Gas well creation

Creation of the gas wells has been completed and are ready to be installed! We used home brewing tubing since it was cheaper than ordering from a scientific supply company and straightened out the gas well tubing using a steel rod. From there we cut it to one of the five lengths being used to measure soil respiration at depth (20, 40, 60, 80, 100, 110cm) and debarred the end tips.

The gas wells get installed into the soil at a 45 degree angle using a driving rod, to make sure no soil gets in when installing, allowing for gas diffusion up the tube. The gas wells have a Swagelok brass union with a septa at the end to sample the soil respiration from depth biweekly. Overall, 150 gas wells were made! Three for each of the 50 sampling locations. The three gas wells allows for the flux density equation to be used to to attribute a certain flux of soil respiration to a single depth (the middle depth of the three gas wells within 20cm of each other).

Cutting the brewing tubing with a pipe cutter to each length.