Eddy-covariance CO2 flux measurements using open- and closed-path CO2 analysers: Corrections for analyser water vapour sensitivity and damping of fluctuations in air sampling tubes

Methods of calibrating infrared CO₂ analysers for sensitivity to CO₂ and water vapour are described. Equations to correct eddy covariance CO₂ flux measurements are presented for: (i) analyser cross-sensitivity to water vapour and the effects of density fluctuations arising from atmospheric fluxes of water vapour and sensible heat, (ii) flux losses caused by signal processing and limited instrument frequency response for open- and closed-path CO₂ analysers, and (iii) flux losses resulting from damping of concentration fluctuations in a tube used to sample air for closed-path CO₂ analysers. Examples of flux corrections required for typical instruments are presented.     

Comparison of flux measurements with open- and closed-path gas analyzers above an agricultural field and a forest floor

Comparison was made of the flux measurements of a closed-path CO₂/H₂O analyzer and an open-path H₂O analyzer above a clover field and the forest floor of a Douglas-fir stand. The attenuation of the gas concentration fluctuations caused by the sampling tube of the closed-path analyzer resulted in underestimation of the H20 flux above both surfaces. The degree of underestimation above the clover field depended on wind speed, but was smaller than that calculated from the transfer function for laminar flow in a circular tube and the scalar cospectrum in the neutral and unstable surface layer. Above the forest floor CO₂ fluctuations led those of H₂O by 0.7s. The implications of this are discussed regarding the determination of the time delay caused by the sampling tube of the closedpath analyzer. The day-time CO₂ efflux from the forest floor, averaged over three days, was 0.043 mg/(m²s).     

Spatial representativeness of single tower measurements and the imbalance problem with eddy-covariance fluxes: results of a large-eddy simulation study

A large-eddy simulation (LES) study is presented that investigates the spatial variability of temporal eddy covariance fluxes and the systematic underestimation of representative fluxes linked to them. It extends a prior numerical study by performing high resolution simulations that allow for virtual measurements down to 20 m in a convective boundary layer, so that conditions for small tower measurement sites can be analysed. It accounts for different convective regimes as the wind speed and the near-surface heat flux are varied. Moreover, it is the first LES imbalance study that extends to the stable boundary layer. It reveals shortcomings of single site measurements and the necessity of using horizontally-distributed observation networks. The imbalances in the convective case are attributed to a locally non-vanishing mean vertical advection due to turbulent organised structures (TOS). The strength of the TOS and thus the imbalance magnitude depends on height, the horizontal mean wind and the convection type. Contrary to the results of a prior study, TOS cannot generally be responsible for large energy imbalances: at low observation heights (corresponding to small towers and near-surface energy balance stations) the TOS related imbalances are generally about one order of magnitude smaller than those in field experiments. However, TOS may cause large imbalances at large towers not only in the case of cellular convection and low wind speeds, as found in the previous study, but also in the case of roll convection at large wind speeds. In the stably stratified boundary layer for all observation heights neither TOS nor significant imbalances are observed. Attempting to reduce imbalances in convective situations by applying the conventional linear detrending method increases the systematic flux underestimation. Thus, a new filter method is proposed.     

Eddy correlation measurements of CO2, latent heat,and sensible heat fluxes over a crop surface

