Eddy Accumulation Research Articles

A Single Compartment Relaxed Eddy Accumulation Method

AbstractThe relaxed eddy accumulation (REA) method is a widely‐known technique that measures turbulent fluxes of scalar quantities. The REA technique has been used to measure turbulent fluxes of various compounds, such as methane, ethene, propene, butene, isoprene, nitrous oxides, ozone, and others. The REA method requires the accumulation of scalar concentrations in two separate compartments that conditionally sample updrafts and downdraft events. It is demonstrated here that the assumptions behind the conventional or two‐compartment REA approach allow for one‐compartment sampling, therefore called a one compartment or 1‐C‐REA approach, thereby expanding its operational utility. The one‐compartment sampling method is tested across various land cover types and atmospheric stability conditions, and it is found that the one‐compartment REA can provide results comparable to those determined from conventional two‐compartment REA. This finding enables rapid expansion and practical utility of REA in studies of surface‐atmosphere exchanges, interactions, and feedbacks.

Over 100-fold improvement in the accuracy of relaxed eddy accumulation flux estimates through error diffusion

Measurements of atmosphere-surface exchange are largely limited by the availability of fast-response gas analyzers; this limitation hampers our understanding of the role of terrestrial ecosystems in atmospheric chemistry and global change. Current micrometeorological methods, compatible with slow-response gas analyzers, are difficult to implement, or rely on empirical parameters that introduce large systematic errors.Here, we develop a new micrometeorological method, optimized for slow-response gas analyzers, that directly measures exchange rates of different atmospheric constituents, with minimal requirements. The new method requires only the sampling of air at a constant rate and directing it into one of two reservoirs, depending on the direction of the vertical wind velocity. An integral component of the new technique is an error diffusion algorithm that minimizes the biases in the measured fluxes and achieves direct flux estimates.We demonstrate that the new method provides an unbiased estimate of the flux, with accuracy within 0.1% of the reference eddy covariance flux, and importantly, allows for significant enhancements in the signal-to-noise ratio of measured scalars without compromising accuracy. Our new method provides a simple and reliable way to address complex environmental questions and offers a promising avenue for advancing our understanding of ecological systems and atmospheric chemistry.

Comparing Four Evapotranspiration Partitioning Methods from Eddy Covariance Considering Turbulent Mixing in a Poplar Plantation

Evapotranspiration is a key link in the water cycle of terrestrial ecosystems, and the partitioning of evapotranspiration is a prerequisite for diagnosing vegetation growth and water use strategies. In this study, we used double-layer eddy covariance (DLEC) measurements within and above the canopy of poplar plantations to divide evapotranspiration into transpiration and evaporation during the growing season. We diagnosed the coupling state of airflows in the canopy vertical layer and found that the daytime coupling state at the half-hourly scale can mask nighttime decoupling. Furthermore, we investigated the daytime and nighttime vertical layer airflow coupling states separately and quantified the effects of coupling states on the DLEC of resolved transpiration. The partitioning results of the DLEC method were taken as the standard after the airflow coupling test. Then, the performance and accuracy of evapotranspiration partitioning for the modified relaxed eddy accumulation (MREA), the conditional eddy covariance (CEC), and the flux variance similarity (FVS) with DLEC were compared. Transpiration calculated from MREA showed the best agreement with DLEC, and the other methods showed different degrees of underestimation (1:1 slope = 0.64–0.83). Evaporation calculated from FVS showed the best agreement with DLEC, while CEC and FVS made an overestimation of more than 26% (1:1 slope = 1.26–1.99), but MREA made an underestimation from 5% to 35% (1:1 slope = 0.65–0.95). The correlation coefficients between DLEC and MREA for transpiration were 0.95–0.97 with RMSEs of 15.52–17.04 W m−2, and those between DLEC and FVS for transpiration were 0.73–0.78 with RMSEs of 10–21.26 W m−2 at the daily half-hourly scale. A detailed comparison of the differences between DLEC and evapotranspiration partitioning methods from high-frequency eddy covariance data under the condition of canopy vertical layer airflow mixing provides knowledge about the consistency of results for evapotranspiration partitioning in poplar plantation forests.

