Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Field work completed

Last week Eeva and I spent a few days in Hyytiälä. The four-month long field campaign is now over, and we have a good looking seasonal LAI time series to analyze (thanks to Eeva!).

I had already forgotten how difficult it is to make LAI measurements in September (not to mention October). The sky is not uniform and the sun sets and rises 'too fast' - the time for making our measurements is very short each day and it seems that the campaign proceeds at a glacial pace. Anyway, we did get nearly everything we had planned done, and even had the time to eat a few blueberries when rushing from one plot to another.

The trip was memorable for another reason too. The roads at the study site are horrendous, and I ended up driving into a rock and breaking the oil pan of my car. The roads of Hyytiälä now have an oil track for several kilometers... and my car was towed 25 kilometers to the closest car workshop.