VOC and ozone fluxes from a pine forest in the north of Belgium

Plants release large amounts of carbon as Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) into the atmosphere. These VOCs play an important role in the chemistry of the troposphere as they can be involved in the mechanisms of ozone and aerosol formation. The key mechanisms underneath biogenic VOC emissions are still not well understood, leading to large uncertainties in BVOC inventories on global and regional scales. Measurements of VOCs, ozone and micro-meteorology are conducted at the ‘De inslag’, a 80-year old mixed pine–oak forest located in the Campine region near Antwerp, Belgium. The forest site is a level-II plot of the European Programme of Intensive Monitoring Forest Ecosystems and is part of the Carboeuro and Nitroeurope-flux research network. The site is equipped with a flux tower that reaches above the 23m canopy. A Proton Transfer Reaction Mass Spectrometer and a Fast Ozone analyser allow determining VOC and ozone fluxes by Eddy Covariance. An analytic footprint model is used to exclude non-forest fluxes. In this study, we will test the accuracy of this footprint model with anthropogenic tracers (benzene and toluene)

Chamber-based continuous measurement of N2O fluxes in a winter wheat field: comparison of tillage treatments and identification of emission peak dynamic

Agriculture is the first anthropogenic source of N2O, notably through fertilized croplands. Though, few publications have studied through continuous measurement the N2O emissions in cultivated lands. We conducted this study to assess the effect of farming practices and climate on N2O emissions from a winter wheat crop. The experiment was held in an experimental field in the loamy region in Belgium from March 2016 till crop harvest in August 2016. The N2O fluxes are measured on two nearby parcels in a winter wheat field with restitution of the residues from previous crop. For the past 8 years, one parcel was subjected to a reduced tillage (RT, 10 cm depth) and the other one to a conventional tillage (CT, 25 cm depth). On each parcel, the N2O emissions were assessed with homemade automated closed chambers. Measurement continuity and good temporal resolution (one mean flux every 4 hours) of the system allowed a fine detection and quantification of the emission peaks which usually represent the major part of N2O fluxes. In addition to gas fluxes, soil water content at various depths and surface temperature were measured continuously. Soil samples were taken regularly to determine soil pH, soil organic carbon and nitrogen pools (total, NO3- and NH4+) and study microbial diversity and nitrification/denitrification gene expression. Measurements are still in progress. First results suggested that fluxes were about 3 times larger in the RT parcel than in the CT parcel. Several emissions peaks were observed during the measurement period. The peaks occurred after fertilization events and seemed to be triggered by an elevation of soil water content. A comparison of the emissions between RT and CT and a discussion on peak temporal dynamics, focusing on their intensity, duration and starting time will be presented.AgriGE

Seasonal variation of LAI in the footprint of a flux measurement tower

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Multi-scale analysis of energy partitioning over a young beech forest using continuous wavelet transform

Sensible (H) and latent (LE) heat are frequently studied forms of energy exchanges between an ecosystem and the atmosphere. The distribution of available energy between them reflects many underlying eco-physiological processes that may or not be linked. In order to identify these processes, this study investigates the evolution of both mentioned surface turbulent heat fluxes on an annual and multi-annual scale while taking their interactions into account. Its purpose is, firstly, to bring new insights on well-known H/LE patterns and, secondly, to derive underlying correlations between processes governing heat exchanges over an ecosystem. To achieve such objectives, a time-frequency analysis tool, namely the continuous wavelet transform, is implemented owing to its compatibility with the investigation of non-stationary phenomena. This methodology is applied on a fourteen-year dataset of half-hourly fluxes of H and LE obtained by eddy-covariance over a young beech forest at ICOS Hesse site, North-eastern France. Both the Morlet and Mexican Hat wavelets are used, due to their respective characteristics and their suitability for investigating environmental fluxes. At this stage, many wavelet-based results are available along with preliminary conclusions on the ecosystem’s behavior. In particular, this study highlights several periodic components at intermediate scales, ranging from days to years, throughout the growing season and links them to environmental drivers. Among these drivers, incident radiation and soil water content seem to play a key role in the energy partitioning of the forest ecosystem. Ultimately, this work explores the opportunities of long-term analyses of microclimatic measurements offered by the use of the continuous wavelet transform, which is expected to become an increasingly popular tool at the dawn of current global climate change

Climatic and management drivers of CO2 exchanges by a production crop: Analysis over three successive 4-year crop rotation cycles

Carbon dioxide (CO2) exchanges between crops and the atmosphere are influenced by both climatic and crop management drivers. The investigated crop, situated at the Lonzée Terrestrial Observatory (LTO, candidate ICOS site) in Belgium and managed for more than 70 years using conventional farming practices, was monitored over three complete sugar beet/winter wheat/potato/winter wheat rotation cycles from 2004 to 2016. Continuous eddy-covariance measurements and regular biomass samplings were performed in order to obtain the daily and seasonal Net Ecosystem Exchange (NEE), Gross Primary Productivity (GPP), Total Ecosystem Respiration (TER), Net Primary Productivity (NPP), and Net Biome Production (NBP). Meteorological data and crop management practices were also recorded. Over the 12 years, NEE was negative (-4.34 kg C m-2) but NBP was positive (1.05 kg C m-2), i.e. as soon as carbon exportation by harvest and carbon importation (manure, slimes) are included in the budget, the site behaves as a carbon source. At the crop rotation scale (4 years) it was quite remarkable to observe that NBP was very similar over the three rotations (0.30-0.36 kg C m-2), despite climatic and management differences between years. Crop type impacted carbon exchanges, with sugar beet and winter wheat crops leading to higher net carbon sequestration than seed potato crops. For one given crop, larger growth length and cumulated global radiation drove larger cumulated NEE. Net carbon emissions were observed during intercrops, but growing mustard during these periods reduced their rates and provided carbon residues to the soil. NBP values suggest that one sixth of the total soil organic carbon stock at LTO (6.23 ± 0.16 kg C m-2 in [0, 60] cm) would be lost in 12 years. Large uncertainties (mostly due to biomass measurements) affect NBP estimates, but still, this figure is huge and should encourage cultural practices returning carbon to the soil

Combining CO2 flux measurementss and modelling to evaluate footprint predictions at a heterogeneous site

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