Bolstad, Paul: University of Minnesota (Project Lead)
Davis, Kenneth (Ken): The Pennsylvania State University (Co-Investigator)
Heinsch, Faith Ann: Missoula Fire Sciences Laboratory (Co-Investigator)
Kubiske, Mark: (Co-Investigator)
Kolka, Randy: USFS Northern Research Station (Institution Lead)
Cook, Bruce: NASA GSFC (Participant)
Desai, Ankur: University of Wisconsin (Participant)
Saliendra, Nicanor (Nick): USDA ARS NGPRL (Participant)
Teclaw, Ron: (Participant)
Project Funding:
2005 - 2008
NRA: 2004 NASA: Carbon Cycle Science
Funded by NASA
Abstract:
We propose a regional program to test the NACP multi-tiered carbon flux measurement and upscaling methodology in a complex forest/wetland in northern Wisconsin. The research combines scalable models, remote sensing, extensive and mid-level field sampling with an existing regional cluster of eddy-covariance flux towers. This flux network includes the globally unique 447 meter (landscape-scale) WLEF flux tower. The proposed work will oversample the region at each of the four NACP observational tiers. The resulting regional data density, the tall tower fluxes, and co-located regional atmospheric budget studies will provide a unique site for the testing and development of regional upscaling methodology. Our primary goal is to rigorously test our ability to upscale fluxes to landscape and regional scales using flux tower and forest inventory data using ecosystem models driven by globally–available remote sensing data.
Our research will combine measurements from all four tiers described by the NACP. Tier 4 measurements will encompass five canopy-level, eddy-covariance flux towers representing the most common land cover types in the region. Three long-term flux towers will be complemented by two roving flux towers that will sample additional land cover types. Tier 3 sites will be distributed in both wetlands and uplands, adopting the protocols recommended by the NACP working group on Tier 3 measurements. Measurements include forest structure, carbon pools, ANPP, and soil C flux. Tier 3 data will be collected at 30 plots encompassing 120 sub-plots in an FIA-compatible plot layout. Tier 2 analyses will focus on the almost 700 FIA sample plots in the northern Wisconsin study region, working in collaboration with the U.S. Forest Service Midwest FIA work unit. Tier 1 data will include high (30 meter Landsat or similar), intermediate (250 meter MODIS) and coarse (1 km MODIS) resolution terrestrial remote sensing data, which will be used to map important ecosystem structure across the region.
Synthesis will be accomplished by ecosystem models, including Biome-BGC, Wetlands-BGC, and a light use efficiency model, that will use the multi-tiered observational array, including Tier 1 remote sensing inputs, to simulate landscape and regional-scale ecosystem-atmosphere CO2 fluxes. These remote-sensing driven, model-mediated upscaled CO2 fluxes will be compared to landscape-scale NEE measurements from the WLEF tower, and regional-scale NEE derived from tower-based atmospheric budget studies. The models will be driven by a range of remote-sensing and insitu data types and resolution, and evaluated according to their ability to simulate the independent landscape and regional flux observations.
The study will establish (or refute) the ability to simulate fluxes at multiple stand-level flux towers within a region using a consistent ecosystem modeling approach. The landscape and regional evaluation will determine an optimized observational and modeling strategy for upscaling regional CO2 fluxes. The results of this upscaling experiment will be applicable to forested regions that could include substantial spatial heterogeneity, extensive wetlands, and human management, and will provide critical guidance to the implementation of the NACP. Without this experiment, a central tenant of the NACP, multi-tiered upscaling of CO2 fluxes to regional scales, remains essentially untested.
Publications:
Desai, A. R., Moorcroft, P. R., Bolstad, P. V., Davis, K. J. 2007. Regional carbon fluxes from an observationally constrained dynamic ecosystem model: Impacts of disturbance, CO2fertilization, and heterogeneous land cover. Journal of Geophysical Research. 112(G1). DOI: 10.1029/2006JG000264
Desai, A. R., Noormets, A., Bolstad, P. V., Chen, J., Cook, B. D., Davis, K. J., Euskirchen, E. S., Gough, C., Martin, J. G., Ricciuto, D. M., Schmid, H. P., Tang, J., Wang, W. 2008. Influence of vegetation and seasonal forcing on carbon dioxide fluxes across the Upper Midwest, USA: Implications for regional scaling. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology. 148(2), 288-308. DOI: 10.1016/j.agrformet.2007.08.001
TANG, J., BOLSTAD, P. V., MARTIN, J. G. 2009. Soil carbon fluxes and stocks in a Great Lakes forest chronosequence. Global Change Biology. 15(1), 145-155. DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2486.2008.01741.x
2008 NASA Carbon Cycle & Ecosystems Joint Science Workshop Posters
- Probabilistic carbon flux upscaling in a complex northern forest ecoregion
-- (K J Davis, P V Bolstad, R Anderson, K Cherrey, B D Cook, A R Desai, F A Heinsch, R Kolka, S W Running, N Z Saliendra, P Weishampel)
[abstract]
[poster]
More details may be found in the following project profile(s):
