Weighing Lysimeter Data for The Bushland, Texas, Sorghum Datasets

This dataset consists of weighing lysimeter data for sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.)] grown for grain or forage at the USDA-ARS Conservation and Production Research Laboratory (CPRL), Soil and Water Management Research Unit (SWMRU), Bushland, Texas (Lat. 35.186714°, Long. -102.094189°, elevation 1170 m above MSL) in 1987, 1988, 1991, 1993, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2003 through 2007, 2014, and 2015 (13 years) on from one to four large, precision weighing lysimeters, each in the center of a 4.44 ha square field similarly cropped. In 2006 and 2007, sorghum was also grown for forage. The weighing lysimeters were used to measure mass, which was converted to relative soil water storage with 0.05 mm accuracy at 5-minute intervals, and the 5-minute change in soil water storage was used along with precipitation and irrigation amounts to calculate crop evapotranspiration (ET), which is reported at 15-minute intervals. Although a quality control process was used, the ET data in this dataset are considered raw data. Advanced algorithms for detection of precipitation, dew and frost were applied in a separate process to determine ET values that are reported in files in a dataset entitled "Evapotranspiration and Water Balance Data for The Bushland, Texas Sorghum Datasets". Those files have "water-balance" in their names. Each lysimeter was equipped with a suite of instruments to sense wind speed, air temperature and relative humidity, components of the radiation balance (e.g., net radiation, incoming and reflected shortwave, photosynthetically active radiation (PAR), incoming and reflected longwave, thermal infrared emitted by the plant/soil surface), soil heat flux, soil temperature, and soil volumetric water content at certain depths. Not all properties were always sensed in any one year; and instruments used changed from season to season, which are reasons that subsidiary datasets and data dictionaries for each season are required.

These datasets originate from research aimed at determining crop water use (ET), crop coefficients for use in ET-based irrigation scheduling based on a reference ET, crop growth, yield, harvest index, and crop water productivity as affected by irrigation method, timing, amount (full or some degree of deficit), agronomic practices, cultivar, and weather. Prior publications have focused on sorghum ET, crop coefficients, crop water productivity, and simulation modeling of crop water use, growth, and yield. Crop coefficients have been used by ET networks. The data have utility for testing simulation models of crop ET, growth, and yield and have been used for testing, and calibrating models of ET that use satellite and/or weather data.

See the README file (README_Bushland_Sorghum_Weighing_Lysimeter) for descriptions of resources in this dataset. The descriptions vary by year because experimental protocols varied by year.