Supporting 13 years of global change research: the history, technology, and methods of the Aspen FACE Experiment

Abstract

This publication is an additional source of metadata for data stored and publicly available in the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service Research Data Archive. Here, we document the development, design, management, and operation of the experiment. In 1998, a team of scientists from the U.S. Forest Service, Department of Energy (DOE), Michigan Technological University, and several other institutions initiated the Aspen Free Air CO2 and Ozone Enrichment (Aspen FACE) Experiment. Using technology developed at DOE's Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), the experiment fumigated model aspen forest ecosystems with elevated concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2), or ozone, or both in a full factorial design with three replicates. The Aspen FACE Experiment was one of several free-air CO2 enrichment experiments at the time, but was the only one that incorporated ozone treatment into the BNL design. The experiment operated for 13 years, involved more than 70 researchers from 9 countries, has produced 126 scientific publications to date, held numerous tours and scientific conferences, and was the subject of many reports in the public news media. Findings from the experiment contributed to the supplement to the U.S. President's 2002 budget, Our Changing Planet; and to the 2006 rewriting of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's ozone pollution criteria document. Data and archived plant samples from the experiment continue to be used in many ways, including meta analyses, global change modeling, and studies examining tree characteristics affected by the treatment gases.