Carbon dioxide exchanges between the land surface and the atmosphere for natural and managed ecosystems in Denmark

2009 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 042030
Author(s):  
Henrik Søsaard ◽  
K Pilegaard ◽  
E Dellwik ◽  
M Herbst ◽  
T Friborg
2001 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 208-223 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Potter ◽  
Jill Bubier ◽  
Patrick Crill ◽  
Peter Lafleur

Predicted daily fluxes from an ecosystem model for water, carbon dioxide, and methane were compared with 1994 and 1996 Boreal Ecosystem–Atmosphere Study (BOREAS) field measurements at sites dominated by old black spruce (Picea mariana (Mill.) BSP) (OBS) and boreal fen vegetation near Thompson, Man. Model settings for simulating daily changes in water table depth (WTD) for both sites were designed to match observed water levels, including predictions for two microtopographic positions (hollow and hummock) within the fen study area. Water run-on to the soil profile from neighboring microtopographic units was calibrated on the basis of daily snowmelt and rainfall inputs to reproduce BOREAS site measurements for timing and magnitude of maximum daily WTD for the growing season. Model predictions for daily evapotranspiration rates closely track measured fluxes for stand water loss in patterns consistent with strong controls over latent heat fluxes by soil temperature during nongrowing season months and by variability in relative humidity and air temperature during the growing season. Predicted annual net primary production (NPP) for the OBS site was 158 g C·m–2 during 1994 and 135 g C·m–2 during 1996, with contributions of 75% from overstory canopy production and 25% from ground cover production. Annual NPP for the wetter fen site was 250 g C·m–2 during 1994 and 270 g C·m–2 during 1996. Predicted seasonal patterns for soil CO2 fluxes and net ecosystem production of carbon both match daily average estimates at the two sites. Model results for methane flux, which also closely match average measured flux levels of –0.5 mg CH4·m–2·day–1 for OBS and 2.8 mg CH4·m–2·day–1 for fen sites, suggest that spruce areas are net annual sinks of about –0.12 g CH4·m–2, whereas fen areas generate net annual emissions on the order of 0.3–0.85 g CH4·m–2, depending mainly on seasonal WTD and microtopographic position. Fen hollow areas are predicted to emit almost three times more methane during a given year than fen hummock areas. The validated model is structured for extrapolation to regional simulations of interannual trace gas fluxes over the entire North America boreal forest, with integration of satellite data to characterize properties of the land surface.


2014 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 217-235 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. W. Hilton ◽  
K. J. Davis ◽  
K. Keller

Abstract. Global terrestrial atmosphere–ecosystem carbon dioxide fluxes are well constrained by the concentration and isotopic composition of atmospheric carbon dioxide. In contrast, considerable uncertainty persists surrounding regional contributions to the net global flux as well as the impacts of atmospheric and biological processes that drive the net flux. These uncertainties severely limit our ability to make confident predictions of future terrestrial biological carbon fluxes. Here we use a simple light-use efficiency land surface model (the Vegetation Photosynthesis Respiration Model, VPRM) driven by remotely sensed temperature, moisture, and phenology to diagnose North American gross ecosystem exchange (GEE), ecosystem respiration, and net ecosystem exchange (NEE) for the period 2001 to 2006. We optimize VPRM parameters to eddy covariance (EC) NEE observations from 65 North American FluxNet sites. We use a separate set of 27 cross-validation FluxNet sites to evaluate a range of spatial and temporal resolutions for parameter estimation. With these results we demonstrate that different spatial and temporal groupings of EC sites for parameter estimation achieve similar sum of squared residuals values through radically different spatial patterns of NEE. We also derive a regression model to estimate observed VPRM errors as a function of VPRM NEE, temperature, and precipitation. Because this estimate is based on model-observation residuals it is comprehensive of all the error sources present in modeled fluxes. We find that 1 km interannual variability in VPRM NEE is of similar magnitude to estimated 1 km VPRM NEE errors.


