The carbon‐dioxide flux over a field of sugar beet

Abstract

AbstractThe difference of CO2 concentration at two heights above a sugar beet crop was measured with a sensitive infra‐red gas analyser. The ratio of evaporation to humidity gradient and of total heat flux to wet‐bulb temperature gradient gave a transport number for calculating CO2 flux, assumed proportional to CO2 gradient and wind speed. In August and September 1958 there was often a constant upward flux at night (mean 0·05 mg cm−2 hr−1) attributed to respiration by plants and soil micro‐organisms; but during daylight, photosynthesis gave a downward flux varying with solar radiation and reaching a maximum of 0·4 mg cm−2 hr−1. From 31 July to 11 September the net downward flux of atmospheric CO2 was 158 ± 29 mg cm−2 compared with an uptake of 217 ± 38 mg cm−2 estimated from dry matter increase of sampled plants. During October there was a net upward flux of 4·9 mg cm−2 day−1 attributed to a striking increase in amount of CO2 produced in the soil.