The Boreal Ecosystem-Atmosphere Study (BOREAS): An overview and early results from the 1994 field year
- Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD (United States)
The Boreal Ecosystem Atmosphere Study (BOREAS) is a large-scale international field experiment that has the goal of improving our understanding of the exchanges of radiative energy, heat, water, CO{sub 2}m and trace gases between the boreal forest and the lower atmosphere. An important objective of BOREAS is to collect the data needed to improve computer simulation models of the processes controlling these exchanges so that scientists can anticipate the effects of global change. From August 1993 through September 1994, a continuous set of monitoring measurements-meteorology, hydrology, and satellite remote sensing-were gathered over the 1000 X 1000 km BOREAS study region that covers most of Saskatchewan and Manitoba, Canada. This monitoring program was punctuated by six campaigns that saw the deployment of some 300 scientists and aircrew into the field, supported by 11 research aircraft. The participants were drawn primarily from U.S. and Canadian agencies and universities, although there were also important contributions from France, the United Kingdom, and Russia. The field campaigns lasted for a total of 123 days and saw the compilation of a comprehensive surface-atmosphere flux dataset supported by ecological, trace gas, hydrological, and remote sensing science observations. The surface-atmosphere fluxes of sensible heat, latent heat, CO{sub 2}, and momentum were measured using eddy correlation equipment mounted on a surface network of 10 towers complemented by four flux-measurement aircraft. All in all, over 350 airborne missions (remote sensing and eddy correlation) were flown during the 1994 field year. Preliminary analyses of the data indicate that the area-averaged photosynthetic capacity of the boreal forest is much less than that of the temperature forests to the south. 21 refs., 22 figs., 5 tabs.
- OSTI ID:
- 171730
- Journal Information:
- Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, Vol. 76, Issue 9; Other Information: PBD: Sep 1995
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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