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Seasonal variations of photosynthetic capacity parameters, notably the maximum carboxylation rate, Vcmax, play an important role in accurate estimation of CO2 assimilation in gas-exchange models. Satellite-derived normalised difference vegetation index (NDVI), enhanced vegetation index (EVI) and model-data fusion can provide means to predict seasonal variation in Vcmax. In this study, Vcmax was obtained from a process-based model inversion, based on an ensemble Kalman filter (EnKF), and gross primary productivity, and sensible and latent heat fluxes measured using eddy covariance technique at two deciduous broadleaf forest sites and a mixed forest site. Optimised Vcmax showed considerable seasonal and inter-annual variations in both mixed and deciduous forest ecosystems. There was noticeable seasonal hysteresis in Vcmax in relation to EVI and NDVI from 8 d composites of satellite data during the growing period. When the growing period was phenologically divided into two phases (increasing VIs and decreasing VIs phases), significant seasonal correlations were found between Vcmax and VIs, mostly showing R2>0.95. Vcmax varied exponentially with increasing VIs during the first phase (increasing VIs), but second and third-order polynomials provided the best fits of Vcmax to VIs in the second phase (decreasing VIs). The relationships between NDVI and EVI with Vcmax were different. Further efforts are needed to investigate Vcmax–VIs relationships at more ecosystem sites to the use of satellite-based VIs for estimating Vcmax.Keywords: Vcmax, spectral vegetation indices, ensemble Kalman filter, BEPS model(Published: 15 April 2014)Citation: Tellus B 2014, 66, 23279, http://dx.doi.org/10.3402/tellusb.v66.23279

Light use efficiency (LUE) models are widely used to simulate gross primary production (GPP). However, the treatment of the plant canopy as a big leaf by these models can introduce large uncertainties in simulated GPP. Recently, a two-leaf light use efficiency (TL-LUE) model was developed to simulate GPP separately for sunlit and shaded leaves and has been shown to outperform the big-leaf MOD17 model at six FLUX sites in China. In this study we investigated the performance of the TL-LUE model for a wider range of biomes. For this we optimized the parameters and tested the TL-LUE model using data from 98 FLUXNET sites which are distributed across the globe. The results showed that the TL-LUE model performed in general better than the MOD17 model in simulating 8 day GPP. Optimized maximum light use efficiency of shaded leaves (epsilon(msh)) was 2.63 to 4.59 times that of sunlit leaves (epsilon(msu)). Generally, the relationships of epsilon(msh) and epsilon(msu) with epsilon(max) were well described by linear equations, indicating the existence of general patterns across biomes. GPP simulated by the TL-LUE model was much less sensitive to biases in the photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) input than the MOD17 model. The results of this study suggest that the proposed TL-LUE model has the potential for simulating regional and global GPP of terrestrial ecosystems, and it is more robust with regard to usual biases in input data than existing approaches which neglect the bimodal within-canopy distribution of PAR.

Accurately simulating gross primary productivity (GPP) in terrestrial ecosystem models is critical because errors in simulated GPP propagate through the model to introduce additional errors in simulated biomass and other fluxes. We evaluated simulated, daily average GPP from 26 models against estimated GPP at 39 eddy covariance flux tower sites across the United States and Canada. None of the models in this study match estimated GPP within observed uncertainty. On average, models overestimate GPP in winter, spring, and fall, and underestimate GPP in summer. Models overpredicted GPP under dry conditions and for temperatures below 0 degrees C. Improvements in simulated soil moisture and ecosystem response to drought or humidity stress will improve simulated GPP under dry conditions. Adding a low-temperature response to shut down GPP for temperatures below 0 degrees C will reduce the positive bias in winter, spring, and fall and improve simulated phenology. The negative bias in summer and poor overall performance resulted from mismatches between simulated and observed light use efficiency (LUE). Improving simulated GPP requires better leaf-to-canopy scaling and better values of model parameters that control the maximum potential GPP, such as epsilon(max) (LUE), V-cmax (unstressed Rubisco catalytic capacity) or Jmax (the maximum electron transport rate).

