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Title: Delta-Flux: An eddy covariance network for a climate-smart lower Mississippi basin

Author
item RUNKLE, BENJAMIN - University Of Arkansas
item Rigby Jr, James
item Reba, Michele
item Anapalli, Saseendran
item BHATTACHARJEE, JOYDEEP - University Of Louisiana At Monroe
item KRAUSS, KEN - Us Geological Survey (USGS)
item LIANG, LU - University Of Arkansas
item Locke, Martin
item NOVICK, KIM - Indiana University
item Sui, Ruixiu
item SUVOCAREV, KOSANA - University Of Arkansas
item White, Paul

Submitted to: Agricultural and Environmental Letters
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/10/2017
Publication Date: 2/23/2017
Publication URL: https://handle.nal.usda.gov/10113/5763083
Citation: Runkle, B., Rigby Jr, J.R., Reba, M.L., Anapalli, S.S., Bhattacharjee, J., Krauss, K.W., Liang, L., Locke, M.A., Novick, K., Sui, R., Suvocarev, K., White Jr, P.M. 2017. Delta-Flux: An eddy covariance network for a climate-smart lower Mississippi basin. Agricultural and Environmental Letters. 2:170003. https://doi.org/10.2134/ael2017.01.0003.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2134/ael2017.01.0003

Interpretive Summary: Networks of remotely monitored research sites are increasingly the model used to study regional agricultural impacts on carbon and water fluxes. However, key national networks such as the National Ecological Observatory Network and Ameriflux lack contributions from the Lower Mississippi River Basin (LMRB), a highly productive agricultural area. The LMRB’s high rainfall, warm temperature, and alluvial soils offer the potential to sequester the carbon gained in photosynthesis into the soil. To provide sound, climate-smart management strategies, this region needs production-scale, continuous measurements of carbon and water fluxes from the landscape to the atmosphere. In response to this need, the authors recently established the Delta-Flux network, which relies on eddy covariance towers to quantify carbon and water budgets. The seventeen similarly instrumented field sites include row-crop fields, pasture, grasslands and forests. The network participants are committed to open collaboration and efficient regionalization of site-level findings to support sustainable management strategies.

Technical Abstract: Networks of remotely monitored research sites are increasingly the model used to study regional agricultural impacts on carbon and water fluxes. However, key national networks such as the National Ecological Observatory Network and Ameriflux lack contributions from the Lower Mississippi River Basin (LMRB), a highly productive agricultural area. The LMRB’s high rainfall, warm temperature, and alluvial soils offer the potential to sequester the carbon gained in photosynthesis into the soil. To provide sound, climate-smart management strategies, this region needs production-scale, continuous measurements of carbon and water fluxes from the landscape to the atmosphere. In response to this need, the authors recently established the Delta-Flux network, which relies on eddy covariance towers to quantify carbon and water budgets. The seventeen similarly instrumented field sites include row-crop fields, pasture, grasslands and forests. The network participants are committed to open collaboration and efficient regionalization of site-level findings to support sustainable management strategies.