Field Measurement NetworksD. Hollinger, E. LaPoint, R. Birdsey, L. Heath

U.S. North American Carbon Program (NACP) Investigators Meeting, January 22-24, 2007

Nearby national forest inventory plot (location hidden)

Flux tower

Landscape monitoring sample location

Validation sample location

3 km

Diagnosis – Where are the C sources & sinks across N. America?

Attribution – What are the mechanisms responsible?

Prediction – How will these change in the future?

Field measurements provide:

• C stocks, fluxes, uncertainties• Other fluxes

• Mechanistic understanding• Environmental data

• Tair, PAR, ppt, RH, Tsoil, soil moisture, net radiation components, etc.

• Independent estimate of spatial pattern of C sources & sinks

• Primary data source for developing & testing models

• Source of environmental data for models• Inverse analyses:

• Model parameter estimation (Remote sensing & biogeochem)• Constraints on model states (C flux from atmospheric model)

• Data assimilation

Use of Field Measurement Network data:

• Relevance• Coverage

– spatial, temporal

• Quality– good & better

• Uniformity of approach• Accessibility

– On line?

Desired characteristics of NACP field data:

Field Measurement Networks Relevant to the NACP (C flux or stocks)

• FIA plots• Landscape level

plots• Experimental

Forests• LTER• AmeriFlux, Fluxnet

Canada• NEON

• Yield maps• County statistics

• Agricultural Experiment Stations

• AmeriFlux, AgriFlux

Inte

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Non-agricultural sites Agricultural sites

Year Two

Year Three

Year Four

Year Five

Five-Year Panel:

Year One

USDA Forest Service FIA Plotsa gift to the NACP

• 6000 acre grid cells• 1 plot per grid cell• >800K plots• each plot visited every 5 (east) or 10 (west) years

Condition B = Seedling-Sapling Stand

Tree Variables Species: Yellow PoplarDBH: 12.9 inchesTree history: LiveTree Class: Growing Stock

Sample-Location Variables Location ID: St, Un, Co, #Date: Mo, Day, YrSample Kind: Remeas. 1/5th

GPS: Lat-Long.

Condition Variables Slope & Aspect: Pct & Degrees Land Use: Forest Stand Origin: Natural Owner Class: Individual

Condition A = Mature Stand

Old 1/5-acre plot

FIA Plot Measurements

1 plot/6,000 acres

FIA Plots

• Species, dbh• 46 states already in

annual inventory• Federal land included• All plots geo-located,

corrupted coordinates available to public

• Soil & litter data (including C)

• Coarse woody debris• Crown measures

“P3” Plots (1/96,000 acres)

Standard Plots (1/6,000 acres)

FIA Data Available from National Spatial Data Services Team Website

http://www.fs.fed.us/ne/fia/spatial/index_ss.html

Questions, contact Liz LaPoint:

elapoint@fs.fed.us

The next step - FIA data-based forest carbon estimates (Linda Heath)

COLE: Carbon On Line Estimation web tool

http://ncasi.uml.edu/COLE

• Mensuration-based conversion of diameters to C mass• also soil & CWD C• County basis• carbon estimates soon to be on FIA website

Nearby national forest inventory plot (location hidden)

Flux tower

Landscape monitoring sample location

Validation sample location

3 km

Landscape scale Monitoring Sites – the missing tier

(Birdsey & Law)

• Designed to interface with remote sensing & inventory measurements

3 x 3 km grid of inventory plots surrounding a special research installation•Flux, meteorological tower or other installation at center

•Inventory plots follow FIA protocol

•Other measures (litterfall, respiration) take place at inventory plots

Tower location

Niwot Ridge LTER, Colorado

•Central km2 has intensive biometric measurements

•Larger area for Lidar; will include range of disturbance

• Uniform coverage in continental US of all land classes– But not measured in non-forested land (e.g. agriculture)

• Mostly uniform approach• QC/QA• Central data source & service team

Forest Inventory and Analysis plots:

Relevance: 9Coverage: 8Quality: 10Uniformity: 9Accessibility: 10

• Implementation tested at 6 sites• Fluxes and stocks• Designed to address NACP questions• Field manual• No funding source• MEETING TONIGHT!

Landscape level plots:

Relevance: 10Coverage: 3 (sparse)Quality: 10Uniformity: 9Accessibility: 6

Nearby national forest inventory plot (location hidden)

Flux tower

Landscape monitoring sample location

Validation sample location

3 km

• 59 sites – Lugo et al. BioScience 2006, Adams et al. GTR NE-321

• Some with >70 years of inventory data• Ecological, meteorological & streamflow data• Experimental manipulations• Often in hilly terrain

Experimental Forests:

Relevance: 7 Coverage: 5 (sparse, forests only)Quality: 8Uniformity: 5Accessibility: 3

• 82 towers on 53 sites (63 active towers, 41 active with CDIAC data), 22 FCRN

• 380 tower-years AmeriFlux, 110 FCRN, AgriFlux• 39 sites >5 years & still active; 10 sites >9 years

• CO2 & energy fluxes, environmental & ecological data

• New level-4 data products– QC, gap-filling & partitioning

AmeriFlux, Fluxnet Canada, AgriFlux:

Relevance: 9 Coverage: 7 (sparse)Quality: 8 (? sites)Uniformity: 8Accessibility: 8

Data ?

• 29 Sites, 21 continental NA• Multi-year NPP & biomass data (Knapp & Smith,

2001)• Streamflow, environmental, & nutrient data• Experimental manipulations• Mechanistic studies

NSF LTER Network:

Relevance: 8Coverage: 6 (sparse)Quality: 8 Uniformity: 7Accessibility: 4

• 29 Domaines– “Core” and “gradient” sites

• CO2 & energy fluxes, detailed environmental & ecological data

• Experimental manipulations• Cyberinfrastructure

NEON:

Relevance: 8 (wildland only) Coverage: 8 (hierarchical)Quality: 9Uniformity: 10Accessibility: 10

Regional FIA Plot Network & Flux towers120 Forest Plots, 3 towers

Source of

Estimate

Mean NPP

(g C m-2 yr-1)

NASA – CASA

446 151

PnET – CN

417 35

Towers 300-400 50-100

FIA 250 100

Birdsey, Hom, Clark, Pan, & Potter

Summary

• FIA plots– Excellent coverage & data accessibility

• Landscape level plots– Great idea, incorporate into NEON?

• Experimental Forests

• AmeriFlux, Fluxnet Canada, AgriFlux– Extensive NA coverage, good data accessibility

• LTER sites

• NEON