Study of a model for correcting the effects of horizontal advection on surface fluxes measurement based on remote sensing

As well known, the methods of remote sensing and Bowen Ratio for retrieving surface flux are based on energy balance closure; however, in most cases, surface energy observed in experiment is lack of closure. There are two main causes for this: one is from the errors of the observation devices and the differences of their observational scale; the other lies in the effect of horizontal advection on the surface flux measurement. Therefore, it is very important to estimate the effects of horizontal advection quantitatively. Based on the local advection theory and the surface experiment, a model has been proposed for correcting the effect of horizontal advection on surface flux measurement, in which the relationship between the fetch of the measurement and pixel size for remote sensed data was considered. By means of numerical simulations, the sensitivities of the main parameters in the model and the scaling problems of horizontal advection were analyzed. At last, by using the observational data acquired in agricultural field with relatively homogeneous surface, the model was validated.     

SMOS reveals the signature of Indian Ocean Dipole events

The tropical Indian Ocean experiences an interannual mode of climatic variability, known as the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD). The signature of this variability in ocean salinity is hypothesized based on modeling and assimilation studies, on account of scanty observations. Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) satellite has been designed to take up the challenge of sea surface salinity remote sensing. We show that SMOS data can be used to infer the pattern of salinity variability linked with the IOD events. The core of maximum variability is located in the central tropical basin, south of the equator. This region is anomalously salty during the 2010 negative IOD event, and anomalously fresh during the 2011 positive IOD event. The peak-to-peak anomaly exceeds one salinity unit, between late 2010 and late 2011. In conjunction with other observational datasets, SMOS data allow us to draw the salt budget of the area. It turns out that the horizontal advection is the main driver of salinity anomalies. This finding is confirmed by the analysis of the outputs of a numerical model. This study shows that the advent of SMOS makes it feasible the quantitative assessment of the mechanisms of ocean surface salinity variability in the tropical basins, at interannual timescales.

     

Use of remote sensing for evapotranspiration monitoring over land surfaces

Abstract

Monitoring evapotranspiration (ET) at large scales is important for assessing climate and anthropogenic effects on natural and agricultural ecosystems. This paper describes techniques used in evaluating ET with remote sensing, which is the only technology that can efficiently and economically provide regional and global coverage. Some of the empirical/statistical techniques have been used operationally with satellite data for computing daily ET at regional scales. The more complex numerical simulation models require detailed input parameters that may limit their application to regions containing a large database of soils and vegetation properties. Current efforts are being directed towards simplifying the parameter requirements of these models. Essentially all energy balance models rely on an estimate of the available energy (net radiation less soil heat flux). Net radiation is not easily determined from space, although progress is being made. Simplified approaches for estimating soil heat flux appear promising for operational applications. In addition, most ET models utilize remote sensing data in the shortwave and thermal wavelengths to measure key boundary conditions. Differences between the radiometric surface temperature and aerodynamic temperature can be significant and progress in incorporating this effect is evident. Atmospheric effects on optical data are significant, and optical sensors cannot see through clouds. This has led some to use microwave observations as a surrogate for optical data to provide estimates of surface moisture and surface temperature; preliminary results are encouraging. The approaches that appear most promising use surface temperature and vegetation indices or a time rate of change in surface temperature coupled to an atmospheric boundary layer model. For many of these models, differences with ET observations can be as low as 20% from hourly to daily time scales, approaching the level of uncertainty in the measurement of ET and contradicting some recent pessimistic conclusions concerning the utility of remotely sensed radiometric surface temperature for determining the surface energy balance.     

SMOS reveals the signature of Indian Ocean Dipole events

The tropical Indian Ocean experiences an interannual mode of climatic variability, known as the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD). The signature of this variability in ocean salinity is hypothesized based on modeling and assimilation studies, on account of scanty observations. Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) satellite has been designed to take up the challenge of sea surface salinity remote sensing. We show that SMOS data can be used to infer the pattern of salinity variability linked with the IOD events. The core of maximum variability is located in the central tropical basin, south of the equator. This region is anomalously salty during the 2010 negative IOD event, and anomalously fresh during the 2011 positive IOD event. The peak-to-peak anomaly exceeds one salinity unit, between late 2010 and late 2011. In conjunction with other observational datasets, SMOS data allow us to draw the salt budget of the area. It turns out that the horizontal advection is the main driver of salinity anomalies. This finding is confirmed by the analysis of the outputs of a numerical model. This study shows that the advent of SMOS makes it feasible the quantitative assessment of the mechanisms of ocean surface salinity variability in the tropical basins, at interannual timescales.     

