Utah Flux Network
Connecting field-scale water consumption measurement to basin-scale water management
The Authority is investing in the Utah Geological Survey’s (UGS) Utah Flux Network (UFN) to support measurement of consumptive water use from field to basin scale within the Colorado River system in Utah. UFN is an assemblage of Eddy Covariance (EC) stations, instruments that provide the best available measurement of field-scale evapotranspiration (evaporation + transpiration, or consumptive water use).
UGS has acquired, installed, and currently maintains EC stations in the Colorado River system in Utah, and perform data management, analysis, and intercomparison. Data and results from the UFN will support the Authority’s objectives of defensible, accurate, and timely measurement that builds trust in decision-making, optimized consumptive water use, and verifiable execution of drought mitigation projects.
Although EC stations provide accurate evapotranspiration measurements, they only represent the field in which they are located, and they are expensive to acquire and maintain. Therefore, UFN EC station data is also used to ground-truth the larger-scale, remotely-sensed evapotranspiration data from OpenET.
Project Components
Measuring Evapotranspiration with Eddy Covariance
EC stations measure eddies in the wind that carry water vapor, heat, and carbon dioxide up off land and plant surfaces, into the atmosphere, and often out of the watershed. Measuring how much evapotranspiration is occurring helps water managers understand a watershed's unique water cycle and budget. The figure below shows a conceptual diagram of an EC station observing wind eddies over an agricultural field.
EC stations measure several variables that are combined to calculate evapotranspiration and help scientists understand the weather conditions around the station. Utah Flux Network stations measure some variables using more than one instrument type so that the datasets can be compared for quality assurance and quality control. Full EC stations use instruments from Campbell Scientific, and “mini” EC stations use instruments from LI-COR.
Watch the Dugout Ranch EC Station get built:
Reliable, accessible, and transparent data is foundational to the Utah Flux Network. Once data is collected, it goes through the workflow below to ensure the data is quality and can be used by project partners and the public. Raw data is made immediately available for time-sensitive agricultural and meteorological applications and to promote data transparency.
Click on the links below to view data.
Utah's Colorado River System Stations
The map below shows all the Utah Flux Network stations in Utah.
To learn about the stations in the Colorado River system in Utah, click the drop-down for each station.
Resources
