Abstract
Abstract. We present a comprehensive, high-quality dataset characterizing soil–vegetation and land surface processes from continuous measurements conducted in two climatically contrasting study regions in southwestern Germany: the warmer and drier Kraichgau region with a mean temperature of 9.7 ∘C and annual precipitation of 890 mm and the cooler and wetter Swabian Alb with mean temperature 7.5 ∘C and annual precipitation of 1042 mm. In each region, measurements were conducted over a time period of nine cropping seasons from 2009 to 2018. The backbone of the investigation was formed by six eddy-covariance (EC) stations which measured fluxes of water, energy and carbon dioxide between the land surface and the atmosphere at half-hourly resolution. This resulted in a dataset containing measurements from a total of 54 site years containing observations with a multitude of crops, as well as considerable variation in local growing-season climates. The presented multi-site, multi-year dataset is composed of crop-related data on phenological development stages, canopy height, leaf area index, vegetative and generative biomass, and their respective carbon and nitrogen content. Time series of soil temperature and soil water content were monitored with 30 min resolution at various points in the soil profile, including ground heat fluxes. Moreover, more than 1200 soil samples were taken to study changes of carbon and nitrogen contents. The dataset is available at https://doi.org/10.20387/bonares-a0qc-46jc (Weber et al., 2021). One field in each region is still fully set up as continuous observatories for state variables and fluxes in intensively managed agricultural fields.
Highlights
It is well acknowledged that interactions between the soil– vegetation system and the atmosphere will have major impacts on regional climate and that our knowledge of processes and feedbacks is insufficient (Pielke et al, 2007; Thornton et al, 2014)
We provide a comprehensive dataset on agricultural crop growth and land surface exchange on arable soils in Germany
According to a recent report by the Alliance of Science Organisations in Germany our installations have been the only ones on agricultural land throughout southern Germany that fulfil the criteria for becoming part of the intended national observatory network for terrestrial ecosystem research (Kögel-Knabner et al, 2018)
Summary
It is well acknowledged that interactions between the soil– vegetation system and the atmosphere will have major impacts on regional climate and that our knowledge of processes and feedbacks is insufficient (Pielke et al, 2007; Thornton et al, 2014). Predicting the impacts of climate change on agro-ecosystems and the land surface exchange of water, energy and momentum and vice versa requires process models to understand and study land–atmosphere feedbacks (Ingwersen et al, 2018; Monier et al, 2018). There is consensus that fully coupled climate, land surface, crop and hydrological models facilitate the prediction of climate change impacts on agricultural productivity as well as its feedbacks on climate change projections themselves (Marland et al, 2003; Hansen, 2005; Perarnaud et al, 2005; Levis, 2010). This implies the continuous improvement of models and process understanding. Funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG), Package Request (PAK) 346 Structure and Functions of Agricultural Landscapes under Global Climate Change – Processes and Projections on a Regional Scale (Regional Climate Change) and Research Unit (RU) 1695 Agricultural Landscapes under Global Climate Change – Processes and Feedbacks on a Regional Scale
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