Comparative Ecosystem Analysis Using Inverse Parameter Retrieval

University Of Colorado At Boulder, Boulder CO

Investigators

Abstract

There are over 100 monitoring sites in forests across the globe that continuously measure the rate and magnitude of CO2 exchange between the forest and atmosphere, and some of these sites are now approaching, or have exceeded, ten years of measurements. Computer models of ecosystem processes, focusing on those involved with photosynthesis and respiration, will be used to evaluate the data from 20 of these forest monitoring sites in order to comparatively evaluate which forests have the highest potential to affect the atmospheric CO2 concentration, and why. An understanding of the processes that result in the accumulation of atmospheric CO2 and thus, impacts to future climate warming, require that we understand how forest ecosystems across the globe exchange CO2 with the atmosphere, and ultimately sequester some of the CO2 in the trees and soils of the forest. The research will facilitate the development of new computer modeling approaches to be applied to CO2 flux monitoring sites including those in an emerging national network of environmental monitoring sites known as the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON).