Kamarainen, M.

Koskinen, Markku

Laurila, Tuomas

Lohila, A.

Minkkinen, K.

Ojanen, P.

Biogeosciences

Abstract. We built an automatic chamber system to measure greenhouse gas (GHG) exchange in forested peatland ecosystems. We aimed to build a system robust enough which would work throughout the year and could measure through a changing snowpack in addition to producing annual GHG fluxes by integrating the measurements without the need of using models. The system worked rather well throughout the year, but it was not service free. Gap filling of data was still necessary.  We observed problems in carbon dioxide (CO2) respiration flux estimation during calm summer nights, when a CO2 concentration gradient from soil/moss system to atmosphere builds up. Chambers greatly overestimated the night-time respiration. This was due to the disturbance caused by the chamber to the soil-moss CO2 gradient and consequent initial pulse of CO2 to the chamber headspace. We tested different flux calculation and measurement methods to solve this problem. The estimated flux was strongly dependent on (1) the starting point of the fit after closing the chamber, (2) the length of the fit, (3) the type of the fit (linear and polynomial), (4) the speed of the fan mixing the air inside the chamber, and (5) atmospheric turbulence (friction velocity, u*). The best fitting method (the most robust, least random variation) for respiration measurements on our sites was linear fitting with the period of 120–240 s after chamber closure. Furthermore, the fan should be adjusted to spin at minimum speed to avoid the pulse-effect, but it should be kept on to ensure mixing. If night-time problems cannot be solved, emissions can be estimated using daytime data from opaque chambers.
                    </jats:p

M. Koskinen

K. Minkkinen

P. Ojanen

M. Kämäräinen

T. Laurila

A. Lohila

Crossref

Measurements of CO&amp;lt;sub&amp;gt;2&amp;lt;/sub&amp;gt; exchange with an automated chamber system throughout the year: challenges in measuring night-time respiration on porous peat soil

We built an automatic chamber system to measure greenhouse gas (GHG)
      exchange in forested peatland ecosystems. We aimed to build a system
      robust enough which would work throughout the year and could measure
      through a changing snowpack in addition to producing annual GHG fluxes
      by integrating the measurements without the need of using models. The
      system worked rather well throughout the year, but it was not service
      free. Gap filling of data was still necessary.

      We observed problems in carbon dioxide (CO2) respiration flux estimation
      during calm summer nights, when a CO2 concentration gradient
      from soil/moss system to atmosphere builds up. Chambers greatly
      overestimated the night-time respiration. This was due to the
      disturbance caused by the chamber to the soil-moss CO2
      gradient and consequent initial pulse of CO2 to the chamber
      headspace. We tested different flux calculation and measurement
      methods to solve this problem. The estimated flux was strongly
      dependent on (1) the starting point of the fit after closing the chamber, (2)
      the length of the fit, (3) the type of the fit (linear and polynomial), (4)
      the speed of the fan mixing the air inside the chamber, and (5) atmospheric
      turbulence (friction velocity, u*). The best fitting method (the most robust, least random variation) for respiration measurements on our sites was
      linear fitting with the period of 120–240 s after chamber
      closure. Furthermore, the fan should be adjusted to spin at minimum
      speed to avoid the pulse-effect, but it should be kept on to ensure
      mixing. If night-time problems cannot be solved, emissions can be
      estimated using daytime data from opaque chambers

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Measurements of CO<sub>2</sub> exchange with an automated chamber system throughout the year: challenges in measuring night-time respiration on porous peat soil

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