近地层能量闭合度对陆面过程模式影响

大量近地层观测试验表明,利用涡动相关法观测的湍流通量小于近地层可利用能量,即近地层能量是不闭合的,这种不闭合度一般为20%甚至更高.而陆面过程模式是基于地气间能量平衡建立,并且模式中的湍流边界层参数化方案通常根据实际观测的湍流通量来确定,因此能量不闭合必将对陆面过程模式造成一定的影响.本文利用2007年春季SACOL站的近地层观测资料,依据能量守恒将能量不闭合中的残余能量通过波文比分配到观测的湍流通量中,即修正涡动相关法观测的湍流通量使得近地层能量达到平衡;之后分别利用观测和修正的湍流通量,建立了能量不闭合和闭合情形下的湍流参数化方案,借助陆面过程模式SHAW,通过数值模拟和对比分析方法考察近地层能量闭合度对陆面过程模式的影响.研究结果表明近地层能量闭合对陆面过程模式有显著的影响:在陆面过程数值模拟中,当应用近地层能量不闭合的湍流通量形成的湍流参数化方案时,陆面过程模式会明显高估地表长波辐射及土壤温度;但当应用修正湍流通量使得近地层能量达到闭合形成的湍流参数化方案后,在不改变任何地表土壤物理生化属性的情况下,陆面过程模式能较好地模拟地表长波辐射和土壤温度.     

Using a remote sensing field experiment to investigate flux-footprint relations and flux sampling distributions for tower and aircraft-based observations

During a remote sensing field experiment conducted in the Southern Great Plains in 1997 (SGP97), tower and aircraft-based flux observations were collected over one of the main study sites in central Oklahoma. This is an agricultural region and contains primarily grassland/pasture and winter wheat, which was recently harvested leaving a significant number of fields either as wheat stubble or plowed bare soil. Multi-spectral data obtained by aircraft provided high-resolution (30 m) spatially-distributed vegetation cover and surface temperature information over the study area. The spatial variations in these surface states strongly affect the partitioning of surface fluxes between sensible and latent heat. These data, together with coarser resolution (5 km) satellite data, are used in a remote sensing-based energy balance modeling system that disaggregates flux estimates from 5 km to 30-m resolution. The resulting high-resolution flux maps provide a means for evaluating whether tower and aircraft-based flux measurements sample a full range in flux conditions for this landscape. In addition, this remote sensing-based modeling system can be used to investigate the influence of variability in these key surface states on tower and aircraft measurements through flux-footprint modeling. Under the light wind and unstable conditions that existed during the observations, highest correlation between aircraft and modeled estimated heat and water vapor fluxes were obtained using different flux-footprint estimates. More specifically, the source area for heat was estimated to be much closer to the aircraft flight line than for water vapor.     

Wave effects in global ocean modeling: parametrizations vs. forcing from a wave model

One of the main challenges of the Copernicus Marine Service is the implementation of coupled ocean/waves systems that accurately estimate the momentum and energy fluxes provided by the atmosphere to the ocean. This study aims to investigate the impact of forcing the Nucleus for European Modelling of the Ocean (NEMO) ocean model with forecasts from the wave model of Météo-France (MFWAM) to improve classical air-sea flux parametrizations, these latter being mostly driven by the 10-m wind. Three wave-related processes, namely, wave-state-dependent stress, Stokes drift-related effects (Stokes-Coriolis force, Stokes drift advection on tracers and on mass), and wave-state-dependent surface turbulence, are examined at a global scale with a horizontal resolution of 0.25°. Three years of sensitivity simulations (2014–2016) show positive feedback on sea surface temperature (SST) and currents when the wave model is used. A significant reduction in SST bias is observed in the tropical Atlantic Ocean. This is mainly due to the more realistic momentum flux provided by the wave model. In mid-latitudes, the most interesting impact occurs during the summer stratification, when the wind is low and the wave model produces a reduction in the turbulence linked with wave breaking. Magnitudes of the large-scale currents in the equatorial region are also improved by 10% compared to observations. In general, it is shown that using the wave model reduces on average the momentum and energy fluxes to the ocean in tropical regions, but increases them in mid-latitudes. These differences are in the order of 10 to 20% compared with the classical parametrizations found in stand-alone ocean models.     

Eddy flux corrections for CO2 exchange in broad-leaved Korean pine mixed forest of Changbai Mountains

Based on analysis of mechanisms causing energy no-closure and nocturnal low fluxes issues for CO2 exchange studies by eddy covariance method, corrections were done with the raw data sets obtained from Changbai Mountains forest flux site, to evaluate the impacts of sonic anemometer tilt, frequency response limitations and advection on estimation of CO2 exchange, respectively. The results show that the planar fit coordinate transforming method is superior to the streamline coordinate transforming method in tilt correction. The latter could cause a systematical underestimation of eddy fluxes relating with the angle of sensor and terrain tilt. The underestimation of CO2 and energy fluxes for frequency response limitations average 3.0% and 2.0% during daytime, respectively, which increase by 9.0% and 5.5% during nighttime, respectively. The corrections of frequency response limitations are closely related to atmospheric stability. The advection loss of CO2 fluxes is dominated by nocturnal vertical advection, which is at least 18% when the horizontal advection is neglected. It is suggested that more work be done to understand the characteristics of horizontal advection and turbulent eddies under a complexcircumstance.     

UU* filtering of nighttime net ecosystem CO2 exchange flux over forest canopy under strong wind in wintertime

The mechanism of the negative nighttime net CO2 flux in wintertime and reasonable treatment with it is of great importance in evaluating the carbon metabolism of boreal forest.Results, based on the data obtained with open-path eddy covariance system and CO2 profile measurement system from Nov. 2002 to Apr. 2003 and that obtained with five sonic anemometers in Nov. 1999, show that (1) the negative net ecosystem CO2 exchange flux (NEE) always appeared under conditions of strong wind; (2) the pressure fluctuation and horizontal advection flow are dominantly responsible for the negative NEE. Operable upper bound u* filtering method (UU* filtering) was introduced since the difficulties in real-time measuring of pressure fluctuation and horizontal advection fluxes under conditions of strong wind. Nighttime upper u* threshold for the broad-leaved Korean pine mixed forest of the Changbai Mountains is 0.4 ms-1 and can be applied to the daytime filtering; and (3) the UU* filtering corrected the nighttime ‘problem’ of negative NEE under strong wind and made the estimates more ecologically reasonable.     

Richardson number profiles in laboratory experiments applied to shallow seas

Abstract

A unified analysis is given of the critical conditions for the onset of stratification due to either a vertical or a horizontal buoyancy flux, with tidal or wind stirring.

The critical conditions for the onset of stratification with a horizontal buoyancy flux are found to be of the form of ratios of the tidal slope, or wind setup, to the equivalent surface slope due to the lateral density gradient. These ratios, which are easily determined from sea data, indicate that the profiles of critical flux Richardson Number, averaged over the stirring cycle, are similar to those inferred from the laboratory experiments of Hopfinger and Linden (1982) in which there is zero mean shear turbulence with a stabilising buoyancy flux, and also that the efficiency for the conversion of kinetic energy to potential energy for tidal stirring is similar to that for wind stirring.

The observed much greater efficiency for wind stirring, compared with tidal stirring with a vertical buoyancy flux, is also consistent with the existence of flux Richardson Number profiles in the sea similar to those occurring in the corresponding laboratory experiments. Using the solution of the turbulent kinetic energy equation for the water column, the relative importance of the production of turbulent kinetic energy, and its diffusion by turbulence are assessed, and the critical conditions for the onset of stratification with a vertical buoyancy flux are shown to reduce the classical Simpson—Hunter form.     

Further evaluation of the Sim-ReSET model for ET estimation driven by only satellite inputs

Abstract

A simple remote sensing evapotranspiration (ET) model (Sim-ReSET) has been proposed but only tested using field measurements at a site with a semi-arid climate. Its performance for mapping ET using only satellite data remained unknown. In this study, the Sim-ReSET model was further evaluated for ET estimation driven by only MODIS data products. The estimated ET rates were compared with ground-based observational data from a variety of ecosystems and climates across China. The results show that MODIS-based ET estimates are consistent with both the ET measurements from eddy covariance flux towers and those from the Penman-Monteith method combined with micrometeorological data. Evaporation fraction (EF) is indicative of land surface moisture. The derivative EF maps demonstrate that the proposed ET data set obtained from the Sim-ReSET model and MODIS data is capable of capturing the spatio-temporal pattern of land surface moisture for different land covers with different climates.