The seasonal and interannual variability of gross ecosystem photosynthesis (Pg) and ecosystem respiration (Re), and their relationships to environmental variables and stand characteristics were used to explain the variation of eddy-covariance-measured net ecosystem productivity (FNEP) of three different-aged Douglas-fir stands located on the east coast of Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. During the 9-year period, 1998–2006, which included a strong El Niño/La Niña event, the near-end-of-rotation stand (DF49, 57 years old in 2006) was a moderate carbon (C) sink for CO2 with annual FNEP ranging from 267 to 410 g C m−2 yr−1 (mean ± SD, 357 ± 51 g C m−2 yr−1). The pole/sapling stand (HDF88, 18 years old in 2006) was a weak C source (FNEP = −64 ± 75 g C m−2 yr−1), and the recently harvested stand (HDF00, 6 years old in 2006) was a large C source (FNEP = −515 ± 88 g C m−2 yr−1) during 2002–2006. Irrespective of stand age, all sites responded quite similarly to changes in environmental variables during each year. Daily total values of Pg and Re were highest in July–August in all three stands, while daily FNEP peaked during April–June at DF49, May–June at HDF88, and June–July at HDF00. Reductions in root-zone soil water content decreased both Pg and Re especially during the dry period from May to September, and this effect was more pronounced in the younger stands. Evapotranspiration and dry-foliage surface conductance also decreased with decreasing root-zone soil water content whereas water use efficiency appeared to be conservative, especially at DF49. Increasing spring temperature had a positive effect on annual Pg and Re but caused a slight decrease in annual FNEP. During the summer to autumn transition period, increases in soil water content resulted in a greater increase in Re than Pg causing a reduction in FNEP. The interannual variation in the C balance was determined mainly by the interannual variation in Re for the near-end-of-rotation stand and Pg for the two younger stands. The results indicate that regardless of the stand age, interannual variability in the C balance was mainly determined by year-to-year variability in spring temperature and water availability in late summer. An edited version of this paper was published by AGU. Copyright 2009 American Geophysical Union.

This study investigated how nitrogen (N) fertilization with 200 kg N ha−1 of a 58-year-old West Coast Douglas fir stand influenced its net greenhouse gas (GHG) global warming potential (GWP) in the first year after fertilization. Effects of fertilization on GHG GWP were calculated considering changes in soil N2O emissions, measured using the static chamber technique and the soil N2O gradient technique; eddy covariance (EC) measured net ecosystem productivity (NEP); and energy requirements of fertilizer production, transport, and its aerial spreading. We found significant N2O losses in fertilized plots compared to a small uptake in nonfertilized plots. Chamber-measured N loss in the fertilized plots was about 16 kg N2O ha−1 in the first year, which is equivalent to 10 kg N ha−1 or 5% of the applied fertilizer N. Soil N2O emissions measured using the gradient technique, however, exceeded the chamber measurements by about 50%. We also compared a polymer-coated slow-release urea with regular urea and found that the former delayed N2O emissions but the year-end total loss was about the same as that from regular urea. Change in NEP due to fertilization was determined by relating annual NEP for the nonfertilized stand to environmental controls using an empirical and a process-based model. Annual NEP increased by 64%, from 326 g C m−2, calculated assuming that the stand was not fertilized, to the measured value of 535 g C m−2 with fertilization. At the end of the year, net change in GHG GWP was −2.28 t CO2 ha−1 compared to what it would have been without fertilization, thereby indicating favorable effect of fertilization even in the first year after fertilization with significant emissions of N2O. An edited version of this paper was published by AGU. Copyright 2008 American Geophysical Union.

