SCARCE campaign - atmospheric and soil datasets

This repository contains datasets collected using soil and atmospheric instrumentation during the SCARCE (Synchronized Characterization of Aerosol, Radon and Carbon dioxide Exchanges in drylands) campaign. This campaign took place from July 18, 2023 to January 15, 2024, at the Aguamarga station (36.94ºN, 2.03ºW, 205 m a.s.l.) in Southern Spain, within the framework of the INTEGRATYON3 project (PID2020-117825GB-C21 and PID2020-117825GB-C22), funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033.

The primary focus of the campaign was to investigate and characterize aerosol particles, radon, and greenhouse gas exchanges in a Mediterranean scrubland located in the heart of the Cabo de Gata-Níjar Natural Park. The dataset includes two types of products: soil CO2 and Rn concentrations, and atmospheric variables.

The soil instrumentation, installed within the vadose zone, included a set of instruments at different depths: 15, 50, and 150 cm, as well as in an 18 m-deep borehole. Three GMP252 (Vaisala Inc., Vantaa, Finland) CO2 concentration probes were installed at depths of 15, 50, and 150 cm, each paired with a CS655 (Campbell Scientific) water content reflectometer, providing temperature and volumetric water content measurements. Additionally, at the 50 cm depth, an AlphaE (Bertin Technologies, Montigny-le-Bretonneux, France) radon activity detector was installed, which also provided pressure and humidity data. A similar configuration was applied in the borehole, where a GMP252, a HygroVUE5 (Campbell Scientific) temperature and relative humidity sensor, and an AlphaE sensor were installed within the first meter, providing CO2 concentration, temperature, relative humidity, radon activity, and pressure.

Atmospheric measurements were conducted using a 3.5 m flux tower equipped for eddy covariance measurements, with a closed-path LI-7200RS (LI-COR, Lincoln, NE, USA) gas analyzer measuring CO2 and H2O densities and atmospheric pressure, synchronized with a Gill HS-100-3 (Gill Instruments Ltd., Lymington, UK) three-axis sonic anemometer, and a HMP45C thermohygrometer (Campbell Scientific, Logan, UT, USA; hereafter CSI). These data were processed using EddyPro (LI-COR) version 7.0.8 at 30-minute intervals. Quality flags, as defined by EddyPro based on Mauder and Foken (2006), were taken into account. Additionally, an ARG100 (CSI) pluviometer provided 30-minute precipitation data recorded on a CR1000X (CSI) with a resolution of 0.2 mm per tip.

For more information about the datasets, contact Juan Luis Guerrero-Rascado (rascado@ugr.es) and Jesús Abril-Gago (jabrilgago@ugr.es).