Abstract

The Calhoun Critical Zone Observatory (CCZO) has been collecting rare sub-daily measurements of above- and below canopy water, energy and carbon fluxes with above- and below-ground hydro-meteorological variables since 2016. The collected data at a fast-growing pine forest site reveal the dynamics of the CCZ ecosystem that has experienced anthropogenic disturbances (deforestation and reforestation) since the 18th century. The observations provide a unique opportunity to investigate the coupling between aboveground environmental conditions and belowground fluxes of mass and energy in general and the fate of fixed carbon in forested ecosystems in particular. The simultaneous measurements of above- and below canopy with above- and below-ground hydro-meteorological processes play a crucial role in CZ research. Issues under investigation include characterization of aboveground environmental conditions and belowground metrics of biogeochemical fluxes across diverse timescales in ecosystems of varying successional stages, assessment of the degree and pace of their coupling with aboveground conditions, quantification of depth distributions of CO₂ and soil surface CO₂ efflux rates, and estimation of deep CO₂ fate and total annual belowground CO₂ generation.

Citation

Zhu, Modi, Yao Tang, Jingfeng Wang, Daniel Markewitz, Rafael L Bras, Weiqiang Jing (2019): Observations of Water, Energy and CO2 Fluxes at Calhoun Critical Zone Observatory. American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, San Francisco, CA, December 9-13, 2019.

This Paper/Book acknowledges NSF CZO grant support.