Gross ecosystem production (GEP) can be estimated at the global scale and in a spatially continuous mode using models driven by remote sensing. Multiple studies have demonstrated the capability of high resolution optical remote sensing to accurately measure GEP at the leaf and stand level, but upscaling this relationship using satellite data remains challenging. Canopy structure is one of the complicating factors as it not only alters the strength of a measured signal depending on integrated leaf-angle-distribution and sun-observer geometry, but also drives the photosynthetic output and light-use-efficiency ( ɛ ) of individual leaves. This study introduces a new approach for upscaling multiangular canopy level reflectance measurements to satellite scales which takes account of canopy structure effects by using Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR). A tower-based spectro-radiometer was used to observe canopy reflectances over an annual period under different look and solar angles. This information was then used to extract sunlit and shaded spectral end-members corresponding to minimum and maximum values of canopy- ɛ over 8-d intervals using a bidirectional reflectance distribution model. Using three-dimensional information of the canopy structure obtained from LiDAR, the canopy light regime and leaf area was modeled over a 12 km2 area and was combined with spectral end-members to derive high resolution maps of GEP. Comparison with eddy covariance data collected at the site shows that the spectrally driven model is able to accurately predict GEP (r 2 between 0.75 and 0.91, p < 0.05). An edited version of this paper was published by AGU. Copyright 2008 American Geophysical Union.

Quantification of terrestrial CO2 sources and sinks at regional scales (∼102–106 km2) is fundamental to improving our understanding of the terrestrial carbon cycle. Two independent methods to extract the gross primary productivity (GPP) from atmospheric CO2 concentration measurements were explored and compared in this study. The methods are (1) planetary boundary layer (PBL) carbon budget analysis that allows the estimation of regional GPP at daily time steps from hourly CO2 concentration measurements and (2) spatially explicit hourly carbon cycle modeling based on remote sensing and then integrating the daily flux field with a concentration footprint function depending on wind and stability. These methods have been applied to a 28-m tower at an old black spruce site near Candle Lake (∼100 km NE of Prince Albert: 53.98717°N, 105.11779°W). The estimates of daily GPP by these two approaches agreed well for 2003 (slope = 0.99; r 2 = 0.89). In order to test these methods of inferring the regional GPP from mixing ratio measurements, we also compared the estimates of regional GPP with estimates made using eddy covariance (EC) flux measurements, although their respective source areas are different. They had similar seasonal patterns, but the regional estimates were consistently smaller than the local EC flux derived GPP throughout the growing season in 2003. These estimates of annual regional GPP were 649–664 g C m−2 for 2003 while the EC-derived annual GPP was 819–847 g C m−2. The annual difference was about 20–25%. The EC flux footprint of the tower was relatively homogeneous old black spruce while the concentration footprint, which was a few orders of magnitude larger than the flux footprint, covered boreal evergreen and deciduous broadleaf forests, grassland, cropland, and lakes. Nonforested land occupied about 10–50% of the concentration footprint depending on wind direction and speed and was less productive than the black spruce forest. The discrepancies between regional and local GPP estimates reflected the differences in underlying land surfaces represented by the different footprint areas. An edited version of this paper was published by AGU. Copyright 2008 American Geophysical Union.

Factors controlling the seasonal and interannual variability of net ecosystem productivity (F NEP ), gross ecosystem photosynthesis (P g ), ecosystem respiration (R e ) and evapotranspiration (E) of a mature boreal black spruce forest in central Saskatchewan, Canada were investigated using eight years (1999–2006) of continuous eddy covariance measurements. During 2000–2006, which included a three-year drought, the forest was a weak sink for CO2 with annual F NEP ranging from 27 to 80 g C m-2 (56 ± 21 g C m−2 a−1). The beginning of the growing season occurred when daily mean air temperature exceeded 4°C and the near surface soil temperature equaled or exceeded 0°C. The length of the growing season varied from 186 to 232 days. During the extreme drought year (2003), the smaller reduction in annual P g than in R e resulted in highest F NEP of the record. Annual F NEP decreased slightly with increasing soil water content; however, there was evidence of increased F NEP due to high water table conditions in 2004 because of the slightly higher decrease in R e than P g . Although bulk surface conductance (g s ) decreased significantly during the dry conditions in 2003, the associated increase in D prevented a significant drop in E, which resulted in only a slight decline in evaporative fraction and almost no change in water use efficiency. Interannual variation inP g , R e and F NEP in the early growing season (April–June) and late growing season (July–September) was controlled by air temperature and soil water content, respectively. However, spring (April–May) mean air temperature was the main factor determining the interannual variation in annual F NEP . The effect of late growing season soil water content on annual P g and R e was greater than its effect on annual F NEP . The results emphasize the need to consider soil moisture conditions as well as temperature when simulating the response of the carbon balance components of this ecosystems to climate change. An edited version of this paper was published by AGU. Copyright 2008 American Geophysical Union.

