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Abstract Stable boundary layers are still a relatively problematic component of atmospheric modeling, despite their frequent occurrence. While general agreement exists that Monin-Obukhov similarity is not applicable in the stable boundary layer (SBL) due to the non-homogeneous, non-stationary flow, no universal organizing theory for the surface SBL has been presented. The SAVANT (Stable Atmospheric Variability ANd Transport) field campaign took place in the fall of 2018 to explore under what conditions shallow drainage flow is generated. The campaign took place in an agricultural setting and covered the period of both pre- and post-harvest, allowing for not only a basic exploration of the boundary layer but a robust data set for applied agricultural understanding of aerosol dispersion, and impacts of changes in surface cover on drainage flows. This article provides a description of the field campaign. Examples of publicly available data products are presented, as well as examples of shallow drainage flow and corresponding lidar measurements of dispersion. Additionally, the field campaign was used to provide educational opportunities for students from several disciplines and the outcomes of these joint educational ventures are discussed as models for future collaborations. 

Abstract Hyperspectral imaging allows for rapid, non-destructive and objective assessments of crop health. Narrowband-hyperspectral data was used to select wavelength regions that can be exploited to identify wheat infected with soil-borne mosaic virus. First, leaf samples were scanned in the lab to investigate spectral differences between healthy and diseased leaves, including non-symptomatic and symptomatic areas within a diseased leaf. The potential of 84 commonly used vegetation indices to find infection was explored. A machine-learning approach was used to create a classification model to automatically separate pixels into symptomatic, non-symptomatic and healthy classes. The success rate of the model was 69.7% using the full spectrum. It was very encouraging that by using a subset of only four broad bands, sampled to simulate a data set from a much simpler and less costly multispectral camera, accuracy increased to 71.3%. Next, the classification models were validated on field data. Infection in the field was successfully identified using classifiers trained on the entire spectrum of the hyperspectral data acquired in a lab setting, with the best accuracy being 64.9%. Using a subset of wavelengths, simulating multispectral data, the accuracy dropped by only 3 percentage points to 61.9%. This research shows the potential of using lab scans to train classifiers to be successfully applied in the field, even when simultaneously reducing the hyperspectral data to multispectral data. 

Abstract West Antarctic ice-shelf thinning is primarily caused by ocean-driven basal melting. Here we assess ocean variability below Thwaites Eastern Ice Shelf (TEIS) and reveal the importance of local ocean circulation and sea-ice. Measurements obtained from two sub-ice-shelf moorings, spanning January 2020 to March 2021, show warming of the ice-shelf cavity and an increase in meltwater fraction of the upper sub-ice layer. Combined with ocean modelling results, our observations suggest that meltwater from Pine Island Ice Shelf feeds into the TEIS cavity, adding to horizontal heat transport there. We propose that a weakening of the Pine Island Bay gyre caused by prolonged sea-ice cover from April 2020 to March 2021 allowed meltwater-enriched waters to enter the TEIS cavity, which increased the temperature of the upper layer. Our study highlights the sensitivity of ocean circulation beneath ice shelves to local atmosphere-sea-ice-ocean forcing in neighbouring open oceans. 

Abstract Space- and time-continuous seafloor temperature observations captured the three-dimensional structure of shoaling nonlinear internal waves (NLIWs) off of La Jolla, California. NLIWs were tracked for hundreds of meters in the cross- and along-shelf directions using a fiber optic Distributed Temperature Sensing (DTS) seafloor array, complemented by an ocean-wave-powered vertical profiling mooring. Trains of propagating cold-water pulses were observed on the DTS array inshore of the location of polarity transition predicted by weakly nonlinear internal wave theory. The subsequent evolution of the temperature signatures during shoaling was consistent with that of strongly nonlinear internal waves with a large Froude number, highlighting their potential to impact property exchange. Unexpectedly, individual NLIWs were trailed by a coherent, small-scale pattern of seabed temperature variability as they moved across the mid- and inner shelf. A kinematic model was used to demonstrate that the observed patterns were consistent with a transverse instability with an along-crest wavelength of ∼10 m – a distance comparable to the cross-crest width of the wave-core – and with an inferred amplitude of several meters. The signature of this instability is consistent with the span-wise vortical circulations generated in three-dimensional direct numerical simulations of shoaling and breaking nonlinear internal waves. The coupling between the small-scale transverse wave-wake and turbulent wave-core may have an important impact on mass, momentum, and tracer redistribution in the coastal ocean. 