Eddy correlation equipment was used to measure mass and energy fluxes over a soybean crop. A rapid response CO₂ sensor, a drag anemometer, a Lyman-alpha hygrometer and a fine wire thermocouple were used to sense the fluctuating quantities.Diurnal fluxes of sensible heat, latent heat and CO₂ were calculated from these data. Energy budget closure was obtained by summing the sensible and latent heat fluxes determined by eddy correlation which balanced the sum of net radiation and soil heat flux. Peak daytime CO₂ fluxes were near 1.0 mg m^–2 (ground area) s^–1.The eddy correlation technique was also employed in this study to measure nocturnal CO₂ fluxes caused by respiration from plants, soil, and roots. These CO₂ fluxes ranged from - 0.1 to - 0.25 mg m^–2s^–1.From the data collected over mature soybeans, a relationship between CO₂ flux and photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) was developed. The crop did not appear to be light-saturated at PAR flux densities < 1800 Ei m^–2 s^–1. The light compensation point was found to be about 160 Ei m^–2 s^–1.Published as Paper No. 7402, Journal Series, Nebraska Agricultural Experiment Station. The work reported here was conducted under Nebraska Agricultural Experiment Station Project 27-003 and Regional Research Project 11–33.Post-doctoral Research Associate, Professor and Professor, respectively. Center for Agricultural Meteorology and Climatology, Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE 68583-0728.     

Aspects of CO2 advection measurements

Observations of vegetation–atmosphere exchange of carbon dioxide (CO₂) by the eddy covariance (EC) technique are limited by difficult conditions such as nighttime and heterogeneous terrain. Thus, advective flux components are included into the net ecosystem exchange (NEE) budget. However, advection measurements are experimentally challenging and do not always help to solve the night flux problem of the EC technique. This study investigates alternative methods for the observation of horizontal advection, in particular horizontal concentration gradients, as well as different approaches to coordinate rotation and vertical advection. Continuous high-frequency measurements of the horizontal CO₂ concentration field are employed and compared to the often used discontinuous sequential sampling. Significant differences were found in the case of 30-min mean concentration values between the conventional discontinuous sampling approach and the complete observation of the time series by continuous sampling. Estimates of vertical advection rely on accurate estimates of vertical wind velocity ( $\emph{w}$ ). Therefore, different approaches to the planar fit coordinate rotation have been investigated. Sector-wise rotation was able to eliminate directional dependencies of mean $\emph{w}$ . Furthermore, the effect of the data set length used for rotation (window length) was investigated and was found to have significant impact on estimates of vertical advection, with larger window lengths yielding about 50% larger vertical advection. A sequential planar fit with controlled window length is proposed to give reproducible results. The different approaches to the measurement and calculation of horizontal and vertical advection presented are applied to data obtained during the exchange processes in mountainous region experiment at the FLUXNET site Waldstein–Weidenbrunnen (DE-Bay). Estimates of NEE including advection are compared to NEE from turbulent and storage flux alone without advection. NEE including vertical advection with sector-wise planar fit rotation and controlled window length and including horizontal advection from continuous gradient measurements, which were comprehensively bias corrected by a new approach, did compare well with the expected night flux error, with meteorological drivers of the fluxes and with soil chamber measurements. Unrealistically large and noisy values of horizontal advection from the conventional discontinuous sampling approach, which lead to unrealistic values of NEE, could be eliminated by the alternative approaches presented. We therefore suggest the further testing of those approaches at other sites in order to improve the accuracy of advection measurements and, subsequently, estimates of NEE.     

Eddy correlation measurement of CO2 flux using a closed-path sensor: Theory and field tests against an open-path sensor

We have examined the potential of using a closed-path sensor to accurately measure eddy fluxes of CO₂. Five inlet tubeflow configurations were employed in the experimental setup. The fluxes of CO₂ were compared against those measured with an open-path sensor. Sampling air through an intake tube causes a loss of flux, due to the attenuation of CO₂ density fluctuations. Adjustments need to be made to correct for this loss and to account for density effects due to the simultaneous transfer of heat and water vapor. Theory quantifying these effects is discussed.The raw CO₂ flux measured with the closed-path sensor was smaller than that measured with the open-path sensor by about 15% (on average) for the turbulent tubeflow configurations with a short (3 m) intake tube, by 31% for turbulent tubeflow with a longer (6 m) intake tube and by 24% for laminar tubeflow. The difference was, in part, caused by tube attenuation of the CO₂ density fluctuations and inadequate sensor time response. The elimination of the flux adjustment for the simultaneous transfer of sensible heat (i.e., the attenuation of ambient temperature fluctuations in the intake tube) generally accounted for the rest of this difference.The raw flux measured with the closed-path sensor was corrected for frequency response and density effects. Except in the case of laminar tubeflow, the corrected closed-path flux agreed consistently with the corrected open-path flux within a few percent (<5%). These results suggest that closed-path sensors, with appropriate corrections, can be used to measure CO₂ flux accurately. Recommendations are included on selecting an optimum flow configuration to minimize the effect of sampling air through a tube.Published as Paper No. 9938, Journal Series, Nebraska Agricultural Research Division.     

