Highly sampled measurements in a controlled atmosphere at the Biosphere 2 Landscape Evolution Observatory

Abstract

Land-atmosphere interactions at different temporal and spatial scales are important for our understanding of the Earth system and its modeling. The Landscape Evolution Observatory (LEO) at Biosphere 2, managed by the University of Arizona, hosts three nearly identical artificial bare-soil hillslopes with dimensions of 11x30 m(2) (1m depth) in a controlled and highly monitored environment within three large greenhouses. These facilities provide a unique opportunity to explore these interactions. The dataset presented here is a subset of the measurements in each LEO's hillslopes, from 1 July 2015 to 30 June 2019 every 15minutes, consisting of temperature, water content and heat flux of the soil (at 5cm depth) for 12 co-located points; temperature, relative humidity and wind speed above ground at 5 locations and 5 different heights ranging from 0.25m to 9-10m; 3D wind at 1 location; the four components of radiation at 2 locations; spatially aggregated precipitation rates, total subsurface discharge, and relative water storage; and the measurements from a weather station outside the greenhouses.