Addressing forest canopy decoupling on a global scale

The eddy covariance (EC) method, nowadays the standard method for determining forest ecosystem-atmosphere turbulent exchange, faces a major threat in its application: the air masses below the canopy are regularly decoupled from the air masses above the canopy. Consequently, the EC measurements above the canopy like e.g. H₂O and particularly CO₂ fluxes can be biased due to missing signals from below-canopy processes. This decoupling is strongly site dependent and influenced by meteorological conditions, canopy properties and tower-surrounding topography. It can be verified and addressed by subsequent EC measurements below and above the canopy. Specifically, the correlation of σ_w below and above the canopy gives information about the coupling state as this correlation is linear during periods of full coupling.

The current study aims to address the decoupling issue on a global scale. For this purpose, approximately 30 forest sites from around the world will be analyzed in a standard way with regards to decoupling. The study sites cover manifold vegetation types and climate zones, all sites are equipped with concurrent below and above canopy EC measurements. Preliminary results highlight the dependence of decoupling on meteorological conditions, canopy properties and tower surrounding topography. Nevertheless, the final goal of this action is to derive global relations between these influence factors and decoupling which will be applicable in a general way on each forest site worldwide. Highest quality turbulent fluxes will be the outcome and the accuracy of EC derived forest water and carbon budgets will improve.