A 13-year (1990–1996, 1999–2004), hourly air CO2 record measured on a 40 m tower in northern Canada is analyzed against interpolated marine boundary layer CO2 data representing the free troposphere above the tower. In warmer years, the planetary boundary layer was more depleted with CO2, suggesting that the land area (103–104 km2) upwind of the tower sequestered more carbon. After using a novel approach to derive the photosynthetic flux from the air CO2 diurnal variation pattern, it is confirmed that boreal ecosystem photosynthesis increased more than ecosystem respiration in warmer years. An edited version of this paper was published by AGU. Copyright 2006 American Geophysical Union.

This thesis is primarily concerned with the development and coding of a Levy-type spectral plate element to analyze the harmonic response of simply supported plates in the mid to high frequency range. The development includes the governing PDE, displacement field, shape function, and dynamic stiffness matrix. A two DOF spectral Love bar element and both a four DOF spectral Euler-Bernoulli and a four DOF spectral Timoshenko beam element are also developed to gain insight into the performance of spectral elements. A cantilever beam example is used to show how incorporating eigenfunctions for the dynamic governing PDE into the displacement field enables spectral beam elements to represent the structural dynamics exactly. A simply supported curved beam example is used to show that spectral beam elements can converge the effects of curved geometry with up to a 50% reduction in the number of elements when compared to conventional FE. The curved beam example is also used to show that the rotatory inertia and shear deformation, from Timoshenko's beam theory, can result in up to a 28% shift in natural frequency over the first three bending modes. Finally, a simply supported Levy-plate model is used to show that the spectral Levy-type plate element converges the dynamic solution with up to three orders of magnitude fewer DOF then the conventional FE plate formulation. A simply-supported plate example problem is used to illustrate how the coefficients of the Fourier series expansion can be used as edge DOF for the spectral Levy-plate element. The Levy-plate element development gives insight to future research developing a general spectral plate element. Master of Science

In conjunction with eddy covariance measurements of CO2 fluxes at the 39.5-m height over a 21.5-m-tall boreal aspen stand in northern Saskatchewan, CO2 concentration was measured at eight heights in order to calculate net ecosystem exchange. During both leafless and full-leaf periods, daytime vertical CO2 concentration gradients above 9 m were weak (< 0.2 μmol mol−1 m−1), but were strong below this height. Little change in CO2 storage in the air column below 39.5 m occurred during much of the daytime, while around sunrise and sunset CO2 storage changed mainly below 9 m. For the rest of the night, over 85% of the increase in CO2 storage occurred above 9 m. On some calm nights during the growing season, CO2 also accumulated below 9 m resulting in a sudden upward CO2 flux at 39.5 m following the resumption of mixing 2–3 hours after sunrise. A 10-day experiment was conducted to determine the spatial variability of CO2 flux in the trunk space. Two eddy covariance systems were mounted just above the understory about two tree heights apart. The correlation between CO2 fluxes were poor even under unstable (daytime) conditions, suggesting a relatively heterogeneous understory and soil. In contrast, the correlation between water vapor fluxes was high (r 2 = 0.70) in unstable conditions. However, average daytime and nighttime CO2 fluxes over the 10 days agreed to within 5%. This suggests that partitioning net ecosystem exchange between overstory and understory on an hourly basis using a single-understory eddy covariance system is inadvisable; however, partitioning probably can be done quite reliably using 5-day average fluxes. An edited version of this paper was published by AGU. Copyright 1999 American Geophysical Union.