This parent dataset (collection of datasets) describes the general organization of data in the datasets for each growing season (two-year period) when winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) was grown for grain at the USDA-ARS Conservation and Production Laboratory (CPRL), Soil and Water Management Research Unit (SWMRU), Bushland, Texas (Lat. 35.186714°, Long. -102.094189°, elevation 1170 m above MSL). Winter wheat was grown on two large, precision weighing lysimeters, calibrated to NIST standards (Howell et al., 1995). Each lysimeter was in the center of a 4.44 ha square field on which wheat was also grown (Evett et al., 2000). The two fields were contiguous and arranged with one directly north of the other. See the resource titled "Geographic Coordinates, USDA, ARS, Bushland, Texas" for UTM geographic coordinates for field and lysimeter locations. Wheat was planted in Autumn and grown over the winter in 1989-1990, 1991-1992, and 1992-1993. Agronomic calendar for the each of the three growing seasons list by date the agronomic practices applied, severe weather, and activities (e.g., planting, thinning, fertilization, pesticide application, lysimeter maintenance, harvest) in and on lysimeters that could influence crop growth, water use, and lysimeter data. These include fertilizer and pesticide applications. Irrigation was by linear move sprinkler system equipped with pressure regulated low pressure sprays (mid-elevation spray application, MESA). Irrigations were managed to replenish soil water used by the crop on a weekly or more frequent basis as determined by soil profile water content readings made with a field-calibrated (Evett and Steiner, 1995) neutron probe from 0.10- to 2.4-m depth in the field. The lysimeters and fields were planted to the same plant density, row spacing, tillage depth (by hand on the lysimeters and by machine in the fields), and fertilizer and pesticide applications. The weighing lysimeters were used to measure relative soil water storage to 0.05 mm accuracy at 5-minute intervals, and the 5-minute change in soil water storage was used along with precipitation, dew and frost accumulation, and irrigation amounts to calculate crop evapotranspiration (ET), which is reported at 15-minute intervals. Each lysimeter was equipped with a suite of instruments to sense wind speed, air temperature and humidity, radiant energy (incoming and reflected, typically both shortwave and longwave), surface temperature, soil heat flux, and soil temperature, all of which are reported at 15-minute intervals. Instruments used changed from season to season, which is another reason that subsidiary datasets and data dictionaries for each season are required. The Bushland weighing lysimeter research program was described by Evett et al. (2016), and lysimeter design is described by Marek et al. (1988). Important conventions concerning the data-time correspondence, sign conventions, and terminology specific to the USDA ARS, Bushland, TX, field operations are given in the resource titled "Conventions for Bushland, TX, Weighing Lysimeter Datasets".

There are six datasets in this collection. Common symbols and abbreviations used in the datasets are defined in the resource titled, "Symbols and Abbreviations for Bushland, TX, Weighing Lysimeter Datasets". Datasets consist of Excel (xlsx) files. Each xlsx file contains an Introductory tab that explains the other tabs, lists the authors, describes conventions and symbols used and lists any instruments used. The remaining tabs in a file consist of dictionary and data tabs. There is a dictionary tab for every data tab. The name of the dictionary tab contains the name of the corresponding data tab. Tab names are unique so that if individual tabs were saved to CSV files, each CSV file in the entire collection would have a different name. The six datasets, according to their titles, are as follows:

• Agronomic Calendars for the Bushland, Texas Winter Wheat Datasets

• Growth and Yield Data for the Bushland, Texas Winter Wheat Datasets

• Weighing Lysimeter Data for The Bushland, Texas Winter Wheat Datasets

• Soil Water Content Data for The Bushland, Texas, Large Weighing Lysimeter Experiments

• Evapotranspiration, Irrigation, Dew/frost - Water Balance Data for The Bushland, Texas Winter Wheat Datasets

• Standard Quality Controlled Research Weather Data – USDA-ARS, Bushland, Texas

See the README for descriptions of each dataset.

The soil is a Pullman series fine, mixed, superactive, thermic Torrertic Paleustoll. Soil properties are given in the resource titled "Soil Properties for the Bushland, TX, Weighing Lysimeter Datasets". The land slope in the lysimeter fields is <0.3% and topography is flat. The mean annual precipitation is ~470 mm, the 20-year pan evaporation record indicates ~2,600 mm Class A pan evaporation per year, and winds are typically from the South and Southwest. The climate is semi-arid with ~70% (350 mm) of the annual precipitation occurring from May to September, during which period the pan evaporation averages ~1520 mm.
These datasets originate from research aimed at determining crop water use (ET), crop coefficients for use in ET-based irrigation scheduling based on a reference ET, crop growth, yield, harvest index, and crop water productivity as affected by irrigation method, timing, amount (full or some degree of deficit), agronomic practices, cultivar, and weather. Prior publications have described the facilities and research methods (Evett et al., 2016), and have focused on winter wheat ET (Howell et al., 1995, 1997, 1998), and crop coefficients (Howell et al., 2006; Schneider and Howell, 1997, 2001) that have been used by ET networks for irrigation management. The data have utility for developing, calibrating, and testing simulation models of crop ET, growth, and yield (Evett et al., 1994; Kang et al., 2009), and have been used by several universities and for testing, and calibrating models of ET that use satellite and/or weather data.