One behind Baltimore's Oriole Park is buried in the Camden yard pile, and the other is in right field.
The crowd can't see it, and neither can the players. In fact, only a few are aware of their existence, ingrained only two inches into the lush green of the pitch.
What are these objects buried in America's beautiful baseball stadium? If you guessed Orioles season tickets or Cal Ripken's old batting glove, guess again.
Data loggers -- small, battery-operated devices that Oriole Park groundskeepers use to continuously monitor soil temperatures during 162 regular-season games. More specifically, loggers were used to record and time-stamp field nerve root zone temperatures at up to month-long intervals, during which time the data was transferred to a computer for graphing and analysis.
"We try to track field conditions as much as possible, and part of our strategy is to use data loggers as a recording mechanism," explained Clear, director of gardeners at Oriole Park. By tracking temperatures over time, we can establish trends that ultimately allow us to better proactively address turf diseases related to excessive soil temperatures. "
Clear Monitoring Soil HOBO® Data Logger U12-012 (H08-004-02) from Onset. Contains a microprocessor, internal temperature sensor, and user-replaceable battery. Open the back case and it's better than a matchbox. By burying one U12-012 (H08-004-02) behind the pitcher's mound and the other in the outfield, the team can configure two distinct microclimates to exist in the stadium. Each logger is housed in a moisture-resistant enclosure and takes temperature readings every 30 minutes.
After a month of data collection, the gardener "digs" from each data logger and offloads the data to a computer. Using the Emerge Wagon Pro® software, the data is instantly transformed into an easy-to-read graph clearly showing peak and root zone temperature drops. The data is then manually matched with the soil temperature readings being surveyed, a process clearly referred to as "."
"Some might think that's too much information, but we believe that having as much temperature data as possible is really critical in the field," he explained.
A field data logger for Oriole Park has really proven their worth in preventing a weed. In order for a pre-emergent herbicide to be effective against a weed, the site needs to be sprayed at a soil temperature of 55ºF for at least four days. It is understood that the historical data recorded by U12-012 (H08-004-02) in the past few seasons has helped them predict when this time may happen. Almost "year-over-year data allow us to accurately predict when temperatures will break," he said. "Knowing that helps us make the right decisions when we need to spray. After all, the chemicals we spray on the field are expensive and we have an obligation to take care of the applicators. I sure don't want to go out and put down the chemicals product is invalid."
For the general easy-to-use data logger U12-012 (H08-004-02), it is understood that train new site management trainees use the product now. "We had interns from different schools including Penn State and Iowa State, and it was great to get them involved with the equipment so they could visualize the data they collected and start learning how to predict trends. Great fun for the students, They can take the knowledge and experience with them after graduation and go into their first field of management."
Since the data loggers were originally buried in the spring of 1999, they have been functioning without any problems. I've been impressed with the durability and feel that anyone - especially those in various microclimates - could benefit from this technology. He concluded, "It's important that we can now manage our field proactively and not catch up with problems we didn't expect."
