At Eosense the Sales and Marketing team – Sarah and Jen – puts most of their effort into supporting customers and understanding the science behind our products. Jen and Sarah explain:
In our roles we’re expected to know the product’s specifications and internal workings so we are able to identify applications where Eosense products can be used. Our time is mostly spent behind computers communicating with customers to understand their needs, spending countless hours studying the biogeochemistry of soils, reading daily journals to catch global trends in climate change research and we occasionally get our of the office to attend world class conferences and promote our products. One thing that we don’t typically do is bring our products into the field and become field techs for the day, so here we go!
Our playground for the day – Shubie Park, Nova Scotia
Our eosFD is a standalone soil CO2 flux sensor known for the following features:
We wanted to put those claims to the test and see just how easy it is to set up our eosFD in the field. We grabbed the user manual, looked through our field tips and tricks blog and started our packing list:
We packed our bags and were on our way to Shubie Park, Nova Scotia!
Sales & Marketing heading out to the field
Upon arriving to the site we decided where we would install the collars and got right to work. Using the sledge and a piece of wood we installed the 3 collars with very little effort! While it is recommended that you leave the collars installed for 24 hours before testing, we left them in for about 45 mins to adjust to the environment due to time constraints.
Installing collar
A PVC collar inserted into the soil
After a short stroll in the park, we made our way back to the first collar and were ready to setup the eosFD. We grabbed the User Manual and followed the “Quick Start Guide”:
We did it!
We set the measurement frequency to 5 minutes and let the eosFD collect data for 30 minutes on each collar. We did the same for the remaining two collars.
Collecting data
That was it! We packed all of the equipment back into the car and headed back to the office. Upon arriving to the office we downloaded the eosLink-FD software and plugged the eosFD into a Windows computer.
eosLINK-FD
We hit “Collect Data”, copied the data into a Google sheet and made a quick plot. We were finished!
Our data – showing about a 2 micromole per meter squared per second CO2 flux from the sites in Shubie Park.
The eosFD definitely stood up to the “Plug and Play” test! It was very easy to transport through the park and take flux measurements. Due to the eosFD’s low power requirements, we had no issues with power. The eosFD’s membrane-based approach measures flux directly so we didn’t have to perform any complicated configuration when we moved to a new collar. Finally the internal data logger means that all you have to do is plug the eosFD into your computer when you get back to download the results of your hard day in the field.
Our eosFD taking a minute to enjoy the bird houses along the way!
Stepping away from our computers and phones for the day was a great change for us, the dogs at the dog park were extremely entertaining and the beautiful Nova Scotia scenery is always pleasant to enjoy. Now that we have shown how easy this system is to use, stay tuned as Sales and Marketing may be escaping the office more often for more field work!
Watch our very entertaining movie from our day in the field!
The eosFD is a revolutionary soil CO2 flux sensor that uses Eosense’s patented Forced Diffusion technology to measure soil gas flux directly.