Introduction | Contacts | Purpose | Site Description | Measurements | DEM | Pictures

Site Description

The Beacon Farm flux site was located in the Mid-Canterbury plains, South Island, New Zealand (GPS coordinates: -43.593, 171.928). Elevation is 204m, mean annual precipitation 900mm and mean annual temperature 10.9°C.

The entire land area was converted from a dry-land deer farm to intensive dairy farming in 2008/09 by soil tillage and sowing ryegrass (Lolium perenne) and clover (Trifolium repens L.).

Approximately 850 Friesian cows were kept at the farm year round. They were separated in two similar-sized herds and milked twice a day. Grazing was done at intervals of about 21 days during peak season (summer; Dec-Feb). As winter approached the rotational plan was spread out according to biomass availability.

The instrumentation included two micrometeorological EC flux towers, one in an irrigated paddock and one in an adjacent non-irrigated paddock.

The irrigator was a central pivot, 896 m long and covered an area of 263 ha which was divided into 19 sectors. Irrigation aimed to keep the soil moisture between 31 and 40% which was constantly monitored by a farm-operated soil moisture sensor. The resulting average water application rate was 4.6 mm/day.

In addition, fertilizer and effluent were applied at regular intervals.

Midway between both sites a hut was set up, supplying electrical power to both sites. In addition, the hut contained communication systems and a Fourier transform infrared analyser (FTIR) which measured concentrations of CO₂, CH₄, N₂O and δ13CO₂.

The FTIR sampled air from two inlet heights (0.81 m and 2.04 m) at each site and from a 10 m mast located next to the hut. Within 30 min all intakes were measured once.

Meteorological data was recorded every second and subsequently averaged over 30 min.