2008 ◽  
Vol 5 (5) ◽  
pp. 4161-4207 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. W. Ter Maat ◽  
R. W. A. Hutjes

Abstract. A large scale mismatch exists between our understanding and quantification of ecosystem atmosphere exchange of carbon dioxide at local scale and continental scales. This paper will focus on the carbon exchange on the regional scale to address the following question: What are the main controlling factors determining atmospheric carbon dioxide content at a regional scale? We use the Regional Atmospheric Modelling System (RAMS), coupled with a land surface scheme simulating carbon, heat and momentum fluxes (SWAPS-C), and including also sub models for urban and marine fluxes, which in principle include the main controlling mechanisms and capture the relevant dynamics of the system. To validate the model, observations are used which were taken during an intensive observational campaign in the central Netherlands in summer 2002. These included flux-site observations, vertical profiles at tall towers and spatial fluxes of various variables taken by aircraft. The coupled regional model (RAMS-SWAPS-C) generally does a good job in simulating results close to reality. The validation of the model demonstrates that surface fluxes of heat, water and CO2 are reasonably well simulated. The comparison against aircraft data shows that the regional meteorology is captured by the model. Comparing spatially explicit simulated and observed fluxes we conclude that in general simulated latent heat fluxes are underestimated by the model to the observations which exhibit large standard deviation for all flights. Sensitivity experiments demonstrated the relevance of the urban emissions of carbon dioxide for the carbon balance in this particular region. The same test also show the relation between uncertainties in surface fluxes and those in atmospheric concentrations.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily Dowd ◽  
Christopher Wilson ◽  
Martyn Chipperfield ◽  
Manuel Gloor

<p>Methane (CH<sub>4</sub>) is the second most important atmospheric greenhouse gas after carbon dioxide. Global concentrations of CH<sub>4</sub> have been rising in the last decade and our understanding of what is driving the increase remains incomplete. Natural sources, such as wetlands, contribute to the uncertainty of the methane budget. However, anthropogenic sources, such as fossil fuels, present an opportunity to mitigate the human contribution to climate change on a relatively short timescale, since CH<sub>4</sub> has a much shorter lifetime than carbon dioxide. Therefore, it is important to know the relative contributions of these sources in different regions.</p><p>We have investigated the inter-annual variation (IAV) and rising trend of CH<sub>4</sub> concentrations using a global 3-D chemical transport model, TOMCAT. We independently tagged several regional natural and anthropogenic CH<sub>4</sub> tracers in TOMCAT to identify their contribution to the atmospheric CH<sub>4</sub> concentrations over the period 2009 – 2018. The tagged regions were selected based on the land surface types and the predominant flux sector within each region and include subcontinental regions, such as tropical South America, boreal regions and anthropogenic regions such as Europe. We used surface CH<sub>4</sub> fluxes derived from a previous TOMCAT-based atmospheric inversion study (Wilson et al., 2020). These atmospheric inversions were constrained by satellite and surface flask observations of CH<sub>4</sub>, giving optimised monthly estimates for fossil fuel and non-fossil fuel emissions on a 5.6° horizontal grid. During the study period, the total optimised CH<sub>4</sub> flux grew from 552 Tg/yr to 593 Tg/yr. This increase in emissions, particularly in the tropics, contributed to the increase in atmospheric CH<sub>4 </sub>concentrations and added to the imbalance in the CH<sub>4</sub> budget. We will use the results of the regional tagged tracers to quantify the contribution of regional methane emissions at surface observation sites, and to quantify the contributions of the natural and anthropogenic emissions from the tagged regions to the IAV and the rising methane concentrations.</p><p>Wilson, C., Chipperfield, M. P., Gloor, M., Parker, R. J., Boesch, H., McNorton, J., Gatti, L. V., Miller, J. B., Basso, L. S., and Monks, S. A.: Large and increasing methane emissions from Eastern Amazonia derived from satellite data, 2010–2018, Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2020-1136, in review, 2020.</p>


2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhengxi Tan ◽  
Shuguang Liu

