RCN: The FLUXNET Global Network Assessing Spatial-Temporal Variability of Carbon Dioxide, Water Vapor and Energy Fluxes Between the Terrestrial Biosphere and Atmosphere

University Of California-Berkeley, Berkeley CA

Investigators

Abstract

The global network, called FLUXNET, studies the breathing of vegetation by measuring the exchange of carbon dioxide, water vapor and energy between vegetation and the atmosphere with the eddy covariance method. At present, eddy fluxes and a suite of meteorological, soil and plant variables, are being measured at over 300 sites world-wide, through the auspices and support of regional networks like Ameriflux, CarboEuroflux, AsiaFlux and ChinaFlux. FLUXNET plays the role of integrating and uniting the distributed networks into a global network. When combined as a group, the FLUXNET expands the diversity of biomes, climate regions, disturbance and land use treatment that are associated with its constituent regional networks. The data produced by the network will be used to examine many questions. The measurements and synthesis are highly relevant to understanding implications of climate change and evaluating efforts to mitigate increasing carbon flux from the land to the atmosphere. It provides a measure of which areas are sequestering carbon and which are losing carbon to the atmosphere.