La Joya State Game Refuge Site

Return to

Tower Site Descriptions

Our People

Involved Agencies

Funding and Cooperative Agencies

Related Links

Site Description

The Lo Joya State Game Refuge site was established in December 2002 and was originally funded by ISC and FWS. This site is located in a olive-dominated habitat at 34.34720˚N and 106.85903˚W at an elevation of 1446m above sea level.

This site’s 12 m (40 ft) tower was installed on a steel-peg footing. The rapidly increasing canopy height near the tower was 3.5 m tall in March 2003 and 4.8 m tall in November 2003. A 3SEC and a pair of OPEC systems were mounted onto this tower in January 2003. The 3SEC system was oriented facing the predominantly southern daytime wind. The location of the tower allowed plenty of the fetch distance in the southerly and northerly directions. The distance in the easterly and westerly directions, however, was limited to about 100 meters. This did not hinder the measurements since, at this particular site, most of the wind is tunneled through the flood plain and thus carries moisture above the vegetation in north-south direction. The cottonwoods at this site has outgrown this tower, causing this site to be undergoing decommissioning until a taller tower can be funded.

Vegetation

The vegetation at this site includes a high percentage (~85%) of Russian olive (Elaeagnus augustifolia), with most of the remaining vegetation represented by coyote willow (Salix exigua). The remaining vegetation includes cottonwood (Populus deltoides), saltcedar (Tamarix chinensis), and seepwillow (Baccharus spp.). Russian olive has become a noticeably dense feature of riverbanks, the understory of cottonwood forests, and early succession stands. These habitats, narrow in width and short in scope, greatly restrict locating sites that meet adequate fetch requirements.

Hydrologic Status

This site was previously part of the Rio Grande River’s main channel. It has a 2-3 year interflood interval, typically overbank flooding.

Instrumentation

Sensor	Height (meters) relative to ground surface
CSAT 3-D Sonic Anemometer	5.20
KH2O Krypton Hygrometer (2003 - 2006)	5.20
LI7500 Open-path Infrared Gas Analyzer (2003 - current)	5.20
Q7.1 REBS Net Radiometer (NMSU)	5.14
Q7.1 REBS Net Radiometer (2003 - 2007)	7.34
Kipp & Zonen CNR1 4-channel Component Radiometer (2007 - current)	7.34
HMP45C Vaisala Temperature/ RH Probe	3.53
CS105 Vaisala PTB101B Barometric Pressure	2.75
TE525 Texas Electronics 6" Tipping Bucket Raingauge	8.31
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	5.91
CR23X datalogger	2.75
OPEC system (NMSU)	12.5
LI190 Pyranometer	7.34

Additional Infrastructure

five groundwater wells, 2-inch PVC, hand augured to ca. 1-meter below winter water table depth, equipped with long-term temperature sensing pressure transducers (Solinst, Ontario, Canada)

2007 Results