Editor Z.W. Kundzewicz

Citation Sun, Z.G., Wang, Q.X., Matsushita, B., Fukushima, T., Ouyang, Z., Watanabe, M., and Gebremichael, M., 2013. Further evaluation of the Sim-ReSET model for ET estimation driven by only satellite inputs. Hydrological Sciences Journal, 58 (5), 994–1012.     

Simulation of the Lagrangian tide-induced residual velocity in a tide-dominated coastal system: a case study of Jiaozhou Bay,China

The Eulerian residual transport velocity and the first-order Lagrangian residual velocity for weakly nonlinear systems have been used extensively in the past to depict inter-tidal mass transport. However, these could not explain the observed net surface sediment transport pattern in Jiaozhou Bay (JZB), located on the western Yellow Sea. JZB is characterized by strong tidal motion, complex topography and an irregular coastline, which are features of typical nonlinear systems. The Lagrangian residual velocity, which is applicable to general nonlinear systems, was simulated with the water parcel tracking method. The results indicate that the composition of the Lagrangian residual velocity at different tidal phases coincides well with the observed net surface sediment transport pattern. The strong dependence of water flushing time on the initial tidal phase can also be explained by the significant intra-tidal variation of the Lagrangian residual velocity. To investigate the hydrodynamic mechanism governing the nonlinearity of the M ₂ tidal system, a set of nonlinearity indexes were defined and analysed. In the surface layer, horizontal advection is the main contributor to the strong nonlinearity near the bay mouth, while in the bottom layer, the strong nonlinearity near the bay mouth may result from the vertical viscosity and horizontal advection.

     

非均匀灌溉棉田能量平衡特征研究

运用国际能量平衡实验(EBEX-2000)的湍流、净辐射和土壤观测资料,运用涡动相关法分析了非均匀灌溉引起的热内边界层发展条件下近地层感热、潜热通量特征,并对有无灌溉两种条件下的能量闭合度进行了对比分析.在计算感热、潜热通量过程中,分别将Schotanus订正和Webb订正纳入了考虑范围,研究了两种订正方法对计算湍流热通量的影响.研究结果发现,由于非均匀灌溉生成的热内边界层使得近地层感热通量受到抑制,潜热通量出现波动,该现象在8.7 m比2.7 m 更为显著.非均匀灌溉导致的热内边界层的存在使得近地层能量闭合度偏低,能量平衡比率约为0.65;而没有热内边界层存在时,近地层能量平衡比率约为0.70.本实验中,Schotanus订正使得感热通量显著减小,其订正量日平均值约为-8 W/m²,占净辐射的近4%;Webb订正量日平均值约为2 W/m²,对能量平衡的影响较小.     

Upper mixed layer temperature anomalies at the North Atlantic storm-track zone

Synoptic sea surface temperature anomalies (SSTAs) were determined as a result of separation of time scales smaller than 183 days. The SSTAs were investigated using daily data of ocean weather station “C” (52.75°N; 35.5°W) from 1 January 1976 to 31 December 1980 (1827 days). There were 47 positive and 50 negative significant SSTAs (lifetime longer than 3 days, absolute value greater than 0.10 °C) with four main intervals of the lifetime repetitions: 1. 4–7 days (45% of all cases), 2. 9–13 days (20-25%), 3. 14–18 days (10-15%), and 4. 21–30 days (10-15%) and with a magnitude 1.5-2.0 °C. An upper layer balance model based on equations for temperature, salinity, mechanical energy (with advanced parametrization), state (density), and drift currents was used to simulate SSTA. The original method of modelling taking into account the mean observed temperature profiles proved to be very stable. The model SSTAs are in a good agreement with the observed amplitudes and phases of synoptic SSTAs during all 5 years. Surface heat flux anomalies are the main source of SSTAs. The influence of anomalous drift heat advection is about 30-50% of the SSTA, and the influence of salinity anomalies is about 10-25% and less. The influence of a large-scale ocean front was isolated only once in February-April 1978 during all 5 years. Synoptic SSTAs develop just in the upper half of the homogeneous layer at each winter. We suggest that there are two main causes of such active sublayer formation: 1. surface heat flux in the warm sectors of cyclones and 2. predominant heat transport by ocean currents from the south. All frequency functions of the ocean temperature synoptic response to heat and momentum surface fluxes are of integral character (red noise), though there is strong resonance with 20-days period of wind-driven horizontal heat advection with mixed layer temperature; there are some other peculiarities on the time scales from 5.5 to 13 days. Observed and modelled frequency functions seem to be in good agreement.     

