont_E, watcont_W) data 
to be incorrect.

• Soil Water Potential, East Profile(soilwatpot_E)
• Sensor Temperature Rise, East Profile(trise_E)
• Volumetric Water Content, West Profile(watcont_W)
• Volumetric Water Content, East Profile(watcont_E)
• Soil Water Potential, West Profile(soilwatpot_W)
• Soil Temperature, East Profile(tsoil_E)
• Soil Temperature, West Profile(tsoil_W)
• Sensor Temperature Rise, West Profile(trise_W)

• Raw data stream - documentation not supported

SGP/SWATS/E24 - Incorrect Soil Moisture Data

All soil moisture data are incorrect (trise, soilwatpot, and watcont).

• Soil Water Potential, East Profile(soilwatpot_E)
• Sensor Temperature Rise, East Profile(trise_E)
• Volumetric Water Content, West Profile(watcont_W)
• Volumetric Water Content, East Profile(watcont_E)
• Soil Water Potential, West Profile(soilwatpot_W)
• Sensor Temperature Rise, West Profile(trise_W)

• Raw data stream - documentation not supported

SGP/SWATS/E19 - Sensor failure, 5cm W

The sensor at the 5-cm depth on the west profile began reporting missing values (-9999) 
with a few intermittent incorrect values after 1830GMT.
(The 5-cm west soil temperatures are good until 2030GMT on 20041203.)

• Soil Water Potential, West Profile(soilwatpot_W)
• Sensor Temperature Rise, West Profile(trise_W)
• Volumetric Water Content, West Profile(watcont_W)
• Soil Temperature, West Profile(tsoil_W)

SGP/SWATS/E27 - Reprocess: Incorrect calibrations

The calibration coefficients for the 5-cm sensor on the East profile are
incorrect. This is causing incorrect soil water content (watcont_E) to be
reported.

• Volumetric Water Content, East Profile(watcont_E)

SGP/SWATS/E24 - Reprocess: Changed Depth Dimension

The dimension "depth" in the netCDF files was incorrectly reported as 8, and has been 
changed. Newer files with the correct smaller depth dimension do not have extra placeholder 
values and thus are smaller in size.

• depth

SGP/SWATS/E19 - Sensor failure, 60cm E

The 60cm East profile sensor began reporting temperature rise values near 0 C. This 
problem continued until the old profile of sensors was disconnected and the new set of sensors 
was connected. The soil temperature measure was not impacted by this problem.

• Volumetric Water Content, East Profile(watcont_E)
• Soil Water Potential, East Profile(soilwatpot_E)
• Sensor Temperature Rise, East Profile(trise_E)

SGP/SWATS/E27 - Sensor failure, 85cm W

The 85 cm West sensor (based on location in the multiplexer) at this facility appears to 
have failed.  After initially demonstrating problems in mid-2006, all variables from this 
sensor began to report as -9999 on and after 7:00 GMT on 08/04/06.  

Note, although this sensor is listed as 85 cm W in the data files due to its location in 
the multiplexer, it is actually the 85 cm E sensor in the ground.  

Instrument removed from service 20091204.

• Soil Temperature, West Profile(tsoil_W)
• Soil Water Potential, West Profile(soilwatpot_W)
• Sensor Temperature Rise, West Profile(trise_W)
• Volumetric Water Content, West Profile(watcont_W)

SGP/SWATS/E27 - Incorrect soil temperature measurements

All of the tsoil measurements at this EF appear noisy and erratic at times, impacting all 
sensors and both profiles.

• Soil Temperature, East Profile(tsoil_E)
• Soil Temperature, West Profile(tsoil_W)

SGP/SWATS/E19 - Sensor failure, 125 W

Temperature rise values form the 125 cm West profile sensor began reporting values near 0 
C. This problem continued until the old profile of sensors was disconnected and the new 
set of sensors was connected. The soil temperature measure was not impacted by this problem.

• Soil Water Potential, West Profile(soilwatpot_W)
• Sensor Temperature Rise, West Profile(trise_W)
• Volumetric Water Content, West Profile(watcont_W)

SGP/SWATS/E19 - Failed sensor, 35cm E

Temperature rise and soil temperature from the 35cm East profile sensor began to report as 
-9999.  This problem continued until the old profile of sensors was disconnected and the 
new set of sensors was connected.

