Products In The Spotlight

Measurement of CO2 from the Space Needle in Seattle, WA

On February 15, 2010, NOAA’s Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory in collaboration with the Pacific Science Center and Seattle’s Space Needle, installed the WMA-4 CO2 Gas Analyzer to measure how much CO2 is in the air over Seattle, Washington (USA). There are two air intakes located on the space Needle. The lower intake is located 300 feet above street level, and the upper intake is located at the very top of the needle. These intakes bring the air through the tubes into the shack at the top of the needle. To learn more, click on http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/co2/atm/ and click on The Method over to the left for more specifics on the WMA-4 deployment and sampling. Thank you to Dr. Christopher Sabine (NOAA/PMEL) and his colleagues for the pictures and reports from Seattle.

If you would like to learn more about this exciting research, please contact PP Systems.

Simultaneous measurement of photosynthesis and chlorophyll fluorescence on pinot noir using the CIRAS-2

Measurement of photosynthesis and chlorophyll fluorescence with CIRAS-2

A research group from the Universität für Bodenkultur Wien (Dept. für Angewandte Pflanzenwissenschaften und Pflanzenbiotechnologie) is conducting a study to assess and evaluate a set of plant indicators reflecting the vine’s physiological status and to define parameters that correlate the plants status with fruit quality. Field measurements are being conducted with the CIRAS-2 Portable Photosynthesis and Chlorophyll Fluorescence Measurement System. Field portability has been critical for this research as it calls for numerous in-situ measurements in pinot noir vineyards. The CIRAS-2 with integral Chlorophyll Fluorescence Module (CFM) has been an ideal instrument for these measurements. The portability and reliability of the system has been ideal for both field measurements in the vineyards as well as various laboratory/greenhouse based measurements. Photo courtesy of Manuel Becker.

Click here for more information on the use of the Chlorophyll Fluorescence Module with the CIRAS-2. For application notes on PP Systems' products, click Application Notes.

If you would like to learn more about this exciting research, please contact PP Systems.

Optical Sampling in Antarctica with the UniSpec-DC


Barrientos Island	Cuverville Island	Whaler's Bay

Researchers from a terrestrial ecology group (Systems Ecology Group, Univ. of Texas-El Paso), part of the IPY-ROAM expedition, recently visited Antarctica for a large series of measurements using the PP Systems UniSpec-DC Spectral Analysis System. The main purpose of the research was to address the question about the dependency of terrestrial ecosystems in Antarctica on the nutrient flow from the oceans. Vegetation reflectance measurements were made at many sites including Barrientos Island, Half Moon Island, Whaler's Bay, Telefon Bay, Cuverville Island and Petermann Island. As expected, the weather conditions were quite harsh with temperatures ranging from 0-5^o C and %RH ranging from 66-93%. Cloud cover was more than 80% at all field sites.

During this trip, researchers were able to obtain a rapid assessment of the antarctic shore-based ecosystem based on reflectance data obtained with the UniSpec-DC. They tried to correlate the reflectance properties of the landcover to other parameters such as vegetation cover, number of nesting penguin pairs close to the sampling site as well as other micromet data. Thank you to Santonu Goswami (Univ. of Texas-El Paso) and his colleagues for the pictures and reports from this most beautiful place.

Click here for more information on the UniSpec-DC. For application notes on PP Systems' products, click Application Notes.

If you would like to learn more about this exciting research, please contact PP Systems.