Airborne measurements of turbulent fluxes during LITFASS-98: Comparison with ground measurements and remote sensing in a case study

Summary ?Simultaneous flight measurements with the research aircraft Do 128 and the helicopter-borne turbulence probe Helipod were performed on 18 June 1998 during the LITFASS-98 field experiment. The area-averaged turbulent vertical fluxes of momentum, sensible, and latent heat were determined on a 15 km × 15 km and a 10 km × 10 km flight pattern, respectively. The flights were carried out over heterogeneous terrain at different altitudes within a moderately convective boundary layer with Cumulus clouds. Co-spectra-analysis demonstrated that the small scale turbulent transport was completely sampled, while the comparatively small flight patterns were possibly of critical size regarding the large-scale turbulence. The phygoide of the airplane was identified as a significant peak in some co-spectra. The turbulent fluxes of momentum and sensible heat at 80 m above the ground showed systematic dependence on the location of the flight legs above the heterogeneous terrain. This was not observed for the latent heat flux, probably due to the vertical distribution of humidity in the boundary layer. Statistical error analysis of the fluxes F showed that the systematic statistical error ΔF was one order of magnitude smaller than the standard deviation σ _F . The difference between area-averaged fluxes derived from simultaneous Helipod and Do 128 measurements was much smaller than σ _F , indicating that the systematic statistical error was possibly over-estimated by the usual method. In the upper half of the boundary layer the airborne-measured sensible heat flux agreed well with windprofiler/RASS data. A linear fit was the best approximation for the height dependence of all three fluxes. The linear extrapolations of the latent and sensible heat fluxes to the ground were in good agreement with tower, scintillometer, and averaged ground-station measurements on various surface types. Systematic discrepancies between airborne and ground-based measurements were not found. Received June 18, 2001; revised December 21, 2001; accepted June 3, 2002     

Temporal dynamics of CO2 fluxes and profiles over a Central European city

Summary In Summer 2002 eddy covariance flux measurements of CO₂ were performed over a dense urban surface. The month-long measurements were carried out in the framework of the Basel Urban Boundary Layer Experiment (BUBBLE). Two Li7500 open path analysers were installed at z/z_H = 1.0 and 2.2 above a street canyon with z_H the average building height of 14.6 m and z the height above street level. Additionally, profiles of CO₂ concentration were sampled at 10 heights from street level up to 2 z_H. The minimum and maximum of the average diurnal course of CO₂ concentration at 2 z_H were 362 and 423 ppmv in late afternoon and early morning, respectively. Daytime CO₂ concentrations were not correlated to local sources, e.g. the minimum occurred together with the maximum in traffic load. During night-time CO₂ is in general accumulated, except when inversion development is suppressed by frontal passages. CO₂ concentrations were always decreasing with height and correspondingly, the fluxes – on average – always directed upward. At z/z_H = 2.2 low values of about 3 μmol m⁻² s⁻¹ were measured during the second half of the night. During daytime average values reached up to 14 μmol m⁻² s⁻¹. The CO₂ fluxes are well correlated with the traffic load, with their maxima occurring together in late afternoon. Daytime minimum CO₂ concentrations fell below regional background values. Besides vertical mixing and entrainment, it is suggested that this is also due to advection of rural air with reduced CO₂ concentration. Comparison with other urban observations shows a large range of differences among urban sites in terms of both CO₂ fluxes and concentrations. Present affiliation: Swiss Federal Office for Meteorology and Climatology, MeteoSwiss, Zürich, Switzerland     

