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Title: Addressing a systematic bias in carbon dioxide flux measurements with the EC150 and the IRGASON open-path gas analyzers

Journal Article · · Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
ORCiD logo [1];  [1];  [1]; ORCiD logo [2];  [3];  [2];  [4];  [5];  [6];  [6];  [1]
  1. Univ. of Montréal, QC (Canada). Centre for Northern Studies (CEN). Dept. of Geography
  2. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
  3. Campbell Scientific, Logan, UT (United States)
  4. Univ. of Alaska, Fairbanks, AK (United States). Inst. of Arctic Biology
  5. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Brandon, MB (Canada). Brandon Research and Development Centre
  6. Wilfrid Laurier Univ., Waterloo, ON (Canada). Cold Regions Research Centre

Across a global network of eddy covariance flux towers, two relatively new open-path infrared gas analyzers (IRGAs), the IRGASON and the EC150, are increasingly used to measure net carbon dioxide (CO2) fluxes (Fc_OP). Differences in net CO2 fluxes derived from open- and closed-path IRGAs in general remain poorly constrained. In particular, the performance of the IRGASON and the EC150 for measuring Fc_OP has not been characterized yet. These IRGAs measure CO2 absorption, which is scaled with air temperature and pressure before converting it to instantaneous CO2 density. This sensor-internal conversion is based on a slow-response thermistor air temperature measurement. In this paper, we test if the high-frequency temperature attenuation causes selectively systematic Fc_OP errors that scale with kinematic temperature fluxes. First, we examine the relationship between wintertime Fc_OP and kinematic temperature fluxes for eight northern ecosystems. Second, we investigate how residuals between Fc_OP and CO2 fluxes from co-located closed-path IRGAs (FC_CP) are related to kinematic temperature fluxes for three different ecosystem types (i.e., boreal forest, grassland, and irrigated cropland). We find that kinematic temperature fluxes, but not mean ambient air temperatures or CO2 flux regime, consistently determine the absolute magnitude of Fc_OP errors. This selectively systematic bias causes the most pronounced relative Fc_OP errors to occur when “true” CO2 fluxes are low and kinematic temperature fluxes are high (e.g., northern ecosystems during the winter). The smallest relative errors occur during periods with large “true” CO2 fluxes and low kinematic temperature fluxes. To address this bias, we replace the slow-response air temperature in the absorption-to-CO2 density conversion with a fast-response air temperature derived from sonic anemometer measurements. The use of the fast-response air temperature improves the agreement between half-hourly Fc_OP and FC_CP for all open- versus closed-path IRGA comparisons. Additionally, cumulative Fc_OP and Fc_CP sums are more comparable as differences drop from 63 %–13 % to 20 %–8 %. Finally, the improved IRGASON and EC150 performance enhances the ability and confidence to synthesize flux measurements across multiple sites including these two relatively new IRGAs.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER); United States Geological Survey (USGS); National Science Foundation (NSF); Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC); Fonds de recherche du Québec – Nature et technologies (FRQNT) (Canada); German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-05CH11231
OSTI ID:
1471026
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1398566
Journal Information:
Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, Vol. 228-229; ISSN 0168-1923
Publisher:
ElsevierCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 26 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (6)

High-quality eddy-covariance CO 2 budgets under cold climate conditions: Arctic Eddy-Covariance CO 2 Budgets journal August 2017
Direct and indirect climate change effects on carbon dioxide fluxes in a thawing boreal forest-wetland landscape journal March 2017
Increased high‐latitude photosynthetic carbon gain offset by respiration carbon loss during an anomalous warm winter to spring transition journal November 2019
The positive net radiative greenhouse gas forcing of increasing methane emissions from a thawing boreal forest-wetland landscape journal October 2016
High-quality eddy-covariance CO2 budgets under cold climate conditions text January 2017
Leaf- and ecosystem-scale photosynthetic parameters for the overstory and understory of boreal forests in interior Alaska journal January 2018