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ARS Home » Midwest Area » St. Paul, Minnesota » Soil and Water Management Research » Research » Research Project #426823

Research Project: Rosemount Ameriflux Core Site

Location: Soil and Water Management Research

Project Number: 5062-12000-010-020-R
Project Type: Reimbursable Cooperative Agreement

Start Date: Aug 15, 2014
End Date: Aug 15, 2019

Objective:
1. Continue and enhance long-term, continuous measurement of CO2, H2O, and radiation exchange in 3 contrasting agroecosystems. 2. Provide computed fluxes and ancillary measured variables on a timely basis to the DOE-Ameriflux data server for public use. 3. Analyze measured data to discern agroecosystem response to climate forcing.

Approach:
Existing measurement sites at the Rosemount MN Research and Outreach Center will be upgraded with improved gas analyzers and radiation sensors on 10 meter flux towers located in three fields: a conventional corn-soybean field, a field in which corn and soybeans are planted in a perennial legume mulch, and a formerly farmed field that has been transitioned into restored prairie/CRP. Ancillary measurements will include soil water content and temperature, above-ground biomass, yield, soil carbon, and nitrate concentration below the root zone. Data will be collected on a continuous, year-round basis for at least three years. A technician will regularly visit all three sites to check instruments, collect data, and record visual observations. Data processing will be conducted to screen invalid data and to compute corrected fluxes, which will then be provided on a timely basis to the DOE-Ameriflux data center, where they will be made publicly available for use by modelers throughout the U.S. and the world. Additionally, the data will be used at the University of Minnesota to test and improve the land surface schemes currently used in mesoscale atmospheric models such as WRF and CLM.