Influences on surface energy fluxes in simulated present and doubled CO2 climates

The surface energy fluxes simulated by the CSIRO9 Mark 1 GCM for present and doubled CO₂ conditions are analyzed. On the global scale the climatological flux fields are similar to those from four GCMs studied previously. A diagnostic calculation is used to provide estimates of the radiative forcing by the GCM atmosphere. For 1 × CO₂, in the global and annual mean, cloud produces a net cooling at the surface of 31 W m^–2. The clear-sky longwave surface greenhouse effect is 311 W m^–2, while the corresponding shortwave term is –79 W m^–2. As for the other GCM results, the CSIRO9 CO₂ surface warming (global mean 4.8°C) is closely related to the increased downward longwave radiation (LW ). Global mean net cloud forcing changes little. The contrast in warming between land and ocean, largely due to the increase in evaporative cooling (E) over ocean, is highlighted. In order to further the understanding of influences on the fluxes, simple physically based linear models are developed using multiple regression. Applied to both 1 × CO₂ and CO₂ December–February mean tropical fields from CSIRO9, the linear models quite accurately (3–5 W m^–2 for 1 × CO₂ and 2–3 W m^–2 for CO₂) relate LW and net shortwave radiation to temperature, surface albedo, the water vapor column, and cloud. The linear models provide alternative estimates of radiative forcing terms to those from the diagnostic calculation. Tropical mean cloud forcings are compared. Over land, E is well correlated with soil moisture, and sensible heat with air-surface temperature difference. However an attempt to relate the spatial variation of LWt within the tropics to that of the nonflux fields had little success. Regional changes in surface temperature are not linearly related to, for instance, changes in cloud or soil moisture.     

European CO2 fluxes from atmospheric inversions using regional and global transport models

Approximately half of human-induced carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions are taken up by the land and ocean, and the rest stays in the atmosphere, increasing the global concentration and acting as a major greenhouse-gas (GHG) climate-forcing element. Although GHG mitigation is now in the political arena, the exact spatial distribution of the land sink is not well known. In this paper, an estimation of mean European net ecosystem exchange (NEE) carbon fluxes for the period 1998–2001 is performed with three mesoscale and two global transport models, based on the integration of atmospheric CO₂ measurements into the same Bayesian synthesis inverse approach. A special focus is given to sub-continental regions of Europe making use of newly available CO₂ concentration measurements in this region. Inverse flux estimates from the five transport models are compared with independent flux estimates from four ecosystem models. All inversions detect a strong annual carbon sink in the southwestern part of Europe and a source in the northeastern part. Such a dipole, although robust with respect to the network of stations used, remains uncertain and still to be confirmed with independent estimates. Comparison of the seasonal variations of the inversion-based net land biosphere fluxes (NEP) with the NEP predicted by the ecosystem models indicates a shift of the maximum uptake period, from June in the ecosystem models to July in the inversions. This study thus improves on the understanding of the carbon cycle at sub-continental scales over Europe, demonstrating that the methodology for understanding regional carbon cycle is advancing, which increases its relevance in terms of issues related to regional mitigation policies.     

Aircraft measurements of CO2 exchange over various ecosystems

The National Aeronautical Establishment's Twin Otter Atmospheric Research Aircraft has been equipped with open-path CO₂ analyzers in order to obtain estimates of CO₂ exchange over a corn field, a forest and a lake using the eddy correlation technique. On the 18th of August 1980, mean uptakes obtained over corn and forest were 12 and 8 kg CO₂ ha^-1 hr^-1, respectively. On the 28th of August, mean uptakes obtained over corn, forest and the lake were 36, 14, and 1 kg CO₂ ha^-1 hr^-1, respectively. The data are discussed in the light of general conditions on the two days.     

