Automated models for rapid data insights Environmental modeling is crucial for making decisions or understanding what’s happening in the field, but it can be an extremely complex and manual process. Not anymore. Forget endless spreadsheets, equations, and long hours of post processing. ZENTRA Cloud now includes environmental models—so the information you need to make sense of your data can be instantly visualized on a daily basis. Environmental modeling made easy Growing degree days, daily light integral, evapotranspiration, and more! We made the models. Now you can use them. Discover the magic behind the models, how ZENTRA Cloud simplifies and automates the process, and how researchers are using these models in their unique applications. Topics covered: An introduction and some of the scientific methods behind popular ZENTRA Cloud models Plant available water Evapotranspiration (ET) Daily light integral Daily light photoperiod Growing degree days Modified chill hours Case studies: How people are using these models in their research

2. HOW TO UNLOCK
YOUR DATA SECRETS
USING ZENTRA CLOUD MODELS
Elizabeth Smith, MSc
METER Group, Inc. USA

3. INTRODUCTION
ABOUT ME
Environmental Research Application Specialist
3 years with METER Environment
Specialize in remote data acquisition
Focus on the success of our ZENTRA Cloud
customers
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4. INTRODUCTION
PREVIOUS RESEARCH
Background in environmental science
Master’s thesis on dust mitigation using
BSNEs and weather stations
3 years with New Mexico State Viticulture
Program and New Mexico Wine Growers
Association
• Installed weather stations across
New Mexico
• Visited and consulted for 53 commercial
vineyards

5. ZENTRA CLOUD
DATA BASICS
ZENTRA Cloud Official Launch
• Launched with the ZL6 (Nov 2018)
• Details page (graphs)
• List page
• Download up to 1 year’s worth of data
ZENTRA Cloud Now
• Custom graphs
• 6 environmental models
• Download ALL data
(yes, even your EM50G that’s 10 years old!)
• Host over 15,000 devices/data
• Share the same view/data with colleague
Before ZENTRA Cloud
• Download data to Excel and share it with
colleagues (stale data)
• Calculate env. models by hand or in Excel
• Multiple inputs, no central database

6. ZENTRA CLOUD
SCIENTIFIC MODELS
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• Growing Degree Days (GDD)
• Evapotranspiration (ET)*
• Plant Available Water (PAW)
• Modified Chill Hours
• Daily Light Integral (DLI)*
• Daily Light Photoperiod (DLP)*
*focus of this presentation
https://docs.zentracloud.com OR

7. EVAPOTRANSPIRATION

8. EVAPOTRANSPIRATION (ET)
BASICS
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Definition
• The process by which water is transferred from
the land to the atmosphere by evaporation from
the soil and other surfaces and by transpiration
from plants.
Calculated using climate data
• radiation
• air temperature
• air humidity
• wind speed
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Transpiration
from Tree
Transpiration
from Grass
Evaporation
from Soil
Evapotranspiration

9. PENMAN-MONTEITH
WHY THIS MODEL?
12
FAO 56 Penman-Monteith Guidelines
UN Food & Agriculture Organization (FAO)
• standard method for modeling ET1
American Society of Civil Engineers
• modified equation with hourly time step2
SWAT model
• GIS-integrated hydrologic model estimating ET3
Equation 1: Reference ET

10. PENMAN-MONTEITH
VARIATIONS & DOCUMENTATION
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ETo:Reference & grass
• if Rs > 0, then
grass Cn = 900, Cd = 0.34
ETr:Alfalfa
• if Rs > 0, then
alfalfa Cn = 1600, Cd = 0.38
https://docs.zentracloud.com OR

11. INSIDE ZENTRA CLOUD
EVAPOTRANSPIRATION
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Sensor Data Inputs
• Air temperature (°C & K)
• Vapor Pressure (kPa)
• Wind speed (m/s)
• Solar radiation (W/m2 & MJ/m2/day)
• ZL6 (Firmware 2.04 or greater)
• Latitude (rad) & elevation (m) autofill based on station GPS
Sensor Types
• ATMOS 41 all-in-one weather station

12. HOW OUR CUSTOMERS USE ET
AUBURN UNIVERSITY
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Dr.Thorsten Knappenberger
Dept of Crop, Soil & Env Sciences
• Soybean irrigation
• Treatment based on smartphone app
(https://smartirrigationapps.org)
• App computes ET based on data from
National Weather Grid
• Ground-truthing app data to ATMOS 41 data
collected in the field

13. HOW OUR CUSTOMERS USE ET
CEC/JACOBS CREEK WATERSHED ASSOC
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John Buck
Civil & Environmental Consultants
• Multiple projects & goals
• Document water balance in natural landscapes
and water attenuated by Green Stormwater
Infrastructure (GSI)
• Use ET model to demonstrate range of
landscape water use vs. rainfall as it influences
watersheds and GSI system performance

