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The response of terrestrial ecosystems to rising atmospheric CO2 concentration (Ca ), particularly under nutrient-limited conditions, is a major uncertainty in Earth System models. The Eucalyptus Free-Air CO2 Enrichment (EucFACE) experiment, recently established in a nutrient- and water-limited woodland presents a unique opportunity to address this uncertainty, but can best do so if key model uncertainties have been identified in advance. We applied seven vegetation models, which have previously been comprehensively assessed against earlier forest FACE experiments, to simulate a priori possible outcomes from EucFACE. Our goals were to provide quantitative projections against which to evaluate data as they are collected, and to identify key measurements that should be made in the experiment to allow discrimination among alternative model assumptions in a postexperiment model intercomparison. Simulated responses of annual net primary productivity (NPP) to elevated Ca ranged from 0.5 to 25% across models. The simulated reduction of NPP during a low-rainfall year also varied widely, from 24 to 70%. Key processes where assumptions caused disagreement among models included nutrient limitations to growth; feedbacks to nutrient uptake; autotrophic respiration; and the impact of low soil moisture availability on plant processes. Knowledge of the causes of variation among models is now guiding data collection in the experiment, with the expectation that the experimental data can optimally inform future model improvements., (© 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

The response of terrestrial ecosystems to rising atmospheric CO2 concentration (Ca), particularly under nutrient-limited conditions, is a major uncertainty in Earth System models. The Eucalyptus Free-Air CO2 Enrichment (EucFACE) experiment, recently established in a nutrient- and water-limited woodland presents a unique opportunity to address this uncertainty, but can best do so if key model uncertainties have been identified in advance. We applied seven vegetation models, which have previously been comprehensively assessed against earlier forest FACE experiments, to simulate a priori possible outcomes from EucFACE. Our goals were to provide quantitative projections against which to evaluate data as they are collected, and to identify key measurements that should be made in the experiment to allow discrimination among alternative model assumptions in a postexperiment model intercomparison. Simulated responses of annual net primary productivity (NPP) to elevated Ca ranged from 0.5 to 25% across models. The simulated reduction of NPP during a low-rainfall year also varied widely, from 24 to 70%. Key processes where assumptions caused disagreement among models included nutrient limitations to growth; feedbacks to nutrient uptake; autotrophic respiration; and the impact of low soil moisture availability on plant processes. Knowledge of the causes of variation among models is now guiding data collection in the experiment, with the expectation that the experimental data can optimally inform future model improvements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The full accounting of greenhouse gas emissions is only possible when the three key contributors (CO2, CH4 and N2O) are continuously measured throughout the observation period. While some field techniques such as eddy covariance or automatic closed chamber measurements have attempted near-continuous observations, it is always beyond the control of the experimentalist to ensure perfect continuity. Therefore, the final time series of fluxes will inevitably have periods without reliable values (i.e., gaps) and will need to be gap-filled. While there is abundant literature on methodologies for gap-filling CO2 fluxes, there is no literature on the gap-filling methods for trace gases such as nitrous oxide. We investigate three general approaches for gap-filling nitrous oxide time series: linear extrapolation, moving average and look-up tables. A five-year time-series of eddy-covariance measurements from an intensive grassland site in South-Western Ireland was used as an example. The amount of gaps varied significantly from year to year. The single-year look-up table technique produced consistently good results even when long gaps were present in the time series. In some years, the simpler annual extrapolation technique performed equally well. It is essential that this work be extended with more complex methods, and that methods in this paper are further evaluated under different environmental conditions. We believe that these methods and analysis could also be applied to other trace gas gap-filling (e.g., CH4) which have similar intermittent patterns of emission. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]