Verification of land surface evapotranspiration estimation from remote sensing spatial contextual information

Estimation of evapotranspiration (ET) is of great significance in modeling the water and energy interactions between land and atmosphere. Negative correlation of surface temperature (T_s) versus vegetation index (VI) from remote sensing data provides diagnosis on the spatial pattern of surface soil moisture and ET. This study further examined the applicability of T_s–VI triangle method with a newly developed edges determination technique in estimating regional evaporative fraction (EF) and ET at MODIS pixel scale through comparison with large aperture scintillometer (LAS) and high‐level eddy covariance measurements collected at Changwu agro‐ecological experiment station from late June to late October, 2009. An algorithm with merely land and atmosphere products from MODIS onboard Terra satellite was used to estimate the surface net radiation (R_n) and soil heat flux. In most cases, the estimated instantaneous R_n was in good agreement with surface measurement with slight overestimation by 12 W/m². Validation results from LAS measurement showed that the root mean square error is 0.097 for instantaneous EF, 48 W/m² for instantaneous sensible heat flux, and 30 W/m² for daily latent heat flux. This paper successfully presents a miniature of the overall capability of T_s–VI triangle in estimating regional EF and ET from limited number of data. For a thorough interpretation, further comprehensive investigation needs to be done with more integration of remote sensing data and in‐situ surface measurements. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Enhanced modeling of latent heat flux from urban surfaces in the Noah/single-layer urban canopy coupled model

The numerical modeling of the impacts of urban buildings in mesoscale meteorological models has gradually improved in recent years. Correctly representing the latent heat flux from urban surfaces is a key issue in urban land-atmosphere coupling studies but is a common weakness in current urban canopy models. Using the surface energy balance data at a height of 140 m from a 325 m meteorological tower in Beijing, we conducted a 1-year continuous off-line simulation by using a coupled land surface model and a single-layer urban canopy model and found that this model has a relatively large systematic error for simulated latent heat flux. To improve the numerical method for modeling latent heat flux from urban surfaces, we combined observational analysis and urban land surface model to derive an oasis effect coefficient for urban green areas; to develop a temporal variation formula for water availability in urban impervious surfaces; and to specify a diurnal profile and the maximum values of anthropogenic latent heat release for four seasons. These results are directly incorporated into the urban land surface model to improve model performance. In addition, this method serves as a reference for studies in other urban areas.     

An analytical solution for describing the transient temperature distribution in an aquifer thermal energy storage system

A mathematical model is developed for predicting the temperature distribution in an aquifer thermal energy storage (ATES) system, which consists of a confined aquifer bounded from above and below by the rocks of different geological properties. The main transfer processes of heat include the conduction and advection in the aquifer and the conduction in the rocks. The semi‐analytical solution in dimensionless form for the model is developed by Laplace transforms and its corresponding time‐domain solution is evaluated by the modified Crump method. Field geothermal property data are used to simulate the temperature distribution in an ATES system. The results show that the heat transfer in the aquifer is fast and has a vast effect on the vicinity of the wellbore. However, the aquifer temperature decreases with increasing radial and vertical distances. The temperature in the aquifer may be overestimated when ignoring the effect of thermal conductivity. The temperature distribution in an ATES system depends on the vertical thermal conduction in the rocks and the horizontal advection and thermal conduction in the aquifer. The present solution is useful in designing and simulating the heat injection facility in the ATES systems. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

On the performance of surface renewal analysis to estimate sensible heat flux over two growing rice fields under the influence of regional advection

