Quantifying CO2 fluxes from soil surfaces to the atmosphere

Measurements of CO₂ fluxes from ground surface of the atmosphere (soil respiration) are needed to quantify biotic and abiotic reaction rates in unsaturated zones and to gain insight into the importance of these processes on global warming. The use of three techniques (dynamic closed chambers, static chambers, and gradient calculations) to determine soil respiration was assessed by measuring fluxes of microbially produced CO₂ from an unsaturated mesocosm (2.4 m dia.×3.2 m thick) and two unsaturated minicosms (0.58 m dia.×1.2 m thick), one maintained at 18–23 °C (HT) and the other at 5 °C (LT). By injecting known and constant CO₂ fluxes into the bottom of the HT minicosm and measuring the resulting fluxes, it was shown that the dynamic closed chamber (DCCS) technique yielded accurate measurements of fluxes over the range observed from natural unsaturated media. Over this same range, results showed that the concentration gradient method yielded reasonable estimates of fluxes but its accuracy was limited by uncertainties in both the concentration gradient and the gaseous diffusion coefficient in the soil atmosphere. The static chamber method underestimated the actual flux at higher CO₂ fluxes and when adsorption times of >24 h were used.