Assessment of two non-invasive techniques for measuring turbulent benthic fluxes in a shallow lake

Benthic fluxes refer to the exchange rates of nutrients and other compounds between the water column and the sediment bed in aquatic ecosystems. Their quantification contributes to our understanding of aquatic ecosystem functioning. Near-bed hydrodynamics plays an important role at the sediment-water interface, especially in shallow lakes, but it is poorly considered by traditional measuring techniques of flux quantification, such as sediment incubations. Thus, alternative sampling techniques are needed to characterize key benthic fluxes under in-situ hydrodynamic conditions. This study aimed to evaluate the performance of two promising methods: relaxed eddy accumulation (REA) and mass transfer coefficient (MTC). We applied them in a hyper-eutrophic shallow lake to measure the fluxes of ammonium, phosphate, iron, and manganese ions. For the first time, REA revealed hourly nutrient flux variations, indicating a strong lake biogeochemical dynamics at short time-scales. Daily average fluxes are of similar orders of magnitude for REA and MTC for ammonium (24 and 42 mmol m2 d−1), manganese (1.0 and 0.8), and iron (0.8 and 0.7) ions. They are one order of magnitude higher than fluxes estimated from sediment incubations, due to the difficulty in reproducing in-situ oxygen and hydrodynamic conditions in the laboratory. Although the accuracy of both techniques needs to be improved, the results revealed their potential: REA follows the short-term biogeochemical dynamics of sediments, while MTC could be widely used for lake monitoring because of its simpler implementation.

The Relaxed Eddy Accumulation Method Over the Amazon Forest: The Importance of Flux Strength on Individual and Aggregated Flux Estimates

The Relaxed Eddy Accumulation Method Over the Amazon Forest: The Importance of Flux Strength on Individual and Aggregated Flux Estimates

A New Technique for Resolving Benthic Solute Fluxes: Evaluation of Conditional Sampling Using Aquatic Relaxed Eddy Accumulation

AbstractSolute exchange between the sediment and the water column strongly influences water quality in aquatic ecosystems. Among the techniques available for in situ observation, only aquatic eddy covariance (AEC) can resolve the hourly dynamics of benthic fluxes, but only for few substances like oxygen. In micrometeorology, relaxed eddy accumulation (REA), a technique based on high‐frequency sampling conditioned by current direction, overcomes this limitation. We developed a portable prototype instrumentation platform to transfer REA to the sediment‐water interface of shallow aquatic ecosystems. In order to evaluate the sampling system, we configured the prototype for measuring oxygen fluxes and comparing them to simultaneous AEC measurements. In a river and two artificial lakes, at depths 1–3 m and 0.2 m above the sediment, we measured 15 oxygen flux pairs in fully developed turbulence during 8–15 min periods, ranging from −150 to 50 mmol m−2 day−1. The good agreement between REA and AEC fluxes (R2 = 0.94) shows the reliability of the conditional sampling system. REA represents a promising technique for exploring the sediment contribution to biogeochemical cycles in aquatic ecosystems.

Discerning the Concentration and Bi‐Directional Flux of Ammonia in an Urban Estuary Using the Relaxed Eddy Accumulation Method

AbstractNarragansett Bay, the largest estuary in New England, is a heavily urbanized watershed impacted by deposition and runoff. Nutrient budgets and local policy rely on deposition data from a 1990 study that did not include any direct observations of dry deposition of gaseous ammonia (NH3(g)) and particulate ammonium (p‐NH4+) due to uncertainties in their flux direction and measurement difficulty. Recent work has shown that wet deposition of ammonium (NH4+) to the Bay has increased by a factor of 6 over the past three decades, leading to a 2.5‐fold increase in wet nitrogen (N) deposition. This documented increase in wet deposition of NH4+ is concurrent with managed nutrient reductions in urbanized estuaries but has potentially increased the impacts of atmospheric N deposition, including the dry deposition of NH3(g) and p‐NH4+. However, the lack of NH3(g) and p‐NH4+ measurements hinders our interpretation of this important N source. For the first time over Narragansett Bay, and to our knowledge over open water, dry (particulate and gas phase) total ammonia (NHx = NH3(g) + p‐NH4+) and the bidirectional NH3(g) flux were quantified using a relaxed eddy accumulation sampling technique. We find that dry deposition of NHx comprises 9.6% of total (wet + dry) N deposition. During the fall season, the dominant flux direction for NH3(g) is upward, which also has implications for urban air quality. We estimate that NH3(g) emitted from the Bay to the atmosphere makes up to 10% of the local NH3(g) emission budget for fall.

