1. Field Measurement Networks D. Hollinger, E. LaPoint, R. Birdsey, L. Heath U.S. North American Carbon Program (NACP) Investigators Meeting, January 22-24, 2007

2. Diagnosis – Where are the C sources & sinks across N. America? Attribution – What are the mechanisms responsible? Prediction – How will these change in the future? Field measurements provide: C stocks, fluxes, uncertainties Other fluxes Mechanistic understanding Environmental data T air, PAR, ppt, RH, T soil, soil moisture, net radiation components, etc.

3. Independent estimate of spatial pattern of C sources & sinks Primary data source for developing & testing models Source of environmental data for models Inverse analyses: Model parameter estimation (Remote sensing & biogeochem) Constraints on model states (C flux from atmospheric model) Data assimilation Use of Field Measurement Network data:

4. Relevance Coverage –spatial, temporal Quality –good & better Uniformity of approach Accessibility –On line? Desired characteristics of NACP field data:

5. Field Measurement Networks Relevant to the NACP (C flux or  stocks) FIA plots Landscape level plots Experimental Forests LTER AmeriFlux, Fluxnet Canada NEON Yield maps County statistics Agricultural Experiment Stations AmeriFlux, AgriFlux Intensive Extensive Non-agricultural sitesAgricultural sites

6. Year Two Year Three Year Four Year Five Five-Year Panel: Year One USDA Forest Service FIA Plots a gift to the NACP 6000 acre grid cells 1 plot per grid cell >800K plots each plot visited every 5 (east) or 10 (west) years

7. Condition B = Seedling-Sapling Stand Tree Variables Species:Yellow Poplar DBH:12.9 inches Tree history: Live Tree Class: Growing Stock Sample-Location Variables Location ID: St, Un, Co, # Date: Mo, Day, Yr Sample Kind: Remeas. 1/5 th GPS: Lat-Long. Condition Variables Slope & Aspect: Pct & Degrees Land Use: Forest Stand Origin: Natural Owner Class: Individual Condition A = Mature Stand Old 1/5-acre plot FIA Plot Measurements 1 plot/6,000 acres

8. FIA Plots Species, dbh 46 states already in annual inventory Federal land included All plots geo-located, corrupted coordinates available to public Soil & litter data (including C) Coarse woody debris Crown measures “P3” Plots (1/96,000 acres) Standard Plots (1/6,000 acres)

9. FIA Data Available from National Spatial Data Services Team Website http://www.fs.fed.us/ne/fia/spatial/index_ss.html Questions, contact Liz LaPoint: elapoint@fs.fed.us

10. The next step - FIA data-based forest carbon estimates (Linda Heath) COLE: Carbon On Line Estimation web tool http://ncasi.uml.edu/COLE Mensuration-based conversion of diameters to C mass also soil & CWD C County basis carbon estimates soon to be on FIA website

11. Landscape scale Monitoring Sites – the missing tier (Birdsey & Law) Designed to interface with remote sensing & inventory measurements 3 x 3 km grid of inventory plots surrounding a special research installation Flux, meteorological tower or other installation at center Inventory plots follow FIA protocol Other measures (litterfall, respiration) take place at inventory plots Niwot Ridge LTER, Colorado Central km 2 has intensive biometric measurements Larger area for Lidar; will include range of disturbance

12. Uniform coverage in continental US of all land classes –But not measured in non-forested land (e.g. agriculture) Mostly uniform approach QC/QA Central data source & service team Forest Inventory and Analysis plots: Relevance:9 Coverage:8 Quality:10 Uniformity:9 Accessibility:10

13. Implementation tested at 6 sites Fluxes and stocks Designed to address NACP questions Field manual No funding source MEETING TONIGHT! Landscape level plots: Relevance:10 Coverage:3 (sparse) Quality:10 Uniformity:9 Accessibility:6

14. 59 sites –Lugo et al. BioScience 2006, Adams et al. GTR NE-321 Some with >70 years of inventory data Ecological, meteorological & streamflow data Experimental manipulations Often in hilly terrain Experimental Forests: Relevance:7 Coverage:5 (sparse, forests only) Quality:8 Uniformity:5 Accessibility:3

15. 82 towers on 53 sites (63 active towers, 41 active with CDIAC data), 22 FCRN 380 tower-years AmeriFlux, 110 FCRN, AgriFlux 39 sites >5 years & still active; 10 sites >9 years CO 2 & energy fluxes, environmental & ecological data New level-4 data products –QC, gap-filling & partitioning AmeriFlux, Fluxnet Canada, AgriFlux: Relevance:9 Coverage:7 (sparse) Quality:8 (? sites) Uniformity:8 Accessibility:8 Data ?

16. 29 Sites, 21 continental NA Multi-year NPP & biomass data (Knapp & Smith, 2001) Streamflow, environmental, & nutrient data Experimental manipulations Mechanistic studies NSF LTER Network: Relevance:8 Coverage:6 (sparse) Quality:8 Uniformity:7 Accessibility:4

17. 29 Domaines –“Core” and “gradient” sites CO 2 & energy fluxes, detailed environmental & ecological data Experimental manipulations Cyberinfrastructure NEON: Relevance:8 (wildland only) Coverage:8 (hierarchical) Quality:9 Uniformity:10 Accessibility:10

18. Regional FIA Plot Network & Flux towers 120 Forest Plots, 3 towers Source of Estimate Mean NPP (g C m -2 yr -1 )  NASA – CASA 446151 PnET – CN 41735 Towers300-40050-100 FIA250100 Birdsey, Hom, Clark, Pan, & Potter

20. Summary FIA plots –Excellent coverage & data accessibility Landscape level plots –Great idea, incorporate into NEON? Experimental Forests AmeriFlux, Fluxnet Canada, AgriFlux –Extensive NA coverage, good data accessibility LTER sites NEON