Terrestrial carbon (C) sequestration through optimizing land use and management is widely considered a realistic option to mitigate the global greenhouse effect. But how the responses of individual ecosystems to changes in land use and management are related to baseline soil organic C (SOC) levels still needs to be evaluated at various scales. In this study, we modeled SOC dynamics within both natural and managed ecosystems in North Dakota of the United States and found that the average SOC stock in the top 20 cm depth of soil lost at a rate of 450 kg C ha−1 yr−1in cropland and 110 kg C ha−1 yr−1in grassland between 1971 and 1998. Since 1998, the study area had become a SOC sink at a rate of 44 kg C ha−1 yr−1. The annual rate of SOC change in all types of lands substantially depends on the magnitude of initial SOC contents, but such dependency varies more with climatic variables within natural ecosystems and with management practices within managed ecosystems. Additionally, soils with high baseline SOC stocks tend to be C sources following any land surface disturbances, whereas soils having low baseline C contents likely become C sinks following conservation management.


2009 ◽  
Vol 48 (5) ◽  
pp. 982-996 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph G. Alfieri ◽  
Peter D. Blanken ◽  
David Smith ◽  
Jack Morgan

Abstract Grassland environments constitute approximately 40% of the earth’s vegetated surface, and they play a key role in a number of processes linking the land surface with the atmosphere. To investigate these linkages, a variety of techniques, including field and modeling studies, are required. Using data collected at the Central Plains Experimental Range (CPER) in northeastern Colorado from 25 March to 10 November 2004, this study compares two common ways of measuring turbulent fluxes of latent heat, sensible heat, and carbon dioxide in the field: the eddy covariance (EC) and Bowen ratio energy balance (BREB) methods. The turbulent fluxes measured by each of these methods were compared in terms of magnitude and seasonal behavior and were combined to calculate eddy diffusivities and examine turbulent transport. Relative to the EC method, the BREB method tended to overestimate the magnitude of the sensible heat, latent heat, and carbon dioxide fluxes. As a result, substantial differences in both the diurnal pattern and long-term magnitudes of the water and carbon budgets were apparent depending on which method was used. These differences arise from (i) the forced closure of the surface energy balance and (ii) the assumption of similarity between the eddy diffusivities required by the BREB method. An empirical method was developed that allows the BREB and EC datasets to be reconciled; this method was tested successfully using data collected at the CPER site during 2005. Ultimately, however, the BREB and EC methods show important differences that must be recognized and taken into account when analyzing issues related to the energy, water, or carbon cycles.


2014 ◽  
Vol 14 (23) ◽  
pp. 13159-13174 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. J. O'Shea ◽  
G. Allen ◽  
M. W. Gallagher ◽  
K. Bower ◽  
S. M. Illingworth ◽  
...  

Abstract. Airborne and ground-based measurements of methane (CH4), carbon dioxide (CO2) and boundary layer thermodynamics were recorded over the Fennoscandian landscape (67–69.5° N, 20–28° E) in July 2012 as part of the MAMM (Methane and other greenhouse gases in the Arctic: Measurements, process studies and Modelling) field campaign. Employing these airborne measurements and a simple boundary layer box model, net regional-scale (~ 100 km) fluxes were calculated to be 1.2 ± 0.5 mg CH4 h−1 m−2 and −350 ± 143 mg CO2 h−1 m−2. These airborne fluxes were found to be relatively consistent with seasonally averaged surface chamber (1.3 ± 1.0 mg CH4 h−1 m−2) and eddy covariance (1.3 ± 0.3 mg CH4 h−1 m−2 and −309 ± 306 mg CO2 h−1 m−2) flux measurements in the local area. The internal consistency of the aircraft-derived fluxes across a wide swath of Fennoscandia coupled with an excellent statistical comparison with local seasonally averaged ground-based measurements demonstrates the potential scalability of such localised measurements to regional-scale representativeness. Comparisons were also made to longer-term regional CH4 climatologies from the JULES (Joint UK Land Environment Simulator) and HYBRID8 land surface models within the area of the MAMM campaign. The average hourly emission flux output for the summer period (July–August) for the year 2012 was 0.084 mg CH4 h−1 m−2 (minimum 0.0 and maximum 0.21 mg CH4 h−1 m−2) for the JULES model and 0.088 mg CH4 h−1 m−2 (minimum 0.0008 and maximum 1.53 mg CH4 h−1 m−2) for HYBRID8. Based on these observations both models were found to significantly underestimate the CH4 emission flux in this region, which was linked to the under-prediction of the wetland extents generated by the models.


