The primary scientific focus of this field work is to investigate the microclimate canopy effects of three desert shrub species: Juniper, Creosote, and Mesquite. Of central interest is how these different desert shrub species alter the microclimate beneath their canopies, and how this affects composition variation in plant communities. The output from the Sensor Web will also be compared to more traditional monitoring techniques to further test the technology.

The study site is located at the Sevilleta LTER site in central New Mexico (34° 21´ 10.8" N latitude; 106° 52´ 55.2" W longitude). The canopy of 3 species of desert shrubs is instrumented with Sensor Web pods, in triplicate. Three control pods were mounted in the open (between shrub species), for comparison with the meteorological station data. Every 5 minutes, each Sensor Web pod measures light levels, air temperature and humidity, as well as soil temperature and moisture. The system was initially deployed in late 2003 and is presently part of an ongoing experiment. This deployment represents another example of actually using the Sensor Web technology for meaningful environmental research. More details can be found here.

See an aerial map of the pod locations.