Natascha Kljun

A Simple Parameterisation for Flux Footprint Predictions

Flux footprint functions estimate the location and relative importance of passive scalar sources influencing flux measurements at a given receptor height. These footprint estimates strongly vary in size, depending on receptor height, atmospheric stability, and surface roughness. Reliable footprint calculations from, e.g., Lagrangian stochastic models or large-eddy simulations are computationally expensive and cannot readily be computed for long-term observational programs. To facilitate more accessible footprint estimates, a scaling procedure is introduced for flux footprint functions over a range of stratifications from convective to stable, and receptor heights ranging from near the surface to the middle of the boundary layer. It is shown that, when applying this scaling procedure, footprint estimates collapse to an ensemble of similar curves. A simple parameterisation for the scaled footprint estimates is presented. This parameterisation accounts for the influence of the roughness length on the footprint and allows for a quick but precise algebraic footprint estimation.

Response of Net Ecosystem Productivity of Three Boreal Forest Stands to Drought

In 2001–03, continuous eddy covariance measurements of carbon dioxide (CO2) flux were made above mature boreal aspen, black spruce, and jack pine forests in Saskatchewan, Canada, prior to and during a 3−year drought. During the 1st drought year, ecosystem respiration (R) was reduced at the aspen site due to the drying of surface soil layers. Gross ecosystem photosynthesis (GEP) increased as a result of a warm spring and a slow decrease of deep soil moisture. These conditions resulted in the highest annual net ecosystem productivity (NEP) in the 9 years of flux measurements at this site. During 2002 and 2003, a reduction of 6% and 34% in NEP, respectively, compared to 2000 was observed as the result of reductions in both R and GEP, indicating a conservative response to the drought. Although the drought affected most of western Canada, there was considerable spatial variability in summer rainfall over the 100−km extent of the study area; summer rainfalls in 2001 and 2002 at the two conifer sites minimized the impact of the drought. In 2003, however, precipitation was similarly low at all three sites. Due to low topographic position and consequent poor drainage at the black spruce site and the coarse soil with low water-holding capacity at the jack pine site almost no reduction in R, GEP, and NEP was observed at these two sites. This study shows that the impact of drought on carbon sequestration by boreal forest ecosystems strongly depends on rainfall distribution, soil characteristics, topography, and the presence of vegetation that is well adapted to these conditions.

A THREE-DIMENSIONAL BACKWARD LAGRANGIAN FOOTPRINT MODEL FOR A WIDE RANGE OF BOUNDARY-LAYER STRATIFICATIONS

We present a three-dimensional Lagrangian footprint model with the ability to predict the area of influence (footprint) of a measurement within a wide range of boundary-layer stratifications and receptor heights. The model approach uses stochastic backward trajectories of particles and satisfies the well-mixed condition in inhomogeneous turbulence for continuous transitions from stable to convective stratification. We introduce a spin-up procedure of the model and a statistical treatment of particle touchdowns which leads to a significant reduction of CPU time compared to conventional footprint modelling approaches. A comparison with other footprint models (of the analytical and Lagrangian type) suggests that the present backward Lagrangian model provides valid footprint predictions under any stratification and, moreover, for applications that reach across different similarity scaling domains (e.g., surface layer to mixed layer, for use in connection with aircraft measurements or with observations on high towers).

Comparison of the Langrangian footprint model LPDM-B with an analytical footprint model

We compare flux and concentration footprint estimates of athree-dimensional Lagrangian stochastic dispersion modelapplying backward trajectories with the results of ananalytical footprint model by Kormann and Meixner.The comparison is performed for varying stability regimesof the surface layer as well as for different measurementheights. In general, excellent correspondence is found.

Response of net ecosystem productivity of three boreal forest stands to drought (Ecosystems DOI: 10.1007/S10021-005-0082-X)

In 2000–03, continuous eddy covariance measurements of carbon dioxide (CO2) flux were made above mature boreal aspen, black spruce, and jack pine forests in Saskatchewan, Canada, prior to and during a 3-year drought. During the 1st drought year, ecosystem respiration (R) was reduced at the aspen site due to the drying of surface soil layers. Gross ecosystem photosynthesis (GEP) increased as a result of a warm spring and a slow decrease of deep soil moisture. These conditions resulted in the highest annual net ecosystem productivity (NEP) in the 9 years of flux measurements at this site. During 2002 and 2003, a reduction of 6% and 34% in NEP, respectively, compared to 2000 was observed as the result of reductions in both R and GEP, indicating a conservative response to the drought. Although the drought affected most of western Canada, there was considerable spatial variability in summer rainfall over the 100-km extent of the study area; summer rainfalls in 2001 and 2002 at the two conifer sites minimized the impact of the drought. In 2003, however, precipitation was similarly low at all three sites. Due to low topographic position and consequent poor drainage at the black spruce site and the coarse soil with low water-holding capacity at the jack pine site almost no reduction in R, GEP, and NEP was observed at these two sites. This study shows that the impact of drought on carbon sequestration by boreal forest ecosystems strongly depends on rainfall distribution, soil characteristics, topography, and the presence of vegetation that is well adapted to these conditions.

