Releases of the greenhouse gases carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) from thawing permafrost are expected to be among the largest feedbacks to climate from arctic ecosystems. However, the current net carbon (C) balance of terrestrial arctic ecosystems is unknown. Recent studies suggest that these ecosystems are sources, sinks, or approximately in balance at present…. More
Reforesting and managing ecosystems have been proposed as ways to mitigate global warming and offset anthropogenic carbon emissions. The intent of our opinion piece is to provide a perspective on how well plants and ecosystems sequester carbon. The ability of individual plants and ecosystems to mine carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, as defined by rates… More
Aerodynamic canopy height (ha) is the effective height of vegetation canopy for its influence on atmospheric fluxes and is a key parameter of surface‐atmosphere coupling. However, methods to estimate ha from data are limited. This synthesis evaluates the applicability and robustness of the calculation of ha from eddy covariance momentum‐flux data. At 69 forest sites,… More
It is necessary to partition eddy covariance measurements of carbon dioxide exchange into its offsetting gross fluxes, canopy photosynthesis, and ecosystem respiration, to understand the biophysical controls on the net fluxes. And independent estimates of canopy photosynthesis (G) and ecosystem respiration (R) are needed to validate and parametrize carbon cycle models that are coupled with… More
Although mature black spruce forests are a dominant cover type in the boreal forest of North America, it is not clear how their carbon (C) budgets vary across the continent. The installation of an eddy covariance flux tower on an Old Black Spruce (OBS) site in eastern Canada (EOBS, Québec) provided a first opportunity to… More
Leaf area index (LAI) measurements made at 17 forest sites of the Fluxnet Canada Research Network are reported here. In addition to LAI, we also report other major structural parameters including the effective LAI, element clumping index, needle-to-shoot area ratio, and woody-to-total area ratio. Values of the fraction of photosynthetically active radiation (FPAR) absorbed by… More