An Operational In Situ Soil Moisture & Soil Temperature Monitoring Network for West Wales, UK:The WSMN Network

This paper describes a soil moisture dataset that has been collecting ground measurements of soil moisture, soil temperature and related parameters for west Wales, United Kingdom. Already acquired in situ data have been archived to the autonomous Wales Soil Moisture Network (WSMN) since its foundation in July 2011. The sites from which measurements are being collected represent a range of conditions typical of the Welsh environment, with climate ranging from oceanic to temperate and a range of the most typical land use/cover types found in Wales. At present, WSMN consists of a total of nine monitoring sites across the area with a concentration of sites in three sub-areas around the region of Aberystwyth located in Mid-Wales. The dataset of composed of 0?5 (or 0?10) cm soil moisture, soil temperature, precipitation, and other ancillary data. WSMN data are provided openly to the public via the International Soil Moisture Network (ISMN) platform. At present, WSMN is also rapidly expanding thanks to funding obtained recently which allows more monitoring sites to be added to the network to the wider community interested in using its data.publishersversionPeer reviewe

Appraising the capability of a land biosphere model as a tool in modelling land surface interactions: results from its validation at selected European ecosystems

In this present study the ability of the SimSphere Soil Vegetation Atmosphere Transfer (SVAT) model in estimating key parameters characterising land surface interactions was evaluated. Specifically, SimSphere's performance in predicting Net Radiation (<i>R</i>_net), Latent Heat (LE), Sensible Heat (<i>H</i>) and Air Temperature (<i>T</i>_air) at 1.3 and 50 m was examined. Model simulations were validated by ground-based measurements of the corresponding parameters for a total of 70 days of the year 2011 from 7 CarboEurope network sites. These included a variety of biomes, environmental and climatic conditions in the models evaluation. <br><br> Overall, model performance can largely be described as satisfactory for most of the experimental sites and evaluated parameters. For all model parameters compared, predicted <i>H</i> fluxes consistently obtained the highest agreement to the in-situ data in all ecosystems, with an average RMSD of 55.36 W m⁻². LE fluxes and <i>R</i>_net also agreed well with the in-situ data with RSMDs of 62.75 and 64.65 W m⁻² respectively. A good agreement between modelled and measured LE and <i>H</i> fluxes was found, especially for smoothed daily flux trends. For both <i>T</i>_air 1.3 m and <i>T</i>_air 50 m a mean RMSD of 4.14 and 3.54 °C was reported respectively. <br><br> This work presents the first all-inclusive evaluation of SimSphere, particularly so in a European setting. Results of this study contribute decisively towards obtaining a better understanding of the model's structure and its correspondence to the real world system. Findings also further establish the model's capability as a useful teaching and research tool in modelling Earth's land surface interactions. This is of considerable importance in the light of the rapidly expanding use of the model worldwide, including ongoing research by various Space Agencies examining its synergistic use with Earth Observation data towards the development of operational products at a global scale

An interyear comparison of CO2 flux and carbon budget at a commercial-scale land-use transition from semi-improved grassland to Miscanthus x giganteus

A 6‐ha field at Aberystwyth, UK, was converted in 2012 from semi‐improved grassland to Miscanthus x giganteus for biomass production; results from transition to the end of the first 3 years are presented here. An eddy covariance sensor mast was established from year one with a second mast added from year two, improving coverage and providing replicated measurements of CO2 exchange between the ecosystem and atmosphere. Using a simple mass balance approach, above‐ground and below‐ground biomass production are combined with partitioned CO2 fluxes to estimate short‐term carbon deltas across individual years. Years one and two both ended with the site as a net source of carbon following cultivation disturbances, cumulative NEE by the end of year two was 138.57 ± 16.91 g C m−2. The site became a cumulative net sink for carbon by the end of June in the third growing season and remained so for the rest of that year; NEE by the end of year three was −616.52 ± 39.39 g C m−2. Carbon gains were primarily found in biomass pools, and SOC losses were limited to years one (−1.43 Mg C ha−1 yr−1) and two (−3.75 Mg C ha−1 yr−1). Year three saw recoupment of soil carbon at 0.74 Mg C ha−1 yr−1 with a further estimate of 0.78 Mg C ha−1 incorporated through litter inputs over the 3 years, suggesting a net loss of SOC at 3.7 Mg ha−1 from a 0‐ to 30‐cm baseline of 78.61 ± 3.28 Mg ha−1, down 4.7%. Assuming this sequestration rate as a minimum would suggest replacement of cultivation losses of SOC by year 8 of a potential 15‐ to 20‐year crop. Potential coal replacement per hectare of harvest over the three‐year study would offset 6–8 Mg of carbon emission, more than double the SOC losses

Soil N2O emissions with different reduced tillage methods during the establishment of Miscanthus in temperate grassland

