Lysimeter

The Ready-to-go Lysimeter is a small lysimeter station for soil columns with a surface area up to 0.5 cm² and a length of up to 1 m.

Mini-Lysimeters are a widespread method to directly determine the actual evapotranspiration. For sites with a root depth smaller than the depth of the lysimeter vessel the latent heat flux can be measured with high accuracy (also for heterogeneous landscapes) [Grimmond et al., 1992, Parisi et al., 2009]. 

The Ready-to-go Lysimeter is suitable for both disturbed (filled by hand) and undisturbed (using the patented UGT-Excavation Technology) soil monoliths. The compact lysimeter station consists of a PP lysimeter vessel, a weighing system, a seepage tank with a tipping bucket, a weather station, a set of soil hydrological sensors, and a data logger. The system operates as a plug and play system. The entire station can be erected and put into operation without special tools or specialized staff. It is a cost-effective alternative lysimeter system to observe water transport processes under natural conditions. Up to four Ready-to-go Lysimeters can be connected to one data logger. Combining the data logger with the SVADSS box or with a remote data transmission provides a quick and easy access to the data via the internet.  The Ready-to-go Lysimeter is the ideal supplement to an existing weather station for direct measurements of the actual evapotranspiration. 

The aim of this simplified lysimeter station is to provide a solution for projects where large lysimeter stations are not suitable. Under consideration of the limited surface area and depth of the lysimeter vessel, Ready-to-go Lysimeters are a less expensive solution to observe several different water transport processes. 

Advantages:

• Inexpensive
• Small, can be handled and shipped without large machinery
• Easy to install by the user