• Volumetric Water Content, East Profile(watcont_E)
• Soil Water Potential, East Profile(soilwatpot_E)
• Soil Temperature, East Profile(tsoil_E)
• Sensor Temperature Rise, East Profile(trise_E)

SGP/SWATS/E19 - Sensor failure, 15cm W

Temperature rise and soil temperature from the 15cm West profile sensor began to report as 
-9999.  This problem continued until the old profile of sensors was disconnected and the 
new set of sensors was connected.

• Soil Water Potential, West Profile(soilwatpot_W)
• Sensor Temperature Rise, West Profile(trise_W)
• Volumetric Water Content, West Profile(watcont_W)
• Soil Temperature, West Profile(tsoil_W)

SGP/SWATS/E19 - Sensor failure, 5cm E

After the new refurbishment sensors were hooked up, the 5 cm E sensor began reporting 
values of -9999 for all variables.

• Volumetric Water Content, East Profile(watcont_E)
• Soil Water Potential, East Profile(soilwatpot_E)
• Soil Temperature, East Profile(tsoil_E)
• Sensor Temperature Rise, East Profile(trise_E)

SGP/SWATS/E27 - Incorrect serial numbers

The wiring at E27 from the Campbell Scientific 229-L sensors is backwards. This issue 
impacts the following variables but does not impact data quality: serial_numbers_W, 
serial_numbers_E.

All serial numbers stored in the serial_numbers_W variable apply to data stored in the 
trise_E and tsoil_E variables, and vice versa.  Thus, the user should be aware that the 
trise_W, trise_E, tsoil_W, and tsoil_E variables actually contain data from the opposite 
profile.

• serial_numbers_E
• serial_numbers_W

SGP/SWATS/E27 - Reprocess: Miscalibration

The wiring at E27 from the Campbell Scientific 229-L sensors is backwards. Matric 
potential and water content data are incorrect due to incorrect calibrations being applied to 
temperature rise sensor data.

• Volumetric Water Content, East Profile(watcont_E)
• Soil Water Potential, East Profile(soilwatpot_E)
• Soil Water Potential, West Profile(soilwatpot_W)
• Volumetric Water Content, West Profile(watcont_W)

SGP/SWATS/E19 - Incorrect soil, 35cm E

The tsoil measurements from the 35 cm E sensor at this site are slightly irregular and too 
noisy at times.

• Soil Temperature, East Profile(tsoil_E)

SGP/SWATS/E19 - Rain gauge failure

The tipping-bucket rain gauge for the swatspcp was not functioning correctly.  The rain 
gauge measured no precipitation after 03/29 even though most of the state received some 
precipitation on 04/12-04/13.

The rain gauge was found to have a broken wire and was replaced on 05/21. Rainfall totals 
compare well with the El Reno Oklahoma Mesonet site for the last major rain event on 
05/26.

• Precipitation, total(precip)

SGP/SWATS/E27 - Sensor failure, 125cm E

The 125 cm E sensor tsoil measurements were very erratic and much too high, and all trise 
values were reporting as slightly negative or -9999.  The issue started on 06/07 and 
corrected itself by 20:00 GMT the same day, but the problem returned on 06/10.  Connections 
were re-seated on 6/17 to resolve the problem.

• Volumetric Water Content, East Profile(watcont_E)
• Soil Temperature, East Profile(tsoil_E)
• serial_numbers_W
• Sensor Temperature Rise, East Profile(trise_E)

SGP/SWATS/E19 - Incorrect tsoil, 85cm E and 85cm W

The tsoil measurements from the 85 cm E and 85 cm W sensors at this site are slightly 
irregular and too noisy at times.

• Soil Temperature, East Profile(tsoil_E)
• Soil Temperature, West Profile(tsoil_W)

SGP/SWATS/E19 - Incorrect tsoil, 125cm E

The tsoil measurements from the 125 cm E sensor at this site are slightly irregular and 
too noisy at times.

• Soil Temperature, East Profile(tsoil_E)

SGP/SWATS/E19 - Sensor failure, 60cm W

The West 60 cm sensor began producing missing values at variable times on 5/11/2010, then 
consistently. It appears the sensor failed.  This facility was shutdown 5/24 following a 
tornado event.

• Soil Water Potential, West Profile(soilwatpot_W)
• Sensor Temperature Rise, West Profile(trise_W)
• Volumetric Water Content, West Profile(watcont_W)
• Soil Temperature, West Profile(tsoil_W)