John Morris Scientific has introduced LI-Cor's LI-8100 automated soil CO2 flux system.
The LI-8100 allows short-term survey and long-term unattended measurements of soil CO2 flux.
There is a measurement range of 0-3000ppm (CO2) and 0-80 mmol/mol (H2O).
There are two optional short-term survey chambers: the 8100-102 (10cm) and 8100-103 (20cm).
The 8100-102 chamber allows researchers to fine tune chamber placements more easily.
For example, in crop rows, more measurements can be performed with the 10cm chamber over the available space within and between the rows, which is helpful when studying CO2 flux across the root zones of various crops.
The 8100-103 chamber is exposed to a larger soil area, enabling better spatial averaging of CO2 flux over heterogeneous soils; also the 20cm chamber uses the same soil collar as the long-term chambers.
There are two long-term chambers: the 8100-101 and 8100-104, for making unattended diurnal measurements and seasonal soil CO2 flux patterns at a single location for weeks or months at a time.
The 8100-101 is designed for use with the LI-8100 in a single chamber, long-term system and can also be used with the LI-8150 multiplexer.
The 8100-104 expands the capabilities of the LI-8100 system and provides an additional chamber option to measure both spatial and temporal variations of soil CO2 flux.
Measuring CO2 flux requires extensive sampling because of spatial heterogeneity of soils and temporal variations in the environmental processes that drive CO2 flux.
The LI-8100 Windows or interface software for Palm OS provides settings for configuring either single chamber or multiplexed systems to make repeated, automated flux measurements.