The importance of interacting climate modes on Australia’s contribution to global carbon cycle extremes

The global carbon cycle is highly sensitive to climate-driven fluctuations of precipitation, especially in the Southern Hemisphere. This was clearly manifested by a 20% increase of the global terrestrial C sink in 2011 during the strongest sustained La Niña since 1917. However, inconsistencies exist between El Niño/La Niña (ENSO) cycles and precipitation in the historical record; for example, significant ENSO–precipitation correlations were present in only 31% of the last 100 years, and often absent in wet years. To resolve these inconsistencies, we used an advanced temporal scaling method for identifying interactions amongst three key climate modes (El Niño, the Indian Ocean dipole, and the southern annular mode). When these climate modes synchronised (1999–2012), drought and extreme precipitation were observed across Australia. The interaction amongst these climate modes, more than the effect of any single mode, was associated with large fluctuations in precipitation and productivity. The long-term exposure of vegetation to this arid environment has favoured a resilient flora capable of large fluctuations in photosynthetic productivity and explains why Australia was a major contributor not only to the 2011 global C sink anomaly but also to global reductions in photosynthetic C uptake during the previous decade of drought.

Slope Estimation from ICESat/GLAS

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Influences of vegetation structure and elevation on CO2 uptake in a mature jack pine forest in Saskatchewan, Canada

Carbon dioxide, water vapour, and energy fluxes vary spatially and temporally within forested environments. However, it is not clear to what extent they vary as a result of variability in the spatial distribution of biomass and elevation. The following study presents a new methodology for extracting changes in the structural characteristics of vegetation and elevation within footprint areas, for direct comparison with eddy covariance (EC) CO2 flux concentrations. The purpose was to determine whether within-site canopy structure and local elevation influenced CO2 fluxes in a mature jack pine (Pinus banksiana Lamb.) forest located in Saskatchewan, Canada. Airborne light detection and ranging (lidar) was used to extract tree height, canopy depth, foliage cover, and elevation within 30 min flux footprints. Within-footprint mean structural components and elevation were related to 30 min mean net ecosystem productivity (NEP) and gross ecosystem production (GEP). NEP and GEP were modeled using multiple regressio...

A numerical case study on footprint model performance under inhomogeneous flow conditions

Two models for predicting near-surface flux and concentration footprints are compared concerning their performance in the presence of heterogeneous surface conditions. One of the models is a conventional Lagrangian backward model and the second an LES model with an embedded Lagrangian footprint model. The latter model reveals generation of thermally induced secondary circulation under such surface heterogeneity. The conventional Lagrangian backward model with simple parameterization of flow conditions mostly performs well in footprint predictions for concentrations and somewhat worse for fluxes, and fails only in areas where flow patterns are dominated by pronounced secondary circulations.

Eddy Covariance Flux Measurements of Gaseous Elemental Mercury Using Cavity Ring-Down Spectroscopy

A newly developed pulsed cavity ring-down spectroscopy (CRDS) system for measuring atmospheric gaseous elemental mercury (GEM) concentrations at high temporal resolution (25 Hz) was used to successfully conduct the first eddy covariance (EC) flux measurements of GEM. GEM is the main gaseous atmospheric form, and quantification of bidirectional exchange between the Earths surface and the atmosphere is important because gas exchange is important on a global scale. For example, surface GEM emissions from natural sources, legacy emissions, and re-emission of previously deposited anthropogenic pollution may exceed direct primary anthropogenic emissions. Using the EC technique for flux measurements requires subsecond measurements, which so far has not been feasible because of the slow time response of available instrumentation. The CRDS system measured GEM fluxes, which were compared to fluxes measured with the modified Bowen ratio (MBR) and a dynamic flux chamber (DFC). Measurements took place near Reno, NV, in September and October 2012 encompassing natural, low-mercury (Hg) background soils and Hg-enriched soils. During nine days of measurements with deployment of Hg-enriched soil in boxes within 60 m upwind of the EC tower, the covariance of GEM concentration and vertical wind speed was measured, showing that EC fluxes over an Hg-enriched area were detectable. During three separate days of flux measurements over background soils (without Hg-enriched soils), no covariance was detected, indicating fluxes below the detection limit. When fluxes were measurable, they strongly correlated with wind direction; the highest fluxes occurred when winds originated from the Hg-enriched area. Comparisons among the three methods showed good agreement in direction (e.g., emission or deposition) and magnitude, especially when measured fluxes originated within the Hg-enriched soil area. EC fluxes averaged 849 ng m(-2) h(-1), compared to DFC fluxes of 1105 ng m(-2) h(-1) and MBR fluxes of 1309 ng m(-2) h(-1). This study demonstrated that a CRDS system can be used to measure GEM fluxes over Hg-enriched areas, with a conservative detection limit estimate of 32 ng m(-2) h(-1).