HR: 1340h
AN: B43D-1599 [Abstracts]
TI: On Using CO2 Concentration Measurements at Mountain top and Valley Locations in Regional Flux Studies.
AU: * De Wekker, S F
EM: dewekker@virginia.edu
AF: University of Virginia
Department of Environmental Sciences, 291 McCormick Rd.
P.O. Box 400123, Charlottesville, VA 22904, United States
AU: Song, G
EM: gs6r@virginia.edu
AF: University of Virginia
Department of Environmental Sciences, 291 McCormick Rd.
P.O. Box 400123, Charlottesville, VA 22904, United States
AU: Stephens, B B
EM: stephens@ucar.edu
AF: National Center for Atmospheric Research, P.O. Box 3000, Boulder, CO 80307, United
States
AB:
Data from the Regional Atmospheric Continuous CO2 Network in the Rocky Mountains (Rocky RACCOON) are
used to investigate atmospheric controls on temporal and spatial variability of CO2 in mountainous terrain and
the usefulness of mountain top and valley measurement for the estimation of regional CO2 fluxes. Rocky
RACCOON consists of four sites installed in fall of 2005 and spring of 2006: Niwot Ridge, near Ward, Colorado;
Storm Peak Laboratory near Steamboat Springs, Colorado; Fraser Experimental Forest, near Fraser Colorado;
and Hidden Peak, near Snowbird, Utah. The network uses the NCAR-developed Autonomous Inexpensive
Robust CO2 Analyzer. These units measure CO2 concentrations at three levels on a tower, producing individual
measurements every 2.5 minutes precise to 0.1 ppm CO2 and closely tied to the WMO CO2 scale. Three of the
sites are located on a mountain top while one site is located in a valley. Initial analyses show interesting
relationships between CO2 concentration and atmospheric parameters, such as wind speed and direction,
temperature, and incoming solar radiation. The nature of these relationships is further investigated with an
atmospheric mesoscale model. Idealized and realistic simulations are able to capture the observed behavior of
spatial and temporal CO2 variability and reveal the responsible physical processes. The implications of the
results and the value of the measurements for providing information on local to regional scale respiration and
photosynthesis rates in the Rockies are discussed.
DE: 0315 Biosphere/atmosphere interactions (0426, 1610)
DE: 0428 Carbon cycling (4806)
DE: 3307 Boundary layer processes
SC: Biogeosciences [B]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting