Abstract—Static flux chambers are often used to determine
emission flux of gases such as greenhouse gas nitrous oxide
(N2O). However, the sampling process is laborious especially
when many treatments/plots are included for measurements to
compare treatment effects in the effort to develop mitigation
strategies. To solve this problem, we constructed an automatic
sampler (autosampler) at low cost, simple to operate, and easy
maintenance and used it with static chambers to sample N2O
emissions. The construction involves mechanical work including
mainly woodworking for building a chassis (mounting board),
syringe mounting block, and servo mounting block, and
electronics for the controller involving hardware assembly,
soldering, and programming to control the operation of the
sampler. This paper provides the detailed information and
instructions as well as price of materials for the construction of
the sampler with the flexibility for modification to meet various
research needs. The samplers were used to measure N2O
emissions in a pomegranate field demonstrating improved
sampling efficiency. The results illustrated treatment differences
with much higher flux from surface drip irrigation than that
from subsurface drip irrigation.
Index Terms—Greenhouse gas, emission flux, nitrogen
fertilizer, drip irrigation.
The authors are all with the USDA-ARS, Parlier, CA, USA (e-mail:
suduan.gao@ars.usda.gov, aileen.hendratna@ars.usda.gov,
brasscuzn@comcast.net).
Cite: Suduan Gao, Aileen Hendratna, and Tom Pflaum, "An Inexpensive Automatic Sampler with Static Chambers for Nitrous Oxide Emission Measurement," International Journal of Environmental Science and Development vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 55-61, 2017.
