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Data Series 284

U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
Data Series 284

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Introduction

Research at the Amargosa Desert Research Site (ADRS) is intended to develop a fundamental under­standing of hydrologic and contaminant-transport processes in arid environments. Research objectives are to advance the understanding of hydrologic science and to provide scientific information for those making decisions concerning waste isolation and water management in desert environments. Information on ADRS is available on the internet at http://nevada.usgs.gov/adrs/.

In support of ongoing research, micrometeoro­logical, soil-moisture, and evapotranspiration (ET) data were collected at the ADRS adjacent to a low-level radioactive and hazard­ous-chemical waste facility near Beatty, Nev. The waste facility has been used for the burial of low-level radioactive waste from 1962 through 1992 and hazard­ous-chemical waste from 1970 to present. The ADRS was incorporated into the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Toxic Substances Hydrology Program in 1997. Research at the ADRS began in 1983 and has produced long-term benchmark data on hydrologic characteristics and soil-water movement in undisturbed conditions and in simulated waste-dis­posal conditions in arid environments (Andraski and Stonestrom, 1999).

This report includes selected micrometeorologi­cal, soil-moisture, and ET data collected during 2001–05. Instrumentation used to collect the data is described herein. This report is the eighth in a series of meteorological reports published for the ADRS (Wood and Fischer, 1991, 1992; Wood and others, 1992; Wood and Andraski, 1992, 1995; Wood, 1996, Johnson and others, 2002). These previous reports include meteorological data collected during 1986–92 and during 1998–2000. Meteorological data were not reported for 1993–97.

The micrometeorological data collected for 2001–05 include solar radiation, net radiation, air temperature, relative humidity, saturated and ambient vapor pressure, wind speed and direction, baromet­ric pressure, precipitation, near-surface soil temperature, soil-heat-flux and soil-water content. Soil-moisture profiles collected periodically during 2001-05 consist of volumetric soil-water content measurements made using a neutron probe. ET data were collected from February 14, 2002, through December 31, 2005, and included daily totals and 15-minute energy fluxes of net radiation, soil-heat flux, latent-heat flux, and sensible-heat flux along with other soil and air parameters collected and used in equations to derive ET.

Data files that contain the complete micrometeorological (appendixes A–F), soil-moisture (appendixes G and H), and ET (appendixes I–M) field data sets are summarized in this report. These data consist of 13 tabular files (in Excel spreadsheet format) with about 62 megabytes of information. Appendix A lists daily mean micrometeorological data and daily total precipitation for 2001–05. Appendixes B–F list hourly mean micrometeorological and hourly precipitation data for 2001–05. Appendix G lists soil-water content by date and depth at four exper­imental sites. Appendix H lists soil-water con­tent by date and depth for each neutron-probe access tube. Appendix I lists the daily ET. Appendixes J–M list the 15-minute fluxes and other variables for each year (2002–05).

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