An increase in renewable energy and the planting of perennial bioenergy crops is expected in order to meet global greenhouse gas (GHG) targets. Nitrous oxide (N2O) is a potent greenhouse gas, and this paper addresses a knowledge gap concerning soil N2O emissions over the possible “hot spot” of land use conversion from established pasture to the biofuel crop Miscanthus. The work aims to quantify the impacts of this land use change on N2O fluxes using three different cultivation methods. Three replicates of four treatments were established: Miscanthus x giganteus (Mxg) planted without tillage; Mxg planted with light tillage; a novel seed‐based Miscanthus hybrid planted with light tillage under bio‐degradable mulch film; and a control of uncultivated established grass pasture with sheep grazing. Soil N2O fluxes were recorded every 2 weeks using static chambers starting from preconversion in April 2016 and continuing until the end of October 2017. Monthly soil samples were also taken and analysed for nitrate and ammonium. There was no significant difference in N2O emissions between the different cultivation methods. However, in comparison with the uncultivated pasture, N2O emissions from the cultivated Miscanthus plots were 550%–819% higher in the first year (April to December 2016) and 469%–485% higher in the second year (January to October 2017). When added to an estimated carbon cost for production over a 10 year crop lifetime (including crop management, harvest, and transportation), the measured N2O conversion cost of 4.13 Mg CO2‐eq./ha represents a 44% increase in emission compared to the base case. This paper clearly shows the need to incorporate N2O fluxes during Miscanthus establishment into assessments of GHG balances and life cycle analysis and provides vital knowledge needed for this process. This work therefore also helps to support policy decisions regarding the costs and benefits of land use change to Miscanthus

Timeseries partitioning of ecosystem respiration components in seasonal, non-tropical forests; comparing literature derived coefficients with evaluation at two contrasting UK forest sites

Funding The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This work was supported by UK Research and Innovation and the Biotechnology and Biological Research Council through the Strategic Priorities Fund for Greenhouse Gas Removal. NetZeroPlus: Sustainable Treescapes Demonstrator and Decision Tools (Netzeroplus.ac.uk), Grant number BB/V011588/1. The Alice Holt 2010 soil flux data were collected as part of a Natural Environment Research Council (NERC grants: F14/G6/105 & NE/C513550/1) funded project Centre for Terrestrial Carbon Dynamics. Acknowledgments The authors would like to thank Prof. Jo Smith at Aberdeen University for comments and suggestions on an early draft, and special thanks to Edward Eaton for assisting with running the Alice Holt site and contributing to the soil flux measurements. We are further grateful to the Forestry Commission, UK, for funding both the Alice Holt and Harwood long-term research sites.Peer reviewe

Biomass gasification of hybrid seed Miscanthus in Glasgow's downdraft gasifier testbed system

Global energy problems, rise in CO2 emissions and their implications on climate change are well documented. Renewable energy provides a crucial role in reducing these emissions whilst providing sustainable energy; energy conversion of biomass forms a valuable part of a renewable energy portfolio, with capability for baseload provision, and gas and electricity production. Gasification is the thermochemical conversion of biomass (carbonaceous material) into producer gases. A small-scale throated downdraft gasifier was designed and manufactured at the University of Glasgow and built to easily assess the gasification performance under different conditions e.g. feedstock variety and with different instrumentation and control strategies. Various feedstock varieties of Miscanthus (OPM12, MxG, and OPM53) were gasified under the same equivalence ratio (ER 0.30). The elemental compositions of each Miscanthus varied with their genetic properties. A Gasifier Control Unit (G.C.U) was installed on the experimental gasifier to measure parameters: temperature, pressure, liquid flow and mass flow. The gasifier was operated in batch mode; to improve repeatability the throat, grate and assembly were cleaned after each experiment. The experimental work reported in this research is mainly focused on the comparative study and analysis of the producer gas compositions, carbon conversion efficiency, higher heating value (HHV), lower heating value (LHV), cold gas efficiency and gas yield with the different biomass feedstocks. The ultimate and proximate analysis was done for all Miscanthus varieties along with ash analysis. The major outcome of this research was to investigate the impact of feedstock variety on gasification performance and identify preferred Miscanthus varieties to grow at scale with optimised gasification

Environmental costs and benefits of growing Miscanthus for bioenergy in the UK

Funded by BBSRC. Grant Number: LK0863 Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Carbo-BioCrop project. Grant Number: NE/H01067X/1 MAGLUE projectPeer reviewedPublisher PD

Simulation of greenhouse gases following land-use change to bioenergy crops using the ECOSSE model : a comparison between site measurements and model predictions

This work contributes to the ELUM (Ecosystem Land Use Modelling & Soil Carbon GHG Flux Trial) project, which was commissioned and funded by the Energy Technologies Institute (ETI). We acknowledge the E-OBS data set from the EU-FP6 project ENSEMBLES (http://ensembles-eu.metoffice.com) and the data providers in the ECA&D project (http://www.ecad.eu).Peer reviewedPublisher PD