Carbon dioxide exchanges in an alpine tundra ecosystem (Gran Paradiso National Park, Italy): A comparison of results from different measurement and modelling approaches

Mountain ecosystems are particularly sensitive to the effects of climate change and require a detailed understanding of how their components respond to the varying environmental conditions. However, the knowledge of crucial biogeochemical variables, such as carbon dioxide (CO2) fluxes in the Critical Zone of high-altitude grassland and Alpine tundra, is still patchy. In this framework, two methods are typically adopted to measure CO2 exchanges between the atmosphere and the underlying ecosystem: eddy covariance and accumulation chambers. Potential drawbacks affect both approaches, also depending on the scale at which studies are performed. On the one hand, eddy covariance method provides large spatial coverage, despite requiring specific statistical assumptions that are not always valid in remote environments. In addition, the eddy covariance method allows measuring only the CO2 net ecosystem exchange (NEE), while the separation of CO2 emission (ecosystem respiration, ER) and uptake (gross primary production, GPP), needed for understanding ecosystem functioning and its possible future changes, requires partitioning procedures based on regressive models. On the other hand, accumulation chambers allow for direct measurements of both NEE and ER but are usually limited to sampling small areas and the chambers themselves could potentially disturb plant-soil dynamics. The present study investigates such issues by combining three complementary methods (i.e., eddy covariance, portable and automated accumulation chambers) to measure summer CO2 fluxes at the soil-vegetation-atmosphere interface in a heavily instrumented high-altitude Alpine tundra site. While eddy covariance and portable chamber measurements provide consistent estimates of the NEE, a significant discrepancy between the results of the different methodologies was found for daytime ER. In particular, the eddy covariance daytime and nighttime partitioning methods failed in representing ER at the ecosystem scale. The discrepancy between modelled and measured ER suggests that different processes are involved during day and night, which are not fully represented in models. These aspects would require further explorations to achieve site-specific assessments of daytime ER.

Relaxed Eddy Accumulation Outperforms Monin‐Obukhov Flux Models Under Non‐Ideal Conditions

AbstractThe Monin‐Obukhov Similarity Theory (MOST) links turbulent statistics to surface fluxes through universal functions. Here, we investigate its performance over a large lake, where none of its assumptions (flat homogeneous surface) are obviously violated. We probe the connection between the variance budget terms and departure from the nondimensional flux‐variance function for CO2, water vapor, and temperature. Our results indicate that both the variance storage and its vertical transport affect MOST, and these terms are most significant when small fluxes and near neutral conditions were prevalent. Such conditions are common over lakes and oceans, especially for CO2, underlining the limitation of using any MOST‐based methods to compute small fluxes. We further show that the relaxed eddy accumulation (REA) method is more robust and less sensitive to storage and transport, adequately reproducing the eddy‐covariance fluxes even for the smallest flux magnitudes. Therefore, we recommend REA over MOST methods for trace‐gas flux estimation.

