Annual Water Balance at the West Desert Basin Playa
Location
Eccles Conference Center
Event Website
http://water.usu.edu/htm/conference/past-spring-runoff-conferences
Start Date
3-27-2006 11:00 AM
End Date
3-27-2006 11:15 AM
Description
The West Desert Basin (the most arid region of the state of Utah) is one of the sub-basins among four located within the Great Salt Lake Basin. The other three sub-basins are: The Bear River, the Utah Lake, and the Weber River. The Great Salt Lake West Desert Basin is a vast desert area of over 49,000 km2 that expands south, west, and north of the Great Salt Lake. The basin has a limited number of perennial streams. The land cover distribution in the basin is: 2% agriculture, 11% forest, 54% rangeland, and 33% desert.
We set up two automatic weather stations over a playa (the flat floor of an undrained desert basin that becomes, at times, a shallow lake), approximately 65 km east-west by 130 km north-south, located in Dugway (40o 08' N, 113o 27' W, 1124 m above mean sea level) in the West Desert Basin of Utah, U.S.A., in 1999. These stations measured the radiation budget components, namely: incoming (Rsi) and outgoing (Rso) solar or shortwave radiation, using two Kipp & Zonen pyranometers (one inverted), the incoming (Rli or atmospheric) and outgoing (Rlo or terrestrial) longwave radiation, using two Kipp & Zonen pyrgeometers (one inverted), during the 2003 B 2004 water year (1 October B 30 September). These sensors were ventilated throughout the year to prevent dew and frost formation. Summation of these components yields the net (Rn) radiation. We also measured the air temperatures and humidity at one and two meters and the soil moisture and temperature (Campbell Sci., Inc., CSI) to evaluate the energy budget components (latent, LE; sensible, H; and the surface soil, Gsur; heat fluxes). The 10-m wind speed (U10) and direction (R.M. Young wind monitor), precipitation (CSI), and the surface temperature (Radiation and Energy Balance Systems, REBS) were also measured. The measurements were taken every two seconds, averaged into 20-min, continuously, throughout the years.
Annual Water Balance at the West Desert Basin Playa
Eccles Conference Center
The West Desert Basin (the most arid region of the state of Utah) is one of the sub-basins among four located within the Great Salt Lake Basin. The other three sub-basins are: The Bear River, the Utah Lake, and the Weber River. The Great Salt Lake West Desert Basin is a vast desert area of over 49,000 km2 that expands south, west, and north of the Great Salt Lake. The basin has a limited number of perennial streams. The land cover distribution in the basin is: 2% agriculture, 11% forest, 54% rangeland, and 33% desert.
We set up two automatic weather stations over a playa (the flat floor of an undrained desert basin that becomes, at times, a shallow lake), approximately 65 km east-west by 130 km north-south, located in Dugway (40o 08' N, 113o 27' W, 1124 m above mean sea level) in the West Desert Basin of Utah, U.S.A., in 1999. These stations measured the radiation budget components, namely: incoming (Rsi) and outgoing (Rso) solar or shortwave radiation, using two Kipp & Zonen pyranometers (one inverted), the incoming (Rli or atmospheric) and outgoing (Rlo or terrestrial) longwave radiation, using two Kipp & Zonen pyrgeometers (one inverted), during the 2003 B 2004 water year (1 October B 30 September). These sensors were ventilated throughout the year to prevent dew and frost formation. Summation of these components yields the net (Rn) radiation. We also measured the air temperatures and humidity at one and two meters and the soil moisture and temperature (Campbell Sci., Inc., CSI) to evaluate the energy budget components (latent, LE; sensible, H; and the surface soil, Gsur; heat fluxes). The 10-m wind speed (U10) and direction (R.M. Young wind monitor), precipitation (CSI), and the surface temperature (Radiation and Energy Balance Systems, REBS) were also measured. The measurements were taken every two seconds, averaged into 20-min, continuously, throughout the years.
https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/runoff/2006/AllAbstracts/10