Meteorological data and ammonia concentration and deposition rates from an ammonia enhancement experiment site, Queensberry, Sri Lanka, 2022
Deshpande, A.G., Jones, M.R., Mullinger, N.J., Harvey, D., Nicoll, R., van Dijk, N., Grenier, M., Toteva, G., Weerakoon, B., Nissanka, S.P., Prabhashwara, T. (2024). Meteorological data and ammonia concentration and deposition rates from an ammonia enhancement experiment site, Queensberry, Sri Lanka, 2022. NERC EDS Environmental Information Data Centre. https://doi.org/10.5285/998c2b2b-7470-42b0-81e7-409b91752377
This dataset contains information about meteorological conditions and ammonia concentration and deposition rates resulting from an experimental setup. An NH3 enhancement experiment along with a full suite of multi-height meteorological measurements was established in a tropical forest in central Sri Lanka. Under suitable wind conditions measured at the meteorological tower, NH3 is released towards two monitoring transects. Along the downwind monitoring transects, NH3 concentrations in the air are measured using monthly passive samplers. Deposition rates are modelled using a bi-directional resistance model based on measured NH3 concentrations in the air, micrometeorology and plant physiology. Additionally, NH3 concentrations were measured at high temporal resolution at a fixed downwind distance from the source to achieve the target enhancement concentrations. The work was supported by UKRI GCRF South Asian Nitrogen Hub (Grant NE/S009019/1).
Meteorological parameters such as temperature, relative humidity, total solar radiation, photosynthetically active radiation, wind speed and wind direction were measured at four heights starting from the ground level to above-canopy. The measurements were made on a 12 m tall mast. Additionally, soil moisture, temperature and electric conductivity was measured at three depths. All instruments measured data every 20 seconds and the average was calculated over fifteen-minute intervals through a data logger. NH3 enhancement was conducted by releasing the gas from a pure anhydrous NH3 cylinder. A mass flow controller (MFC) released pre-programmed volume of NH3 under suitable wind conditions and the release volume and time is recorded on the datalogger at one-minute intervals. The meteorological and NH3 enhancement data was checked visually, and any obvious errors introduced by instrument malfunctioning, datalogger programming issues and power cuts were removed. NH3 concentrations were measured downwind of the source using UKCEH Adapted Low-cost Passive High Absorption (ALPHA) samplers and analysed monthly. NH3 concentrations not following the regular exponentially declining curve with distance from the source were removed. Monthly dry deposition of NH3 to different layers of the canopy was modelled using a bi-directional resistance model written in R. At a distance of 10 m downwind of the NH3 source, NH3 concentrations were measured using a Picarro high-resolution analyser at a frequency of 1 Hz and averaged over one-minute intervals. The analyser had inlets at four different heights to understand the vertical movement of the gas. The analyser was operated as a part of a measurement campaign. The data was checked visually and any obvious errors introduced by instrument malfunctioning, LabVIEW inlet switching programming issues and power cuts were removed. Gaps introduced during inlet switching were filled by linear interpolation.
NERC EDS Environmental Information Data Centre
Deshpande, A.G., Jones, M.R., van Dijk, N., Mullinger, N.J., Harvey, D., Nicoll, R., Toteva, G., Weerakoon, G., Nissanka, S., Weerakoon, B., Grenier, M., Iwanicka, A., Duarte, F., Stephens, A., Ellis, C.J., Vieno, M., Drewer, J., Wolseley, P.A., Nanayakkara, S., Prabhashwara, T., Bealey, W.J., Nemitz, E., Sutton, M.A., 2024. Estimation of ammonia deposition to forest ecosystems in Scotland and Sri Lanka using wind-controlled NH3 enhancement experiments. Atmos. Environ. 120325. doi:10.1016/j.atmosenv.2023.120325