2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 2009-2030 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel S. Goll ◽  
Alexander J. Winkler ◽  
Thomas Raddatz ◽  
Ning Dong ◽  
Ian Colin Prentice ◽  
...  

Abstract. Recent advances in the representation of soil carbon decomposition and carbon–nitrogen interactions implemented previously into separate versions of the land surface scheme JSBACH are here combined in a single version, which is set to be used in the upcoming 6th phase of coupled model intercomparison project (CMIP6).Here we demonstrate that the new version of JSBACH is able to reproduce the spatial variability in the reactive nitrogen-loss pathways as derived from a compilation of δ15N data (R = 0. 76, root mean square error (RMSE)  = 0. 2, Taylor score  = 0. 83). The inclusion of carbon–nitrogen interactions leads to a moderate reduction (−10 %) of the carbon-concentration feedback (βL) and has a negligible effect on the sensitivity of the land carbon cycle to warming (γL) compared to the same version of the model without carbon–nitrogen interactions in idealized simulations (1 % increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide per year). In line with evidence from elevated carbon dioxide manipulation experiments, pronounced nitrogen scarcity is alleviated by (1) the accumulation of nitrogen due to enhanced nitrogen inputs by biological nitrogen fixation and reduced losses by leaching and volatilization. Warming stimulated turnover of organic nitrogen further counteracts scarcity.The strengths of the land carbon feedbacks of the recent version of JSBACH, with βL = 0. 61 Pg ppm−1 and γL = −27. 5 Pg °C−1, are 34 and 53 % less than the averages of CMIP5 models, although the CMIP5 version of JSBACH simulated βL and γL, which are 59 and 42 % higher than multi-model average. These changes are primarily due to the new decomposition model, indicating the importance of soil organic matter decomposition for land carbon feedbacks.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gesa Meyer ◽  
Elyn R. Humphreys ◽  
Joe R. Melton ◽  
Alex J. Cannon ◽  
Peter M. Lafleur

Abstract. The Arctic is warming more rapidly than other regions of the world leading to ecosystem change including shifts in vegetation communities, permafrost degradation and alteration of tundra surface-atmosphere energy and carbon (C) fluxes, among others. However, year-round C and energy flux measurements at high-latitude sites remain rare. This poses a challenge for evaluating the impacts of climate change on Arctic tundra ecosystems and for developing and evaluating process-based models, which may be used to predict regional and global energy and C feedbacks to the climate system. Our study used 14 years of seasonal eddy covariance (EC) measurements of carbon dioxide (CO2), water and energy fluxes and winter soil chamber CO2 flux measurements at a dwarf-shrub tundra site underlain by continuous permafrost in Canada's Southern Arctic ecozone to evaluate the incorporation of shrub plant functional types (PFTs) in the Canadian Land Surface Scheme Including biogeochemical Cycles (CLASSIC), the land surface component of the Canadian Earth System Model. In addition to new PFTs, a modification of the efficiency with which water evaporates from the ground surface was applied. This modification addressed a high ground evaporation bias that reduced model performance when soils became very dry, limited heat flow into the ground and reduced plant productivity through water stress effects. Compared to the grass and tree PFTs previously used by CLASSIC to represent the vegetation in Arctic permafrost-affected regions, simulations with the new shrub PFTs better capture the physical and biogeochemical impact of shrubs on the magnitude and seasonality of energy and CO2 fluxes at the dwarf-shrub tundra evaluation site. The revised model, however, tends to overestimate gross primary productivity, particularly in spring, and overestimated late winter CO2 emissions. On average, annual net ecosystem CO2 exchange was positive for all simulations, suggesting this site was a net CO2 source of 18 ± 4 g C m−2 year−1 using shrub PFTs, 15 ± 6 g C m−2 year−1 using grass PFTs, and 25 ± 5 g C m−2 year−1 using tree PFTs. These results highlight the importance of using appropriate PFTs in process-based models to simulate current and future Arctic surface-atmosphere interactions.


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