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Abstract: To reveal the potential contribution of grassland ecosystems to climate change, we examined the energy exchange over an alpine Kobresia meadow on the northeastern Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau. The annual pattern of energy exchange showed a clear distinction between periods of frozen soil with the daily mean soil temperature at 5cm (T s5 ≤0°C) and non-frozen soil (T s5 >0°C). More than 80% of net radiation was converted to sensible heat (H) during the frozen soil period, but H varied considerably with the change in vegetation during the non-frozen soil period. Three different sub-periods were further distinguished for the later period: (1) the pre-growth period with Bowen ratio (β)>1 was characterized by a high β of 3.0 in average and the rapid increase of net radiation associated with the increases of H, latent heat (LE) and soil heat; (2) during the growth period when β ≤1, the LE was high but H fluxes was low with β changing between 0.3 and 0.4; (3) the post-growth period with average β of 3.6 when H increased again and reached a second maximum around early October. The seasonal pattern suggests that the phenology of the vegetation and the soil water content were the major factors affecting the energy partitioning in the alpine meadow ecosystem. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

We used the eddy covariance method to measure the CO2 exchange between the atmosphere and an alpine meadow ecosystem (37°29–45′N, 101°12–23′E, 3250 m a.s.l.) on the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau, China in the 2001 and 2002 growing seasons. The maximum rates of CO2 uptake and release derived from the diurnal course of CO2 flux (FCO2) were -10.8 and 4.4 μmol m-2 s-1, respectively, indicating a relatively high net carbon sequestration potential as compared to subalpine coniferous forest at similar elevation and latitude. The largest daily CO2 uptake was 3.9 g C m-2 per day on 7 July 2002, which is less than half of those reported for lowland grassland and forest at similar latitudes. The daily CO2 uptake during the measurement period indicated that the alpine ecosystem might behave as a sink of atmospheric CO2 during the growing season if the carbon lost due to grazing is not significant. The daytime CO2 uptake was linearly correlated with the daily photosynthetic photon flux density each month. The nighttime averaged FCO2 showed a positive exponential correlation with the soil temperature, but apparently negative correlation with the soil water content. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]