Find the breakout session details below. Click here to get back to the meeting agenda.
October 4
Title: Upscaling eddy covariance fluxes
Conveners: Koong Yi and members of YoRS Organizing Committee.
Format: Hybrid – Guided discussion
Description: The continuous, long-term carbon, water, and energy fluxes between terrestrial ecosystems and the atmosphere provided by global and regional eddy covariance networks have become essential tools for understanding ecosystem functions and processes. However, the utility of flux data is often limited by their small footprint (a few square kilometers). Remote sensing has been considered as a valuable technique to complement limited spatial coverage of flux data, and therefore, upscaling of fluxes from canopy to region/globe has been one of the important research themes to “see fluxes anytime, everywhere” by linking eddy covariance and remote sensing techniques. In this breakout session, we will discuss challenges and opportunities in scaling fluxes by linking eddy covariance observations and remote sensing at all levels (from ground to spaceborne), and future directions.
Proposed Outcome: new or existing working group/committee/synthesis group: define tasks, find volunteers, highlight ongoing work on breakout topic, networking, share experiences, best practices, challenges, future needs for the field
Title: Asking ecological questions with the Ameriflux Network
Conveners: David Moore (University of Arizona), Marcy Litvak (University of New Mexico)
Format: Hybrid – Guided discussion with one or two short presentations to stimulate conversation, Brainstorming session on current knowledge and future opportunities
Description: As we move past AmeriFlux’s twenty-fifth year milestone, we can consider the controls of carbon, water and energy balance over decades with more data – and more ecological rigor. The genesis of the eddy covariance technique is in biometeorology, and much of the question-oriented research emerging from the network has focused on linking patterns in whole ecosystem fluxes to meteorological conditions at seasonal and interannual timescales. These studies are useful for diagnosing sensitivities of land-atmosphere exchanges to ongoing climate and land use change and are requisite, but not sufficient, for constructing a mechanistic understanding of the processes that control ecosystem energy, carbon, and water cycling. Ecological processes may operate on a range of spatial and temporal scales that the mature Ameriflux network is well poised to investigate. In this breakout session we hope to identify and discuss experiments and non-biometerological measurements can be leveraged to fill in gaps in our ecological understanding of ecosystem fluxes. These might include: soil or tissue respiration measurements, experimental root exclosures, eco-physiological or eco-hydrological studies, or larger scale studies using climate or biological gradients to test hypothesis that link fluxes to canopy composition, age, and vegetation structure to assess processes like succession, disturbance recovery, and management regimes shifts, which can drive large changes in species composition and ecosystem function over timescales much longer than the lifespan of a typical flux tower.
Proposed Outcomes: new or existing working group/committee/synthesis group: define tasks, find volunteers, networking, share experiences, best practices, challenges, future needs for the field
Title: Creative Flux Science Outreach
Conveners: FLUXNET Outreach WorkingGroup
Format: Hybrid – Guided discussion
Description: A FLUXNET outreach working group was established in early 2023. (https://fluxnet.org/
Members jointly recognized a need for novel and creative outreach initiatives that can illuminate the scientific and societal significance of energy, water, and carbon flux research – both to capture the public’s imagination and to strengthen communication between academics and stakeholders toward more actionable science. We will provide a short overview of four of our activities in development including both indirect outreach products for capacity building and facilitating communication and dissemination of flux science to wider audiences; as well as direct outreach activities to engage with stakeholders and the general public about flux science environmental and societal impacts. We will then form four discussion groups around each activity to exchange ideas and welcome feedback. New participants and ideas are always welcome to enrich the outreach working group mission!
Members jointly recognized a need for novel and creative outreach initiatives that can illuminate the scientific and societal significance of energy, water, and carbon flux research – both to capture the public’s imagination and to strengthen communication between academics and stakeholders toward more actionable science. We will provide a short overview of four of our activities in development including both indirect outreach products for capacity building and facilitating communication and dissemination of flux science to wider audiences; as well as direct outreach activities to engage with stakeholders and the general public about flux science environmental and societal impacts. We will then form four discussion groups around each activity to exchange ideas and welcome feedback. New participants and ideas are always welcome to enrich the outreach working group mission!
