In contrast to other parameters or processes of interest in urban climatology (energy balance, temperature, precipitation) a comparison of urban CO2 to a non-urban 'reference' situation has been rarely reported in literature. The approach to separate the large-scale climate forcing from urban modifications with respect to CO2 concentrations and fluxes is challenging and strongly biased by the choice and definition of the 'undisturbed reference' site and the 'urban site'. Nevertheless, it is worth to extend urban CO2-measurements beyond the analysis of single urban flux towers and analyze data in the context of simultaneous measurements over different land-cover patches in an urban landscape.
We present a recently started long-term campaign in Vancouver, BC, Canada. A suburban rural pair of EC-sites measuring CO2-exchange is the backbone of the Vancouver instrumentation. The suburban site is operated in a residential neighborhood with intensive irrigation during summer. The rural 'reference' is sited over non-managed and non-irrigated grassland without near-field influence of traffic or other human sources. These sites will be supplemented with short-term flux and concentration measurements. A mobile tower on a moving trailer is used to address the spatial variability of fluxes and concentrations in the city.
The presentation highlights the scientific framework, the instrumental setup and features first results from summer 2007. It will further outline opportunities for collaborations during intensive operation periods in 2008.
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