Measurements of the diurnal cycle of temperature, humidity, wind, and carbon dioxide in a subalpine forest during the Carbon in the Mountains Experiment (CME04)

As part of the 2004 Carbon in the Mountains Experiment (CME04), three towers were deployed by the NCAR Earth Observing Laboratory (EOL) in a subalpine forest near the University of Colorado (CU) and U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Ameriflux towers. The towers were located in complex mountain terrain approximately 10 km east of the Continental Divide below Niwot Ridge, Colorado. The CU Ameriflux tower has been continually collecting data since November, 1998. These five towers are within 400 m of each other and loosely arranged along the drainage of a small creek to investigate the larger scale features of the flow along the drainage. One tower is in a relatively open area while the other four towers are in either aspen or a mixed-conifer subalpine forest. The towers in the forest all extend above the canopy by at least two times the canopy height. Here the diurnal cycles of temperature, humidity, wind, and carbon dioxide measured at each tower are examined and compared to determine the flow pattern and sources/sinks of CO2 and water vapor along the creek drainage.