ARL News

Work on Linking CO2 and H2O Cycles Wins WMO award

 

July 16, 2004

Two ARL scientists are among the authors recognized by the World Meteorological Organization for their work on linking the carbon dioxide and water cycles of ecosystems. The team received the Norbert Gerbier-Mumm International Award for 2004 from the WMO. The team involves scientists from 11 countries, all participants in the international FLUXNET program. FLUXNET measures the exchange of CO2 with the terrestrial biosphere directly, using tower mounted instrumentation and methods developed by ARL (Oak Ridge, TN). FLUXNET grew out of a meeting organized by ARL and held in Italy almost a decade ago. The strong association with Italian scientists continues to this day. In North America, the local component of FLUXNET is known as AMERIFLUX.

CMDL is also included in the authorship list.

A criticism of FLUXNET has been that it measures the exchange rates at specific locations only. It is for this reason that there is a growing international program to use light aircraft to measure exchange rates, as an interpolation tool. Not surprisingly, the aircraft program is being led by scientists in Italy, with strong ARL involvement. The flux-measuring instrumentation carried by the aircraft is constructed by ARL. The most popular light aircraft platform is being manufactured commercially in Italy – the Sky Arrow.

Contact information: Tilden P Meyers
Phone: (865) 576-1245
e-mail: tilden.meyers@noaa.gov