Ten-year variability in fluxes, meteorology, and environmental conditions at a Colorado subalpine forest site

Changing meteorological and environmental conditions affect fluxes; model analysis has shown that environmental variability directly accounts for about half the interannual variability in net ecosystem exchange (NEE) of CO2 whereas the other 50% is due to biotic responses to these changing variables (Richardson et al. 2007). In our study, ten years (1998-2008) of turbulent flux measurements of heat, water vapor, and CO2 at the Niwot Ridge AmeriFlux site (Monson et al. 2002) are examined with respect to meteorological conditions (atmospheric temperature, stability, precipitation, and cloudiness) as well as changes in environmental conditions, such as snow depth and soil moisture. The typical yearly cycle and an estimate of the magnitude of year-to-year variability in the diurnal fluxes and other variables for a high-elevation subalpine forest ecosystem are presented. Wintertime ecosystem respiration has an average 30-min NEE of 0.62 μmol m-2 s-1 with an interannual range between 0.5-1 μmol m-2 s-1. Uptake of CO2 in late summer has an average NEE of -0.71 μmol m-2 s-1 with an interannual range between -0.1 to -1.5 μmol m-2 s-1. Previous studies at the Niwot Ridge AmeriFlux site have described the importance of photosynthetic photon flux density (PPFD) (Monson et al. 2002) and also growing season length (Hu et al. 2009) on NEE. Water isotope ratios analyzed by Hu et al. (2009) have shown that trees at the site primarily rely on water from snowmelt to sustain them throughout the summer; combining this result with the SIPNET model, Hu et al. conclude that there is a limited connection between summer precipitation and the cumulative annual gross primary production (GPP). We have tested this conclusion more explicitly by examining the response of NEE to specific precipitation events and the effect of extended dry periods on the diel cycle of the fluxes, CO2 mole fraction, sap flow, and other meteorological and soil variables. Additionally, we examine the connection between seasonal changes in NEE to changes in CO2 mole fraction measured with a tunable diode laser at the site (Schaeffer et al. 2008). References: Hu, J., et al., 2009: Longer growing seasons lead to less carbon sequestration by a subalpine forest. Global Change Biology, doi:10.1111/j.1365-2486.2009.01967.x Monson, R. K., et al., 2002: Carbon sequestration in a high-elevation, subalpine forest. Global Change Biology, 8, 459-478. Richardson, A.D., et al., 2007: Environmental variation is directly responsible for short- but not long-term variation in forest-atmosphere carbon exchange. Global Change Biology, 13, 788-803. Schaeffer, S.M., et al., 2008: Long-term field performance of a tunable diode laser absorption spectrometer for analysis of carbon isotopes of CO2 in forest air. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 8, 5263-5277.