Recently, the BSCSP surface monitoring team, led by project scientist, Laura Dobeck, installed an “eddy covariance tower” at the Kevin Dome project site. The twelve foot tall tower is staked to the ground and equipped with scientific instrumentation calibrated to collect and record a variety atmospheric data year-round.
The tower is similar to a weather station and has instruments to continuously measure and record: wind speed and direction, air and soil temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, rainfall, and sunlight. It is also uniquely equipped with an “infrared gas analyzer” – allowing scientists to measure and quantify exchanges or fluxes of carbon dioxide and water vapor between the ground surface and atmosphere. The data will be downloaded from the tower monthly and then scientist will analyze the data using highly mathematical and complex techniques to calculate the gas and vapor exchanges.
Similar to BSCSP surface water and groundwater sampling efforts (see blog here), the atmospheric data collection will help provide background environmental information prior to, during and after the planned CO2 injection.