Plot-scale vertical and horizontal transport of CO2 modified by a persistent slope wind system in and above an alpine forest

in Agricultural and Forest Meteorology (2010), 150(5), 665-673

Data from the flux tower site Renon/Ritten, Italy, located at 1735 m. a.s.l. on a south exposed steep (11 degrees) forested alpine slope, is analyzed. In spite of the complex terrain, a persistent slope ... [more ▼]

Data from the flux tower site Renon/Ritten, Italy, located at 1735 m. a.s.l. on a south exposed steep (11 degrees) forested alpine slope, is analyzed. In spite of the complex terrain, a persistent slope wind system prevailed at the site during most of the ADVEX campaign from April to September 2005. We describe in detail how CO2 is transported parallel to the slope and how this transport affects net ecosystem exchange (NEE) in the diurnal course. The local slope wind system may be strongly modified by two different large scale synoptic situations. The "Tramontana", a persistent strong wind from the north, amplified the drainage flow during nighttime and suppressed the upslope flow above the forest canopy during daytime. Vice versa, we observed periods with continuing flow from the south, which supported the local daytime upslope flow and partly suppressed the nighttime downslope flow. This led to periods of several hours with opposite flow directions in and above the canopy. Depending on the prevailing situation, the trunk space is coupled and/or decoupled with/from the roughness sublayer above the forest canopy. In particular, vertical and horizontal mixing of CO2 was strongly dependent on the dominating wind field with essential impact on the horizontal advective flux of CO2. The most common "Local" situation, dominated by the slope wind system, showed positive horizontal and vertical advection (with typical values around 7 and 3 mu mol m(-2) s(-1), respectively) together with downslope winds at night and slightly negative horizontal advection (typical values around 2 mu mol m(-2) s(-1)) together with upslope winds during the day. This pattern was amplified at night when the wind was consistently (day and night) blowing downslope (the "Tramontana" situation) and, vice versa, attenuated during the night, when the wind was blowing permanently upslope (the "Southerlies" situation). Taking into account these advective fluxes would significantly reduce the reported annual CO2 uptake of this forest. Related effects are expected to occur at flux tower sites with similar topography and vegetation. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. [less ▲]

Available energy and energy balance closure at four coniferous forest sites across Europe

in Theoretical & Applied Climatology (2009), 98(3-4), 397-412

The available energy (AE), driving the turbulent fluxes of sensible heat and latent heat at the earth surface, was estimated at four partly complex coniferous forest sites across Europe (Tharandt, Germany ... [more ▼]

The available energy (AE), driving the turbulent fluxes of sensible heat and latent heat at the earth surface, was estimated at four partly complex coniferous forest sites across Europe (Tharandt, Germany; Ritten/Renon, Italy; Wetzstein, Germany; Norunda, Sweden). Existing data of net radiation were used as well as storage change rates calculated from temperature and humidity measurements to finally calculate the AE of all forest sites with uncertainty bounds. Data of the advection experiments MORE II (Tharandt) and ADVEX (Renon, Wetzstein, Norunda) served as the main basis. On-site data for referencing and cross-checking of the available energy were limited. Applied cross checks for net radiation (modelling, referencing to nearby stations and ratio of net radiation to global radiation) did not reveal relevant uncertainties. Heat storage of sensible heat J (H), latent heat J (E), heat storage of biomass J (veg) and heat storage due to photosynthesis J (C) were of minor importance during day but of some importance during night, where J (veg) turned out to be the most important one. Comparisons of calculated storage terms (J (E), J (H)) at different towers of one site showed good agreement indicating that storage change calculated at a single point is representative for the whole canopy at sites with moderate heterogeneity. The uncertainty in AE was assessed on the basis of literature values and the results of the applied cross checks for net radiation. The absolute mean uncertainty of AE was estimated to be between 41 and 52 W m(-2) (10-11 W m(-2) for the sum of the storage terms J and soil heat flux G) during mid-day (approximately 12% of AE). At night, the absolute mean uncertainty of AE varied from 20 to about 30 W m(-2) (approximately 6 W m(-2) for J plus G) resulting in large relative uncertainties as AE itself is small. An inspection of the energy balance showed an improvement of closure when storage terms were included and that the imbalance cannot be attributed to the uncertainties in AE alone. [less ▲]

Comparison of horizontal and vertical advective CO2 fluxes at three forest sites

in Agricultural and Forest Meteorology (2008), 148(1), 12-24

Extensive field measurements have been performed at three CarboEurope-Integrated Project forest sites with different topography (Renon/Ritten, Italian Alps, Italy; Wetzstein, Thuringia, Germany; Norunda ... [more ▼]

Extensive field measurements have been performed at three CarboEurope-Integrated Project forest sites with different topography (Renon/Ritten, Italian Alps, Italy; Wetzstein, Thuringia, Germany; Norunda, Uppland, Sweden) to evaluate the relevant terms of the carbon balance by measuring CO2 concentrations [CO2] and the wind field in a 3D multi-tower cube setup. The same experimental setup (geometry and instrumentation) and the same methodology were applied to all the three experiments. It is shown that all sites are affected by advection in different ways and strengths. Everywhere, vertical advection (F-VA) occurred only at night. During the day, F-VA disappeared because of turbulent mixing, leading to a uniform vertical profile of [CO2]. Mean F-VA was nearly zero at the hilly site (wetzstein) and at the flat site (Norunda). However, large, momentary positive or negative contributions occurred at the flat site, whereas vertical non-turbulent fluxes were generally very small at the hilly site. At the slope site (Renon), F-VA was always positive at night because of the permanently negative mean vertical wind component resulting from downslope winds. Horizontal advection also occurred mainly at night. It was positive at the slope site and negative at the flat site in the mean diurnal course. The size of the averaged non-turbulent advective fluxes was of the same order of magnitude as the turbulent flux measured by eddy-covariance technique, but the scatter was very high. This implies that it is not advisable to use directly measured quantities of the non-turbulent advective fluxes for the estimation of net ecosystem exchange (NEE) on e.g. an hourly basis. However, situations with and without advection were closely related to local or synoptic meteorological conditions. Thus, it is possible to separate advection affected NEE estimates from fluxes which are representative of the source term. However, the development of a robust correction scheme for advection requires a more detailed site-specific analysis of single events for the identification of the relevant processes. This paper presents mean characteristics of the advective CO2 fluxes in a first site-to-site comparison and evaluates the main problems for future research. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. [less ▲]