On FLUXNET, A Global Carbon, Water, Energy Flux Measurement Network (Invited & Awardee)

This talk discusses the global flux network, FLUXNET. It is a network of eddy covariance measurement systems that are providing nearly continuous and long term measurements of carbon dioxide, water vapor and energy from hundreds of sites world-wide. The network spans much of the World’s climate space and includes a wide range of sites that possess either native vegetation, vegetation that has been disturbed and managed crops. In many ways the network is acting as a canary in the mine in showing how land-atmosphere interactions are responding to climate and human induced change.

These direct flux measurements are providing information on who fluxes respond to a suite of biophysical forcings, they are used to parameterize and validate land surface models that predict weather and climate and they are used to parameterize remote sensing products. Together, the aim of this suite of measurements systems is to provide unprecedented information on ‘fluxes everywhere and all the time’.