Observations of the biosphere-atmosphere exchange of H2O, CO2, CH4, N2O, VOCs and other gases of importance to the climate system demonstrate pronounced variability and trends, often at longer interannual and ‘multi-annual’ time scales. Models usually fail to replicate these dynamics due to difficulties representing the role of biology in controlling surface fluxes in ecosystem models, or difficulties integrating spatial patterns in measurement designs and modeling approaches. Our understanding of biosphere function at multiple temporal and spatial scales must be improved for a comprehensive understanding of the feedbacks between climate, management, and climatologically-important trace gases.

This session will focus on identification and attribution of trends and variability in the biosphere-atmosphere exchange of water and trace gases from terrestrial ecosystems. Many of these controlling mechanisms exhibit strong spatial components that are critical for a comprehensive understanding of biosphere-atmosphere flux. We especially encourage submissions that combine measurements with modeling analyses that attempt to tease apart the underlying causes of the observed patterns in time and space.