Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Construction, installation, and performance of two repacked weighing lysimeters

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Irrigation Science Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Weighing lysimeters are the standard method for directly measuring evapotranspiration (ET). This paper discusses the construction, installation, and performance of two (1.52 m × 1.52 m × 2.13-m deep) repacked weighing lysimeters for measuring ET of corn and soybean in West Central Nebraska. The cost of constructing and installing each lysimeter was approximately US $12,500, which could vary depending on the availability and cost of equipment and labor. The resolution of the lysimeters was 0.0001 mV V−1, which was limited by the data processing and storage resolution of the datalogger. This resolution was equivalent to 0.064 and 0.078 mm of ET for the north and south lysimeters, respectively. Since the percent measurement error decreases with the magnitude of the ET measured, this resolution is adequate for measuring ET for daily and longer periods, but not for shorter time steps. This resolution would result in measurement errors of less than 5% for measuring ET values of ≥3 mm, but the percent error rapidly increases for lower ET values. The resolution of the lysimeters could potentially be improved by choosing a datalogger that could process and store data with a higher resolution than the one used in this study.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11
Fig. 12

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. Names of commercial products are solely provided as information to the reader and do not imply endorsement or recommendation by the authors or their organizations.

References

  • Allen RG, Fisher DK (1990) Low-cost electronic weighing lysimeters. Trans ASAE 33:1823–1833

    Google Scholar 

  • Evett SR, Warrick AW, Matthias AD (1995) Wall material and capping effects on microlysimeter temperatures and evaporation. Soil Sci Soc Am J 59:329–336

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Garcia M., Raes D, Allen RG, Herbas C (2004) Dynamics of reference evapotranspiration in the Bolivian highlands (altiplano). Agric For Meteorol 125:67–82

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hanks RJ, Shawcroft RW (1965) An economical lysimeter for evapotranspiration studies. Agron J 57:634–636

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Howell TA, McCormick RL, Phene CJ (1985) Design and installation of large weighing lysimeters. Trans ASAE 28:106–112, 117

    Google Scholar 

  • Howell TA, Schneider AD, Jensen ME (1991) History of lysimeter design and use for evapotranspiration measurements. In: Proceedings of the conference on lysimeters for evapotranspiration and environmental measurements, IR Div/ASCE/Honolulu, 23–25 July, pp 1–9

  • Howell TA, Schneider AD, Dusek DA, Marek TH, Steiner JL (1995) Calibration and scale performance of the Bushland weighing lysimeters. Trans ASAE 38:1019–1024

    Google Scholar 

  • Hunsaker DJ, Pinter PJ Jr, Cai H (2002) Alfalfa basal crop coefficients for FAO-56 procedures in the desert regions of the southwestern US. Trans ASAE 45:1799–1815

    Google Scholar 

  • Kirkham RR, Gee GW, Jones TL (1984) Weighing lysimeters for long-term water balance investigations at remote sites. Soil Sci Soc Am J 48:1203–1205

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Klocke NL, Heermann DF, Duke HR (1985) Measurement of evaporation and transpiration with lysimeters. Trans ASAE 28:183–189, 192

    Google Scholar 

  • Klocke NL, Todd RW, Hergert GW, Watts DG, Parkhurst AM (1993) Design, installation, and performance of percolation lysimeters for water quality sampling. Trans ASAE 36:429–435

    Google Scholar 

  • Klocke NL, Watts DG, Schneekloth JP, Davison DR, Todd RW, Parkhurst AM (1999) Nitrate leaching in irrigated corn and soybean in a semi-arid climate. Trans ASAE 42:1621–1630

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Laubach J, Raschendorfer M, Kreilein H, Gravenhorst G (1994) Determination of heat and water vapor fluxes above a spruce forest by eddy correlation. Agric For Meteorol 71:373–401

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu J, Kotoda K (1998) Estimation of regional evapotranspiration from arid and semi-arid surfaces. J Am Water Resour Assoc 34:27–41

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Malone RW, Bonta JV, Stewardson DJ, Nelsen T (2000) Error analysis and quality improvement of the Coshcton weighing lysimeters. Trans ASAE 43:271–280

    Google Scholar 

  • Marek TH, Schneider AD, Howell TA, Ebeling LL (1988) Design and construction of large weighing monolithic lysimeters. Trans ASAE 31:477–484

    Google Scholar 

  • Marek TH, Piccinni G, Schneider AD, Howell TA, Jett M, Dusek DA (2006) Weighing lysimeters for the determination of crop water requirements and crop coefficients. Appl Eng Agric 22:851–856

    Google Scholar 

  • McFarland MJ, Worthington JW, Newman JS (1983) Design, installation and operation of a twin weighing lysimeter for fruit trees. Trans ASAE 26:1717–1721

    Google Scholar 

  • Meshkat M, Warner RC, Walton LR (1999) Lysimeter design, construction, and instrumentation for assessing evaporation from a large undisturbed soil monolith. Appl Eng Agric 14:303–308

