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Many weighing lysimeters, including the Coshocton lysimeters, use load cells to determine evapotranspiration (ET). Because measured ET is sometimes small (less than 0.5 mm for hourly ET), these instruments must be very accurate mass measurement devices. To achieve acceptable accuracy, weighing lysimeters require calibration. Electronic changes were found to affect the performance of the Coshocton weighing lysimeters, therefore, a quality control plan was needed. The objectives of this article are: to present a weighing lysimeter calibration method; to provide a statistically valid quality control plan (using control charts); and to describe the performance of the Coshocton lysimeters operating under this calibration and quality control plan. Control charts were used to monitor the performance of the weighing mechanism because they can: be relatively easy to user indicate when re-calibration is necessary; identify measurement drift; indicate instrument problems; indicate human mistakes; provide confidence in measurement results; and be adapted to most measurement processes. A calibration procedure was developed that: could be performed by one person; could be performed without covering the lysimeter; and could be used in conjunction with the quality control (QC) procedure. The results show that the Coshocton lysimeters, operating under the described quality control and calibration procedure, have an error less than 0.025 mm (water equivalent mass) for a single mass measurement. The resulting error in lysimeter-computed daily ET was about 0.03 mm indicating that the lysimeters are capable of measuring low ET (e.g., hourly ET). The mass measurement process was generally statistically 'in control' which provides confidence in the lysimeter-computed ET. Under normal conditions, two of the three weighing lysimeters were found to be significantly affected by wind, likely due to the steep topography (13-26% slopes). However even under somewhat windy conditions (up to 4.5 m/s), the lysimeters were very stable and any wind induced error can be considered negligible for most applications.
Author(s): Malone RW, Stewardson DJ, Bonta JV, Nelsen T
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Transactions of the American Society of Agricultural Engineers
Year: 1999
Volume: 42
Issue: 3
Pages: 701-712
Print publication date: 01/05/1999
ISSN (print): 0001-2351
ISSN (electronic):
Publisher: American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers
