Citation:

PANGAEA.995337 (dataset in review)

Name: Continuous soil microclimate and meteorological measurements from maize and potato plots in Uasin Gishu County, Kenya
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Keywords: Greenhouse gases; nitrogen cycling; Nitrous oxide; Stable isotopes; Sub-Saharan Africa

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Abstract:

Continuous soil microclimate and meteorological measurements from the respective maize and potato plots in Uasin Gishu County, Kenya. Soil volumetric water content (m³ m⁻³) and temperature (°C) were measured at plot level using TEROS 11 sensors (METER Group, Pullman, WA, USA); soil oxygen concentration (%) was measured using SO-411 optical sensors (METER Group). Meteorological variables – including precipitation, air temperature and atmospheric pressure were recorded by two ATMOS 41 all-in-one weather stations (METER Group). All sensors logged at 15-minute resolution via ZL6 Pro data loggers with integrated solar panels and automatic cloud backup. Data span from March 2024 to March 2025 at the University of Eldoret, Uasin Gishu County, Kenya (0°34′45″N, 35°18′22″E; 2,213 m a.s.l.). Sensors were deployed across four instrumented treatment blocks. Data were collected to characterise the environmental drivers, and particularly soil moisture dynamics and precipitation timing that govern nitrogen cycling and greenhouse gas emissions, and to provide the covariate inputs required for machine-learning-based N₂O emission risk prediction. The fully solar-powered, cloud-connected sensor network was designed to operate autonomously under the infrastructure constraints typical of sub-Saharan African field research. All timestamps are in East Africa Time (UTC+3). This dataset is part of a multi-variable collection archived at PANGAEA.

Keyword(s):

Greenhouse gases; nitrogen cycling; Nitrous oxide; Stable isotopes; Sub-Saharan Africa

Supplement to:

Ouma, Turry; Barthel, Matti; Oluoch, Kevin Churchill; Otinga, Abigael; Njoroge, Ruth; Leitner, Sonja; Oduor, Collins; Agredazywczuk, Phillip; Zhu, Yuhao; Tamburini, Federica; Obozinski, Guillaume; Six, Johan; Harris, Eliza (submitted): A multi-variable dataset of N₂O fluxes, isotopologue signatures, soil mineral nitrogen, greenhouse gas emissions, and microclimate from smallholder maize and potato systems in Uasin Gishu County, Kenya (March 2024–March 2025). Earth System Science Data

Related to:

Oluoch, Kevin Churchill; Njoroge, Ruth; Otinga, Abigael; Mutua, Scholastica; Ouma, Turry; Agredazywczuk, Phillip; Barthel, Matti; Six, Johan; Collins, Oduro; Leitner, Sonja; Tufail, Muhammad; Oyugi, Antony; Harris, Eliza (preprint): Fate of Nitrogen in Rainfed Maize (Zea mays) Systems of the Tropical Highlands of Kenya Under Increasing Nitrogen Fertiliser Application Rates. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.5912075

References:

Butterbach-Bahl, Klaus; Gasche, R; Breuer, Lutz; Papen, H (1997): Fluxes of NO and N2O from temperate forest soils: impact of forest type, N deposition and of liming on the NO and N2O emissions. Nutrient Cycling in Agroecosystems, 48(1-2), 79-90, https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1009785521107

IUSS Working Group WRB (2007): World Reference Base for Soil Resources 2006, first update 2007. World Soil Resources Reports No. 103. FAO, Rome

Zhu, Yuhao; Butterbach-Bahl, Klaus; Merbold, Lutz; Oduor, Collins; Gakige, Jesse Kagai; Mwangi, Paul; Leitner, Sonja (2024): Greenhouse gas emissions from sheep excreta deposited onto tropical pastures in Kenya. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, 359, 108724, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2023.108724

Funding:

Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF), grant/award no. 207348 : N2O-SSA: Combining measurements, modelling and machine learning to improve N2O accounting for sustainable agricultural development in sub-Saharan Africa

Coverage:

Latitude: 0.579720 * Longitude: 35.306110

Date/Time Start: 2024-03-07T02:00:00 * Date/Time End: 2025-03-14T19:30:00

Minimum DEPTH, soil: 0.2 m * Maximum DEPTH, soil: 0.2 m

Event(s):

UoE-Kenya-2024-2025 * Latitude: 0.579720 * Longitude: 35.306110 * Date/Time Start: 2024-03-05T00:00:00 * Date/Time End: 2025-03-13T23:59:00 * Elevation: 2213.0 m * Location: Eldoret, Uasin Gishu County, Kenya * Method/Device: Field experiment

Parameter(s):

#	Name	Short Name	Unit	Principal Investigator	Method/Device	Comment
1	Type of study	Study type		Ouma, Turry
2	DATE/TIME	Date/Time		Ouma, Turry		Geocode – UTC
3	Treatment: nitrogen fertilisation	T:N fert	kg/ha	Ouma, Turry		Urea (46% N) applied in 3 split applications
4	Treatment: crop type	T:crop		Ouma, Turry		Maize (H 6213) or Potato (Bidii)
5	Species, unique identification	Species UID		Ouma, Turry		Crop type
6	Species, unique identification (Semantic URI)	Species UID (Semantic URI)		Ouma, Turry		Crop type
7	Species, unique identification (URI)	Species UID (URI)		Ouma, Turry		Crop type
8	Block	Block		Ouma, Turry	Randomized complete block design (RCBD)	Four replicate blocks
9	Pressure, atmospheric	PPPP	hPa	Ouma, Turry	Weather Station, METER, ATMOS 41	15-minute resolution
10	Precipitation	Precip	mm	Ouma, Turry	Weather Station, METER, ATMOS 41	15-minute accumulation
11	DEPTH, soil	Depth soil	m	Ouma, Turry		Geocode – mean
12	Soil water content, volumetric	vol SWC	m³/m³	Ouma, Turry	Soil moisture and temperature sensor, METER, TEROS 11	15-minute resolution; plot-level mean of 3 sensors per plot; 10 cm and 30 cm depth
13	Temperature, soil	T soil	°C	Ouma, Turry	Soil moisture and temperature sensor, METER, TEROS 11	15-minute resolution; 10 cm and 30 cm depth
14	Oxygen	O	%	Ouma, Turry	Oxygen sensor, METER, SO-411	soil; 15-minute resolution; one sensor per instrumented plot

License:

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC-BY-4.0) (License comes into effect after moratorium ends)

Status:

Curation Level: Enhanced curation (CurationLevelC)

Size:

485989 data points

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