This week, I had a couple days where I was doing greenhouse gas sampling in the field for the Net Zero Project. The project measures greenhouse gases — including carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide — emitted from agricultural soils under different soil health practices year-round. Sampling involves going to about 20 points across a field and placing a smart chamber over marked cylinders in the ground. The smart chamber automatically measures the gas fluxes from the soil for about two minutes and the data is recorded in an iPad we carry with us.
It is really interesting to see how there are differences in emissions according to environmental factors such as elevation and moisture. We tend to see more emissions at lower elevations and after rainfall events, which is why we typically go out to take measurements the day of or the day after a rainfall event. There has been a lot of rain this summer too, which means the team is pretty much constantly on the move. Emissions fluctuate based on microbial activity in the soil, as microbial respiration is responsible for the emissions.
Greenhouse gas sampling is definitely my favorite activity from the internship because I’ve been able to see in real time how agriculture is connected to climate change. Also, being able to work with such advanced technology is simply amazing. I hope that this technology can soon become more accessible to people involved in increasing agricultural sustainability because monitoring is such a crucial part of understanding land, which can vary greatly in its traits from field to field.
Aside from greenhouse gas sampling, I have been preparing soil samples for respiration analysis, which will help us understand the contribution of manure as an amendment. I’m now getting ready for my last week of the internship and working on my poster to present what I have learned this summer.