    Google Scholar 

  • Payero JO (2005) Using weighing lysimeters to improve accuracy of crop water use data, project report, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, North Platte, Nebraska, pp 36

    Google Scholar 

  • Payero JO, Neale CMU, Wright JL, Allen RG (2003) Guidelines for validating Bowen ratio data. Trans ASAE 46:1051–1060

    Google Scholar 

  • Payero JO, Klocke NL, Schneekloth JP, Davison DR (2006) Comparison of irrigation strategies for surface-irrigated corn in West Central Nebraska. Irrig Sci 24:257–265

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Phene CJ, McCormick RL, Davis KR, Pierro JD, Meek DW (1989) A lysimeter feedback irrigation controller system for evapotranspiration measurements and real time irrigation scheduling. Trans ASAE 32:477–484

    Google Scholar 

  • Pruitt WO, Angus DE (1960) Large weighing lysimeter for measuring evapotranspiration. Trans ASAE 3:13–15, 18

    Google Scholar 

  • Schneider AD, Howell TA (1991) Large, monolithic, weighing lysimeters. In: Proceedings of the conference on lysimeters for evapotranspiration and environmental measurements, IR Div/ASCE/Honolulu, 23–25 July, pp 37–45

  • Schneider AD, Marek TH, Ebeling LL, Howell TA, Steiner JL (1988) Hydraulic pulldown procedure for collecting large soil monoliths. Trans ASAE 31:1092–1097

    Google Scholar 

  • Schneider AD, Howell TA, Steiner JL (1993) An evapotranspiration research facility using monolithic lysimeters from three soils. Appl Eng Agric 9:227–235

    Google Scholar 

  • Schneider AD, Ayars JE, Phene CJ (1996) Combining monolithic and repacked soil tanks for lysimeters from high water table sites. Appl Eng Agric 12:649–654

    Google Scholar 

  • Schneider AD, Howell TA, Moustafa ATA, Evett SR, Abou-Zeid W (1998) A simplified weighing lysimeter for monolithic or reconstructed soils. Appl Eng Agric 14:267–273

    Google Scholar 

  • Seyfried MS, Hanson CL, Murdock MD, Van Vactor S (2001) Long-term lysimeter database, Reynolds Creek experimental watershed, Idaho, United States. Water Resour Res 37:2853–2856

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Todd RW, Evett SR, Howell TA (2000a) The Bowen ratio energy balance method for estimating latent heat flux of irrigated alfalfa evaluated in a semi-arid, advective environment. Agric For Meteorol 103:335–348

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Todd RW, Evett SR, Howell TA, Klocke NL (2000b) Soil temperature and water evaporation of small steel and plastic lysimeters replaced daily. Soil Sci 165:890–895

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Tyagi NK, Sharma DK, Luthra SK (2003) Determination of evapotranspiration for maize and berseem clover. Irrig Sci 21:173–181

    Google Scholar 

  • van Bavel CHM, Myers LE (1962) An automatic weighing lysimeter. Agric Eng 43:580–583, 586–588

    Google Scholar 

  • Verhoef A, Allen SJ, Lloyd CR (1999) Seasonal variation of surface energy balance over two sahelian surfaces. Int J Climatol 19:1267–1277

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yang SL, Aydin M, Yano T, Li X (2003) Evapotranspiration of orange trees in greenhouse lysimeters. Irrig Sci 21:145–149

    Google Scholar 

  • Yoder RE, Odhiambo LO, Wright WC (2005) Evaluation of methods for estimating daily reference crop evapotranspiration at a site in the humid southeast United States. Appl Eng Agric 21:197–202

    Google Scholar 

  • Young MH, Wierenga PJ, Mancino CF (1997) Monitoring near-surface soil water storage in turfgrass using time domain reflectometry and weighing lysimetry. Soil Sci Soc Am J 61:1138–1146

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge Merle Still, Don Davison, and Jereme Hartman for their valuable contribution to this project. We also would like to acknowledge the help of William C. Markley from the NRCS who described the soil profiles at both lysimeter sites. This paper is a contribution of the University of Nebraska Agricultural Research Division, Lincoln, NE 68583, USA (Journal Series No. 15117). Partial funding for this project was provided by the Anna H. Elliot Foundation.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Irrigated Farming Systems, Queensland Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries (DPI&F), 203 Tor Street, Toowoomba, QLD, 4350, Australia

    José O. Payero

  2. Department of Biological Systems Engineering, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 234 L.W. Chase Hall, Lincoln, NE, 68583-0726, USA

    Suat Irmak

Authors
  1. José O. Payero
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Suat Irmak
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to José O. Payero.

Additional information

Communicated by T. Trooien.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Payero, J.O., Irmak, S. Construction, installation, and performance of two repacked weighing lysimeters. Irrig Sci 26, 191–202 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00271-007-0085-9

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00271-007-0085-9

Keywords

Search

Navigation