Abstract. Exchanges between groundwater and surface water play a key role for ecosystem preservation, especially in headwater catchments where groundwater discharge into streams highly contributes to streamflow generation and maintenance. Despite several decades of research, investigating the spatial variability in groundwater discharge into streams still remains challenging mainly because groundwater/surface water interactions are controlled by multi-scale processes. In this context, we evaluated the potential of using FO-DTS (fibre optic distributed temperature sensing) technology to locate and quantify groundwater discharge at a high resolution. To do so, we propose to combine, for the first time, long-term passive DTS measurements and active DTS measurements by deploying FO cables in the streambed sediments of a first- and second-order stream in gaining conditions. The passive DTS experiment provided 8 months of monitoring of streambed temperature fluctuations along more than 530 m of cable, while the active DTS experiment, performed during a few days, allowed a detailed andaccurate investigation of groundwater discharge variability over a 60 m length heated section. Long-term passive DTS measurements turn out to bean efficient method to detect and locate groundwater discharge along several hundreds of metres. The continuous 8 months of monitoring allowed the highlighting of changes in the groundwater discharge dynamic in response to the hydrological dynamic of the headwater catchment. However, the quantification of fluxes with this approach remains limited given the high uncertainties on estimates, due to uncertainties on thermal properties and boundary conditions. On the contrary, active DTS measurements, which have seldom been performed in streambed sediments and never applied to quantify water fluxes, allow for the estimation of the spatial distribution of both thermal conductivities and the groundwater fluxes at high resolution all along the 60 m heated section of the FO cable. The method allows for the description of the variability in streambed properties at an unprecedented scale and reveals the variability in groundwater inflows at small scales. In the end, this study shows the potential and the interest of the complementary use of passive and active DTS experiments to quantify groundwater discharge at different spatial and temporal scales. Thus, results show that groundwater discharges are mainly concentrated in the upstream part of the watershed, where steepest slopes are observed, confirming the importance of the topography in the stream generation in headwater catchments. However, through the high spatial resolution of measurements, it was also possible to highlight the presence of local and highly contributive groundwater inflows, probably driven by local heterogeneities. The possibility to quantify groundwater discharge at a high spatial resolution through active DTS offers promising perspectives for the characterization of distributed responses times but also for studying biogeochemical hotspots and hot moments. 

A new Variable Rate Drip Irrigation (VRDI) emitter that monitors individual water drops was designed, built, and tested. This new emitter controllers water application directly by monitoring the volume applied in contrast to uniform drip irrigation systems that control water application indirectly by pressure compensation and operational times. Prior approaches assumed irrigation volumes based on flow rates and time and typically did not verify the applied amount of water applied at each water outlet. The new VRDI emitter self-monitors the total volume of water applied and halts the flow once the desired total water application has been achieved. This study performed a test for a new VRDI emitter design with two inner diameters of 0.11 cm and 0.12 cm and two outer diameters 0.3 cm and 0.35 cm compared to a commercial drip emitter. Laboratory tests verify that the integrated volume measurements of the VRDI system are independent of pressure. Conversely, the flow rates of the commercial pressure-compensated drip lines were not independent of pressure. These results demonstrate that this form of VRDI is technically feasible and is shown to be energy efficient, requiring lower system operating pressures than pressure-compensated lines. The VRDI system can reduce water consumption and related water costs.