HR: 17:30h
AN: H24D-07    [Abstracts]
TI: Measuring Water and Carbon Fluxes Over Forested Complex Topography From Plant to Small Watershed Scale
AU: * Qualls, R J
EM: rqualls@uidaho.edu
AF: University of Idaho, Dept. of Bio & Ag Engineering POB 440904, Moscow, ID 83844-0904
AU: Zhao, W
EM: wzhao@uidaho.edu
AF: University of Idaho, Dept. of Bio & Ag Engineering POB 440904, Moscow, ID 83844-0904
AB: The overall goal of this research is to contribute toward a better understanding and methods of quantifying the magnitude, timing, distribution and coupling of carbon and water fluxes in mountainous forestlands. This includes one segment of the continuum of carbon and water flow from the "forest to the sea". The processes addressed include the storage and exchange of carbon and water between the atmosphere and the land surface including in and by vegetation. We have three key objectives: 1) the merging of innovative new measurements with models to improve the biophysics of the models at the tree and canopy scale; 2) the application of models at the landscape scale, which is necessary for evaluating the impacts of human activities on regional carbon balance; and 3) the use of models to predict the impacts of policy decisions, for example land cover change decisions, as well as climate change. The work to be presented here focuses on one aspect of this problem: the measurement of turbulent fluxes of water from and carbon into the forest canopy over complex terrain. Measurement of turbulent fluxes in complex topography with complex vegetation is an area of significant scientific interest, but which at present is not well understood. Some of the work that has been done by others includes slope and air density corrections, analysis of the relationship of friction velocity and spectral frequency on energy budget closure, relative effects of mesoscale topography versus local topography and canopy structure on local flux measurements. In order to address this problem, we have constructed a 130 foot tall tower in a mountainous, forested watershed, among a mix of conifers including Douglas fir, Cedar, Tamarack, and Hemlock. The forest was planted 75 to 80 years ago, and the trees average around 100 feet in height. We are collecting eddy correlation measurements of water, carbon and heat fluxes above the canopy. The issues surrounding measurement of fluxes from complex surfaces will require significant effort before they are resolved, and our instrumentation and research will allow us to play a prominent role in this process.
UR: http://snow.ag.uidaho.edu/MicaCreek.html
DE: 0466 Modeling
DE: 1631 Land/atmosphere interactions (1218, 1843, 3322)
DE: 1818 Evapotranspiration
DE: 1878 Water/energy interactions (0495)
DE: 3307 Boundary layer processes
SC: Hydrology [H]
MN: Fall Meeting 2005