Optimal Frequency-Response Corrections for Eddy Covariance Flux Measurements Using the Wiener Deconvolution Method

We describe a new direct correction approach to accurately restore frequency attenuated eddy covariance (EC) measurements. The new approach utilizes the Wiener deconvolution method to optimally estimate the original signal from noisy atmospheric measurements. Key features over conventional EC spectral correction methods include (i) the use of physics-based response functions, (ii) the ability to account for the non-linear phase contributions, and (iii) the direct restoration of the original signal rather than simulating the effect on an ideal reference spectrum. The new correction approach is compared to conventional spectral correction methods in a numerical simulation where the magnitude of the key limitations of conventional methods is explored under conditions relevant to common EC set-ups. The simulation results showed that the spectral correction methods commonly used for calculating EC fluxes introduced systematic error up to 10% to the restored fluxes and substantially increased their random uncertainty. The errors are attributed to the effect of using inappropriate response functions, failing to account for the contribution of the non-linear phase, and due to the assumption of spectral similarity on the scale of averaging intervals. The Wiener deconvolution method is versatile, can be applied under non-ideal conditions, and provides an opportunity to unify analytical and “in-situ” spectral correction methods by applying existing transfer functions to directly restore attenuated spectra. Furthermore, the Wiener deconvolution approach is adaptable for use with various micrometeorological measurement techniques such as eddy accumulation and flux profile measurements.

ET Partitioning Assessment Using the TSEB Model and sUAS Information across California Central Valley Vineyards

Evapotranspiration (ET) is a crucial part of commercial grapevine production in California, and the partitioning of this quantity allows the separate assessment of soil and vine water and energy fluxes. This partitioning has an important role in agriculture since it is related to grapevine stress, yield quality, irrigation efficiency, and growth. Satellite remote sensing-based methods provide an opportunity for ET partitioning at a subfield scale. However, medium-resolution satellite imagery from platforms such as Landsat is often insufficient for precision agricultural management at the plant scale. Small, unmanned aerial systems (sUAS) such as the AggieAir platform from Utah State University enable ET estimation and its partitioning over vineyards via the two-source energy balance (TSEB) model. This study explores the assessment of ET and ET partitioning (i.e., soil water evaporation and plant transpiration), considering three different resistance models using ground-based information and aerial high-resolution imagery from the Grape Remote sensing Atmospheric Profile and Evapotranspiration eXperiment (GRAPEX). We developed a new method for temperature partitioning that incorporated a quantile technique separation (QTS) and high-resolution sUAS information. This new method, coupled with the TSEB model (called TSEB-2TQ), improved sensible heat flux (H) estimation, regarding the bias, with around 61% and 35% compared with the H from the TSEB-PT and TSEB-2T, respectively. Comparisons among ET partitioning estimates from three different methods (Modified Relaxed Eddy Accumulation—MREA; Flux Variance Similarity—FVS; and Conditional Eddy Covariance—CEC) based on EC flux tower data show that the transpiration estimates obtained from the FVS method are statistically different from the estimates from the MREA and the CEC methods, but the transpiration from the MREA and CEC methods are statistically the same. By using the transpiration from the CEC method to compare with the transpiration modeled by different TSEB models, the TSEB-2TQ shows better agreement with the transpiration obtained via the CEC method. Additionally, the transpiration estimation from TSEB-2TQ coupled with different resistance models resulted in insignificant differences. This comparison is one of the first for evaluating ET partitioning estimation from sUAS imagery based on eddy covariance-based partitioning methods.

True eddy accumulation – Part 2: Theory and experiment of the short-time eddy accumulation method

Abstract. A new variant of the eddy accumulation method for measuring atmospheric exchange is derived, and a prototype sampler is evaluated. The new method, termed short-time eddy accumulation (STEA), overcomes the requirement of fixed accumulation intervals in the true eddy accumulation method (TEA) and enables the sampling system to run in a continuous flow-through mode. STEA enables adaptive time-varying accumulation intervals, which improves the system's dynamic range and brings many advantages to flux measurement and calculation. The STEA method was successfully implemented and deployed to measure CO2 fluxes over an agricultural field in Braunschweig, Germany. The measured fluxes matched very well against a conventional eddy covariance system (slope of 1.04, R2 of 0.86). We provide a detailed description of the setup and operation of the STEA system in the continuous flow-through mode, devise an empirical correction for the effect of buffer volumes, and describe the important considerations for the successful operation of the STEA method. The STEA method reduces the bias and uncertainty in the measured fluxes compared to conventional TEA and creates new ways to design eddy accumulation systems with finer control over sampling and accumulation. The results encourage the application of STEA for measuring fluxes of more challenging atmospheric constituents such as reactive species. This paper is Part 2 of a two-part series on true eddy accumulation.

