C-111 EnviroSCAN installation - Part I: the preparation

Isaya returns

PhD candidate Isaya Kisekka returned to Homestead this month to rejoin the Water Resource Engineering team following a study sojourn in Gainesville.

Soon after arriving, he set about tending to some monumental tasks around the C-111 Project – namely, training on research equipment to eventually take the lead on data downloading and management, and coordinating the installation of additional EnviroSCAN soil water content probes at several project sites.


EnviroSCAN probes

In preparation for the C-111 installation, three soil water content probes were assembled to install at two research sites along the C-111 canal. There are several steps involved in preparing probes for field installation.

A. Probe assembly
This step involves assembling probes based on the soil depths that will be monitored. For C-111, the depths are 10, 20, 30 & 40 cm.

B. Access tube assembly

This step focuses on the shells that encase the probes in the field – measuring, cutting, gluing and filing them down.

Note that unlike last summer’s probes, these probes are intentionally oversized - monitoring the same depths, but designed specifically for research sites known to flood during South Florida’s rainy season.

C. Probe configuration

The final probe preparation step is the configuration process. During this step the probe is named, sensors are assigned depths, and high (air) and low (water) sensor measurement points are established.

Next step: installation!