There are substantial seasonal and diurnal variations in gas fluxes. We therefore need to
consider these dynamics in planning an appropriate schedule of gas sampling. Of course, the
more frequent the measurements are, the higher the time resolution will be, regardless of the
research objective. This is true in particular when studying how short-term gas flux variations
are affected by an agricultural management event. However, the frequency of manual gas
sampling is limited by human resource availability and by the need to minimize physical
disturbance of the rice plants. Here we provide a practical low-intensity sampling schedule
for obtaining gas flux/emissions data with acceptable reliability. In addition, tips about how
to best perform manual operations are included. Because the CO2-equivalent N2O emissions
from a rice paddy are quite low compared to those of CH4, even under high-N-input
conditions (e.g., 11%; Linquist et al., 2012), we prioritize accurate measurement of the CH4
flux.