True eddy accumulation – Part 1: Solutions to the problem of non-vanishing mean vertical wind velocity

Abstract. The true eddy accumulation (TEA) method provides direct measurements of ecosystem-level turbulent fluxes for a wide range of atmospheric constituents. TEA utilizes conditional sampling to overcome the requirement for a fast sensor response demanded by the state-of-the-art eddy covariance (EC) method. The TEA method is formulated under the assumption of ideal conditions with a zero mean vertical wind velocity during the averaging interval. However, this idealization is rarely met under field conditions. Additionally, unlike in EC, this assumption cannot be imposed in post-processing due to the real-time nature of sampling and the absence of high-frequency measurements of the scalar. Consequently, fluxes measured with the TEA method are biased with a non-turbulent advective term that scales with the scalar mean concentration. Here, we explore the magnitude of this biased advective term and potential ways to minimize or remove it. We propose a new formulation to calculate TEA fluxes that minimizes the bias term. The new formulation shows that the magnitude of the error is constrained to w‾/|w|‾ when the stationarity criterion is fulfilled. Here, w is the vertical wind velocity, and the overbar denotes time averaging. The error is shown to be dependent on the asymmetry of atmospheric transport, represented by the coefficient αc. Two methods of estimating the coefficient αc are proposed: a probabilistic treatment of turbulent transport and a method utilizing the assumption of scalar similarity. We show how other formulas for calculating the TEA flux are linked to the new formulation and explore the different corrections in a numerical simulation. The new formulation avoids the direct dependence of the bias term on the scalar background concentration. This result increases confidence in applying the TEA method to measuring fluxes of atmospheric constituents. This is particularly relevant to scalars with a large background concentration and a small flux. This paper is Part 1 of a two-part series on true eddy accumulation.

Ammonia fluxes over an agricultural field in growing and fallow periods using relaxed eddy accumulation

Asia has a considerable risk of nitrogen deposition effects on ecosystems due to the high deposition amounts. Ammonia (NH3) emissions, primarily from agricultural production, have increased in East Asia, and the increasing contribution of NH3 deposition to the total nitrogen deposition is concerning. However, NH3 deposition in this region is uncertain due to lacking flux measurements and the complex bidirectional nature of NH3 atmosphere−surface exchange. To better understand the NH3 deposition in this region, we investigated NH3 fluxes over an agricultural field in Tokyo, Japan. Fluxes were determined using the relaxed eddy accumulation method incorporating the denuder/filter-pack sampling technique and continuously conducting daytime and nighttime measurements in soybean-growing (July 28–August 5, 2020) and fallow (March 4–March 10, 2021) periods. NH3 fluxes were mostly downward in both periods, indicating that the agricultural field was a sink for NH3 during the periods (mean flux = −0.091 μg m−2 s−1). The deposition velocities in the growing period were lower than in the fallow period possibly due to the smaller turbulence. The deposition velocities correlated positively with friction velocity, indicating that the turbulence is the dominant factor driving NH3 deposition. We compared inferred fluxes using a compensation point model with the measured fluxes. The model did not reproduce the observation results when using default inputs, but showed a mean NH3 emission of 0.054 μg m−2 s−1. Revised inputs considering on-site soil and foliage information improved the model's results; however, the inferred fluxes were still smaller than the measured fluxes (mean flux = −0.017 μg m−2 s−1). These results indicate that there were possibly other processes enhancing NH3 deposition in the agricultural field.

Canopy-Level Flux and Vertical Gradients of Hg0 Stable Isotopes in Remote Evergreen Broadleaf Forest Show Year-Around Net Hg0 Deposition.

