PACH Station Page

Start Date: Installed by Dean Childs, Patricia Alvarado et al. on 12/3/2000.

End Date: Pulled out by Susan Beck, Lara Wagner, Patricia Alvarado et al. on 05/03/2002.

Instrumentation: sensor: 59834 (STS2), DAS: 556, fine mesh screens on solar panels to protect from hail

Directions: Located on northern line in Argentina, this site is to the west of HEDI. The site is on government land near a resevoir whose name is Dique Pachi Moco. You must follow a dirt road behind the main compound, cross one small bridge, and then two direct (wet) river crossings. The station is about 2.1 km off the main road. A roadside cairn marks the stopping point and the site is on top of a nearby hill. It may be difficult/impossible to reach this site directly if the river is up, however there is supposedly another crossing about 20 km away if it is necessary for vehicles to reach the site.
DC: Head west from San Jose de Jachal going towards Rodeo. Turn right at Pachimoco Dique which is a living quarters area for the people that maintain the diversion dike (dique). Also there is a school. There we met Luis Quiroga who was the caretaker. Keith Koper may have a road log to this site but it is less than 30 minutes from San Jose de Jachal. Walk Across dam structure and follow the road which begins on the other side. Walk to the NE along the road approx 5 minutes to site which is on the left in clear view ~20 m from the road. There is a drive in access east of the houses but it may require a minimum of 3 water crossings. At one crossing we managed to put the truck up on 2 wheels. Luckily we had another 4wd with us at the time. Best to walk in.

Miscellaneous: The sky is great here, there should be no power/GPS problems. Site sits atop some consolidated shaley type material, and it is not clear what effect this will have on data quality.
DC: Station is situated on mildly deformed shale/metashale . ~200m from the river in very dry terrain judging by the density of plant life. Water flow in river is not very high considering this is the peak water flow season. GPS clock is under tarp. Sensor is oriented to magnetic north, 6m from the solar panel pole. Sensor enclosed in 1.5=94 thick styrafoam box. Base of box sealed with soil just above level of the pier. Vault closed with plastic barrel lid with another 1.5=94 thick styrafoam on lid cover. Then plywood then chains and lock and black plastic sheeting. Finally all was covered with 4-5=94 of dirt and rock to prevent weathering of plastic and provide further temperature isolation of sensor. Styrafoam insulation also placed on top of digitizer and batteries. Solar panel pole is 3 m high ~1.3 from ground to lower edge of 1st panel. Panels inclined 60 degrees down from the horizontal to provide maximum exposure during winter solstice. No evidence of domestic animals, nothing to eat. All cables housed in 63 mm PVC.

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