Environmental Data Concepts - NEE, Flux Towers and Plot Comparison

Core variables and measurement concepts explained by the Shell mentor on our call - needed to build the dashboard's variable set and the plot-comparison feature correctly.

• Priority variables for MVP: temperature, rainfall/precipitation, humidity, soil moisture, and gas/flux exchange.
• Flux/gas exchange data is used to calculate Net Ecosystem Exchange (NEE) - carbon uptake vs. release - the core metric for "which plot/environment is healthier."
• Two device types: flux towers (wide-area coverage, coverage zones can overlap between towers) and flux chambers (single-point, connected directly to the ground for soil respiration) - the map should distinguish between them.
• Real experiment on the farm: some plots got nitrogen fertilizer, others didn't (treatment vs. control), 3 years of soil + flux measurements per plot, with known plowing/planting/harvesting event dates.
• Worked example from the mentor: a bare/fallow plot should show a fairly flat, elevated CO2-release signal; an actively cropped plot should show CO2 uptake dropping through the growing season, then rising again at harvest when vegetation is removed. Compare against soil moisture/precipitation to catch confounders like drought.
• This data isn't just agricultural - it's used for Measurement, Reporting and Verification (MRV) for carbon credits, which is literally Shell NET's team charter.
• Design goal from the mentor: make it understandable to a total non-expert - e.g. "CO2 is low this morning because the plants are still growing" - plain-language context next to the numbers, not just raw charts.