High-frequency temperature data were recorded at one height and they were used in Surface Renewal (SR) analysis to estimate sensible heat flux during the full growing season of two rice fields located north–northeast of Colusa, CA (in the Sacramento Valley). One of the fields was seeded into a flooded paddy and the other was drill seeded before flooding. To minimize fetch requirements, the measurement height was selected to be close to the maximum expected canopy height. The roughness sub-layer depth was estimated to discriminate if the temperature data came from the inertial or roughness sub-layer. The equation to estimate the roughness sub-layer depth was derived by combining simple mixing-length theory, mixing-layer analogy, equations to account for stable atmospheric surface layer conditions, and semi-empirical canopy–architecture relationships. The potential for SR analysis as a method that operates in the full surface boundary layer was tested using data collected over growing vegetation at a site influenced by regional advection of sensible heat flux. The inputs used to estimate the sensible heat fluxes included air temperature sampled at 10 Hz, the mean and variance of the horizontal wind speed, the canopy height, and the plant area index for a given intermediate height of the canopy. Regardless of the stability conditions and measurement height above the canopy, sensible heat flux estimates using SR analysis gave results that were similar to those measured with the eddy covariance method. Under unstable cases, it was shown that the performance was sensitive to estimation of the roughness sub-layer depth. However, an expression was provided to select the crucial scale required for its estimation.     

Turbulence flux measurement above the overstory of a subtropical Pinus plantation over the hilly region in southeastern China

Continuous turbulence flux measurement using the eddy covariance (EC) technique was made from January 1 to December 31 in 2003 at two and three canopy heights of a subtropical Pinus plantation on the red earth hilly region in southeastern China. To be able to make sure that the measured turbulence flux will equal the net ecosystem/atmosphere exchange, the quality of the data has to be assessed. Three criteria were investigated here, including the power spectra and cospectra analyses, flux variance similarity (integral turbulence test) and energy balance closure. The spectral analyses suggested that above-canopy power spectral slopes for all velocity components and scalars such as CO2, H2O and air temperature followed the expected -2/3 power law in the inertial subrange, and their cospectral slopes were close to -4/3 power law in the inertial subrange. The important contribution of large-scale motions to energy and mass transfer above the canopy at higher measurement level was also confirmed by the spectral analyses. The eddy covariance systems have the ability to resolve fluctuations associated with small-scale eddies and did not induce an obvious underestimation of the measured turbulence flux. The Monin-Obukhov similarity functions for the normalized standard deviation of vertical wind speed and air temperature were well-defined functions of atmospheric stability at two heights above the forest canopy, which indicated that turbulence flux measurements made at two heights were within the surface layer. Nocturnal flux underestimation and departures of this normalized standard deviation of vertical wind speed similarity function from that expected from Monin-Obukhov theory were a function of friction velocity. Thus, an optimal criterion of friction velocity was determined to be greater than 0.2-0.3 m s-1 for nocturnal fluxes so that the eddy covariance flux measurement was under high turbulent mixing conditions. Energy balance closure reached about 72%-81% at the studied site, which was comparable to the 10%-30% of energy imbalance reported in the literature. However, the energy balance closure could be only used as a useful reference criterion.     

Advances in carbon flux observation and research in Asia

As an important component of FLUXNET, Asia is increasingly becoming the hotspot in global carbon research for its vast territory, complex climate type and vegetation diversity. The present three regional flux observation networks in Asia (i.e. AsiaFlux, KoFlux and ChinaFLUX)have 54 flux observation sites altogether, covering tropic rainforest, evergreen broad-leaved forest, broad-leaved and coniferous mixed forest, shrubland, grassland, alpine meadow and cropland ecosystems with a latitudinal distribution from 2°N to 63°N. Long-term and continuous fluxes of carbon dioxide, water vapor and energy between the biosphere and atmosphere are mainly measured with eddy covariance technique to (1) quantify and compare the carbon, water and energy budgets across diverse ecosystems; (2) quantify the environmental and biotic controlling mechanism on ecosystem carbon, water and energy fluxes; (3) validate the soil-vegetation-atmosphere model; and (4) serve the integrated study of terrestrial ecosystem carbon and water cycle. Over the last decades, great advancements have been made in the theory and technology of flux measurement, ecosystem flux patterns, simulation and scale conversion by Asian flux community. The establishment of ChinaFLUX has greatly filled the gap of flux observation and research in Eurasia. To further promote the flux measurement and research,accelerate data sharing and improve the data quality, it is necessary to present a methodological system of flux estimation and evaluation over complex terrain and to develop the integrated research that combines the flux measurement, stable isotope measurement, remote sensing observation and GIS technique. It also requires the establishment of the Joint Committee of Asian Flux Network in the Asia-Pacific region in order to promote the cooperation and communication of ideas and data by supporting project scientists, workshops and visiting scientists.