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Tower Site Descriptions
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- Belen, NM
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Site Description
The Belen, NM site (BLN) near Rio Communities was established in November 1999 and was originally funded by NASA. This site was decommissioned in May 2004 following severe vandalism. It is located to the south of the junction between the San Juan Feeder Canal, the Upper San Juan Riverside Drain, and the San Juan Main Canal. It lies 1.2 miles north of the El Paso natural gas pipeline crossing. The sites actual location is 34.590126˚N and 106.749199˚W with an elevation of 1458.46m above sea level. The soil profile at this site is highly stratified with layers comprised of silty clay loam, sandy loam, silt loam, loamy sand, and silty clay soils.
This 25-m tower was established in the same manner as the tower in Albuquerque's South Valley. An additional mast assembly was added to this tower to extend the sensors above the 25-m cottonwood canopy, bringing the final tower top-height to 32 meters. Lack of adequate tower height and fetch distance prevented deployment of OPEC systems at this site. This site was decommissioned in May 2006.
Vegetation
The Belen, NM site’s vegetation is composed of a dense cottonwood (Populus deltoides) forest and a native understory. The cottonwoods at this site are twice as dense as the Albuquerque site. The native understory is four times denser than at the Albuquerque site. The area to north of the San Juan Feeder canal burned in May 2001. With the sensors pointed southward with the prevailing winds, the burned vegetation was not located within the fetch of the tower.
Hydrologic Status
This site floods, predominantly through groundwater seepage rather than overbank, every second or third year.
Instrumentation
| Sensor | Height (meters) relative to ground surface |
|---|---|
| CSAT 3-D Sonic Anemometer | 27.25 |
| KH2O Krypton Hygrometer | 27.25 |
| Q7.1 REBS Net Radiometer | 28.49 |
| HMP45C Vaisala Temperature/ RH Probe | 25.07 |
| CS105 Vaisala PTB101B Barometric Pressure | 24.07 estimated |
| TE525 Texas Electronics 6" Tipping Bucket Raingauge | 31.8 estimated |
| HFT3 REBS Soil Heat FLux Plates (quantity 2) | (0.08) |
| TCAV Averaging Soil Termocouple Probes | (0.02 & 0.06) |
| CS616 Water Content Reflectometer | (0.025) |
| 03001 Wind Sentry | 26.25 |
| CR23X datalogger | 24.07 estimated |
Additional Infrastructure
five groundwater wells, 2-inch PVC, hand augured to ca. 1-meter below winter water table depth, three wells equipped with long-term pressure transducers (EEI, Las Cruces, NM); upgraded temperature sensing pressure transducers (Solinst, Ontario, Canada)
Results
BLN Evapotranspiration Results |
|---|
Additional Results/Data
Belen, NM Site Air View
Belen, NM Site Vegetation
Belen, NM Site View of Tower
© 2009 James R Cleverly
Last Updated: January 14, 2008
For more information please contact: Dr. James Cleverly
Created by: Kimberly Bandy, January 2008