Multi-level CO2 fluxes over Beijing megacity with the eddy covariance method

本文基于北京325米气象塔在47,140,和280米三层高度的5年涡动相关观测资料,研究了城市下垫面与大气间的CO2交换过程.由于北京市2011年开始实行工作日汽车尾号限行,140米高度CO2通量的年增长率由2008-2010年的7.8％降低到2010-2012年的2.3％.140米高度通量源区内植被比例最小且人口密度最大,因此140米高度的5年平均CO2通量年总量)6.41 kg C m-2 yr-1(大于47米)5.78 kg C m-2 yr-1(和280米)3.99 kg C m-2 yr-1(.在年尺度上,北京汽车总保有量和总人口是最重要的CO2通量控制因子.CO2通量随风向的变化主要与风向对应的通量源区内下垫面土地利用方式有关.三层高度的夏季CO2通量均与道路的比例呈正相关关系.47,140,和280米的决定系数分别为0.69,0.57,和0.54(P＜0.05).植被比例的下降,会导致CO2年总量上升,两者存在近似于指数的关系.城市人口密度的上升会引起CO2年总量上升.     

Effects of heat and water vapor transport on eddy covariance measurement of CO2 fluxes

Flux densities of carbon dioxide were measured over an arid, vegetation-free surface by eddy covariance techniques and by a heat budget-profile method, in which CO₂ concentration gradients were specified in terms of mixing ratios. This method showed negligible fluxes of CO₂, consistent with the bareness of the experimental site, whereas the eddy covariance measurements indicated large downward fluxes of CO₂. These apparently conflicting observations are in quantitative agreement with the results of a recent theory which predicts that whenever there are vertical fluxes of sensible or latent heat, a mean vertical velocity is developed. This velocity causes a mean vertical convective mass flux (= _cw for CO₂, in standard notation). The eddy covariance technique neglects this mean convective flux and measures only the turbulent flux _c w. Thus, when the net flux of CO₂ is zero, the eddy covariance method indicates an apparent flux which is equal and opposite to the mean convective flux, i.e., _c w = – _c w. Corrections for the mean convective flux are particularly significant for CO₂ because _cw and _c w are often of similar magnitude. The correct measurement of the net CO₂ flux by eddy covariance techniques requires that the fluxes of sensible and latent heat be measured as well.     

Derivation of water vapor fluxes from Lidar measurements

Two techniques are described by which the flux of water vapor can be derived from concentration measurements made by a Raman-Lidar. Monin-Obukhov similarity theory and dissipation techniques are used as the basis for these methods. The resulting fluxes are compared to fluxes from standard point instruments. The techniques described are appropriate for measuring the flux of any scalar quantity using Lidar measurements in the inner region of the boundary layer.     

Direct measurements of nitrogen oxides and ozone fluxes over grassland

Using the eddy correlation method, fluxes of nitric oxide, nitrogen dioxide, ozone, water, and sensible heat were measured at a site 20 km north of Denver, Colorado over mature crested wheat grass, 0.75 m high in late June and early July. During this period the weather was fair with no synoptic disturbances. In the early morning a well-mixed diluted urban pollution plume traversed the site, by late morning aged pollution had mixed downward into the local boundary layer, and by afternoon the air came from a relatively unpolluted area of the high plains. The mean trace gas concentrations reflect this repeated pattern of local air flow. The fluxes of the trace gases were influenced both by the variation of the means and by other factors including temperature and biological activity. Ozone fluxes were found to be always negative and proportional to the mean, with an average deposition velocity for this case of about 0.006 m s^-1. For the oxides of nitrogen this simple treatment was not appropriate. Both deposition and emission were observed, generally deposition predominated in the morning and emission in the afternoon with observed variations in the fluxes of NO_x=NO+NO₂ from –0.3 to +0.2 ppbv m s^-1.The National Center for Atmospheric Research is sponsored by the National Science Foundation