Proposed Outcomes: new or existing working group/committee/synthesis group: define tasks, find volunteers, highlight ongoing work on breakout topic, networking, share experiences, best practices, challenges, future needs for the field, Having fun!
October 5
Title: CH4 & N2O fluxes: best practices and data standardization
Conveners: Sara Knox, Xiangmin Sun, Kyle Delwiche
Format: Hybrid – Guided discussion
Description: This breakout session focuses on non-CO2 eddy covariance data, with an emphasis on fluxes of methane and nitrous oxide. We will discuss best practices and challenges for: 1) the instrumental set-up for CH4 and N2O fluxes, 2) high frequency data processing, and 3) post-processing of 30 min data (QCQA, gap-filling, uncertainty analysis). Through our discussions and brainstorming, we aim to provide better guidelines, standardization and resources for the flux community for CH4 and N2O fluxes.
Proposed Outcomes: networking, share experiences, best practices, challenges, future needs for the field
Title: AmeriFlux and NEON: Joining Remote Sensing and Fluxes for Real-world Impact
Conveners: Joint organization and chairing among AmeriFlux Year of Remote Sensing (Koong Yi and Team) and NEON (Stefan Metzger and Team).
Format: Hybrid – Guided discussion
Description: We integrate the AmeriFlux Year of Remote Sensing with NEON and FLUXNET Data Integration, and explore joining remote sensing data, including from NEON’s airborne observation platform and multiple collocated flux towers, into sub-hourly and meter-resolution flux maps. Easy-to-use map formats, industry-relevant units such as carbon intensity, and space-, time-, and process-attribution could make the unique benefits of eddy-covariance – direct and continuous measurements – accessible to overcoming current challenges in carbon management, precision agriculture and forestry, and many other real-world applications. Limited consideration of eddy-covariance in the Federal GHG Monitoring and Information System drafts (e.g., https://tinyurl.com/GHGMIS1 and https://tinyurl.com/GHGMIS2) underscores the need for technology transfer, which remote sensing + fluxes are uniquely suited to address.
Proposed Outcomes: Requirements for joining remote sensing and flux data for real-world applications
Title: Open-source code development working group
Conveners: Justine Missik, Madeline Scyphers, FLUXNET open source committee
Format: Hybrid – Mini-session, with short presentations, and questions & answers, Guided discussion
Description: The FLUXNET Open-Source Code Development Committee was established this year with the goal of supporting and promoting community-involved open-source development in the flux community. Current and potential activities of the committee include: creating community guidelines and resources about best practices for open-source development, such as example repositories, contribution guidelines, and guidelines/instructions for maintainers of repositories; exploring/facilitating discussion about best practices regarding recognition of software contributions in the flux community (including making our codebases citable, and giving credit for the work of software development and maintenance in a way that would encourage greater community involvement).
In this breakout session, the code committee will present an update about current activities, followed by a discussion session about this topic. We would love to hear your ideas and feedback about next steps and ways in which the code committee can best serve the flux community.
In this breakout session, the code committee will present an update about current activities, followed by a discussion session about this topic. We would love to hear your ideas and feedback about next steps and ways in which the code committee can best serve the flux community.
Proposed Outcomes: new or existing working group/committee/synthesis group: define tasks, find volunteers
Title: MexFlux: New challenges, opportunities and lessons learned
Conveners: Eli R. Perez-Ruiz
Format: Virtual-only – Guided discussion
Description: During the last decade, MexFlux has been consolidated as regional network and science consortium engaged in the understanding of water, energy and carbon (WEC) fluxes as well as ecosystem function in Mexican ecosystems. We propose a breakout session to engage the MexFlux community into the Ameriflux dialogue to account the challenges, opportunities and lessons learned within the last decade, and set the agenda for the next decade. We would like as well to open the discussion outside of MexFlux but within the Latin American context. Topics to discuss include but are not limited to: 1) How can MexFlux get involved in carbon inventories, certifications, etc.?; 2) Scaling up measurements and estimations; 3) Increase the presence of MexFlux in non-academic sectors; 4) How can we increase our study sites (challenges and opportunities)?; 5) challenges of open the access to MexFlux data; 6) What is the situation in other Latin American countries regarding WEC fluxes?
Proposed Outcomes: highlight ongoing work on breakout topic, networking, share experiences, best practices, challenges, future needs for the field