14. HOW OUR CUSTOMERS USE ET
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“For watershed groups, reference ET
can be useful to show how landscape
ET changes over the course of a year
and can be compared with rainfall
over the same period.”
- John Buck
“Reference ET provides context to
show how ET compares to cumulative
rainfall-plus-irrigation, and the
potential magnitude of soil water
deficits.”
- John Buck
Reference ET (Scottdale, PA) totaled about 1.37 inches for the week
Rainfall (pulse counts x 0.01 in/pulse) vs. stream depth in Jacobs Creek

15. DAILY LIGHT INTEGRAL

16. DAILY LIGHT INTEGRAL (DLI)
Daily Light Integral (DLI)
• Total number of photosynthetically
active photons that impinge upon
1 m2 surface area over 24 hrs
• I.e., total amount of radiation
available for plant growth each day
American Floral Endowment interactive map5
https://endowment.org/dlimaps/

17. INSIDE ZENTRA CLOUD
DAILY LIGHT INTEGRAL
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Sensor Data Inputs
• 24-hour PPFD (Photosynthetic photon flux)
Sensor Types
• QSO-S PAR Photon Flux
DLI Documentation

18. HOW OUR CUSTOMERS USE DLI
DRISCOLL’S
“We use DLI because it has a significant impact on
a number of plant variables, including root and
shoot growth, stem thickness, plant height,
branching, number of flowers, and flower timing.”
- Alejandro
• Use multiple models in daily decisions
• DLI
• Chill Hours
• Growing Degree Days
• Previously using DataTrac 3 & Excel
3-month Daily Light Photoperiod (California)

19. DAILY LIGHT PHOTOPERIOD

20. DAILY LIGHT PHOTOPERIOD (DLP)
Photoperiod
• total amount of time (hrs) in a 24-hour period
that an organism receives light
Important For
• Affects timing of seasonal activities, such as
flowering and growth6
• Monitoring, timing, artificially forcing flowering
31
[7]

21. INSIDE ZENTRA CLOUD
DAILY LIGHT PHOTOPERIOD
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Sensor Data Inputs
• 24-hour PPFD or solar radiation
Sensor Types
• QSO-S PAR Photon Flux
• PYR total solar radiation sensor (pyranometer)
• ATMOS 41 all-in-one weather station
DLP Documentation

22. HOW OUR CUSTOMERS USE DLP
BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY
Dr. Richard Gill
Dept of Biology
• Monitoring photoperiod cycle to track solar time
• Gathering historical data
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1 year’s worth of DLP at BYU test site “Leeward”
The period of no data is due to bird poop blocking the ATMOS 41 PYR

23. ZENTRA CLOUD
DOWNLOAD DATA FROM ALL MODELS
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Download options
for your model
• Print
• JPEG
• PDF
• PNG
• CSV data file
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24. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
THANK YOU
A special thank you to:
• Dr.Thorsten Knappenberger
• John Buck
• Denise
• Dr. Richard Gill
• Dr. Colin Campbell
• Alejandro
for use of your visuals during this webinar

25. REFERENCES
[1] J. L. Monteith (1965). "Evaporation and environment". Symposia of the Society for Experimental Biology. 19: 205–224. PMID
5321565. Obtained from Forest Hydrology and Watershed Management – Hydrologie Forestiere et Amenagement des Bassins
Hydrologiques (Proceedings of the Vancouver Symposium, August 1987, Actes du Co11oque de Vancouver, Aout 1987):IAHS-AISH
Publ. no. 167, 1987. pp. 319–327.
[2] Allen, R.G.; Pereira, L.S.; Raes, D.; Smith, M. (1998). Crop Evapotranspiration: Guidelines for Computing Crop Water
Requirements. FAO Irrigation and drainage paper 56. Rome, Italy: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. ISBN
978-92-5-104219-9. Archived from the original on 2011-05-15. Retrieved 2011-06-08.
[3] Rojas, Jose P.; Sheffield, Ronald E. (2013). "Evaluation of Daily Reference Evapotranspiration Methods as Compared with the
ASCE-EWRI Penman-Monteith Equation Using Limited Weather Data in Northeast Louisiana". Journal of Irrigation and Drainage
Engineering. 139 (4): 285–292. doi:10.1061/(ASCE)IR.1943-4774.0000523. ISSN 0733-9437.
[4] https://www.environmentalbiophysics.org/green-roofs-work/
[5] https://myutk.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapSeries/index.html?appid=d91ba9eb487d43f3a82161a1247853b6
[6] Hamner, K.C. (1940). "Interrelation of light and darkness in photoperiodic induction". Botanical Gazette. 101 (3): 658–87.
doi:10.1086/334903. JSTOR 2472399.
[7] https://moodle.clsd.k12.pa.us/district_videos/Biology/iText/products/0-13-115540-7/ch25/ch25_s2_3_pr.html

26. QUESTIONS?
METER Customer Support
support.environment@metergroup.com
509.332.5600
Elizabeth Smith
elizabeth.smith@metergroup.com