Vegetation uptake represents the dominant route of Hg input to terrestrial ecosystems. However, this plant-directed sink is poorly constrained due to the challenges in measuring the net Hg0 exchange on the ecosystem scale over a long period. Particularly important is the contribution in the subtropics/tropics, where the bulk (∼70%) of the Hg0 deposition is considered to occur. Using the relaxed eddy accumulation technique, this study presents for the first time a whole ecosystem Hg0 flux record over an evergreen hardwood forest. This tower-based micrometeorological method gauged a cumulated net Hg0 flux of -41.1 μg m-2 over 16 months, suggesting that the subtropical montane forest acts as a large and continuous sink of atmospheric Hg0. The monthly net fluxes were consistently negative (-7.3 to -1.0 μg m-2 month-1) throughout the year, with the smallest absolute values occurring during the mild and dry subseason in spring, which was also the annual lowest in vegetation activity. Colocated measurements of multilevel gradients of Hg0 concentration and its stable isotopic composition support the finding of year-round Hg0 deposition. The stable Hg isotope measurements also show that in-canopy bi-directional Hg0 exchange is prevalent.

A relaxed eddy accumulation (REA) LOPAP system for flux measurements of nitrous acid (HONO)

Abstract. In the present study a relaxed eddy accumulation (REA) system for the quantification of vertical fluxes of nitrous acid (HONO) was developed and tested. The system is based on a three-channel long-path absorption photometer (LOPAP) instrument, for which two channels are used for the updrafts and downdrafts, respectively, and a third one for the correction of chemical interferences. The instrument is coupled to a REA gas inlet, for which an ultrasonic anemometer controls two fast magnetic valves to probe the two channels of the LOPAP instrument depending on the vertical wind direction. A software (PyREA) was developed, which controls the valves and measurement cycles, which regularly alternates between REA, zero and parallel ambient measurements. In addition, the assignment of the updrafts and downdrafts to the physical LOPAP channels is periodically alternated, to correct for differences in the interferences of the different air masses. During the study, only small differences of the interferences were identified for the updrafts and downdrafts excluding significant errors when using only one interference channel. In laboratory experiments, high precision of the two channels and the independence of the dilution-corrected HONO concentrations on the length of the valve switching periods were demonstrated. A field campaign was performed in order to test the new REA-LOPAP system at the TROPOS monitoring station in Melpitz, Germany. HONO fluxes in the range of -4×1013 molecules m−2 s−1 (deposition) to +1.0×1014 molecules m−2 s−1 (emission) were obtained. A typical diurnal variation of the HONO fluxes was observed with low, partly negative fluxes during night-time and higher positive fluxes around noon. After an intensive rain period the positive HONO emissions during daytime were continuously increasing, which was explained by the drying of the uppermost ground surfaces. Similar to other campaigns, the highest correlation of the HONO flux was observed with the product of the NO2 photolysis frequency and the NO2 concentration (J(NO2)⋅[NO2]), which implies a HONO formation by photosensitized conversion of NO2 on organic surfaces, such as humic acids. Other postulated HONO formation mechanisms are also discussed but are tentatively ranked being of minor importance for the present field campaign.

Direct partitioning of eddy-covariance water and carbon dioxide fluxes into ground and plant components

The partitioning of evapotranspiration (ET) into surface evaporation (E) and stomatal-based transpiration (T) is essential for analyzing the water cycle and earth surface energy budget. Similarly, the partitioning of net ecosystem exchange (NEE) of carbon dioxide into respiration (R) and photosynthesis (P) is needed to quantify the controls on its sources and sinks. Promising approaches to obtain these components from field measurements include partitioning models based on analysis of conventional high frequency eddy-covariance data. Here, two such existing approaches, based on similarity between non-stomatal (R and E) and stomatal (P and T) components, are considered: the Modified Relaxed Eddy Accumulation (MREA) and Flux-Variance Similarity (FVS) models. Moreover, a simpler technique is proposed based on a Conditional Eddy-Covariance (CEC) scheme. All approaches were evaluated against independent estimates of transpiration and respiration. The CEC method agreed better with measurements of transpiration over a grass field, with a smaller root mean square error (5.9 W m−2) and higher correlation (0.96). At a forest site, better agreement with soil respiration was found for FVS above the canopy, while CEC and MREA performed better below the canopy. Further application of these methods over a vineyard and a pine forest across different seasons provided insight into the main strengths and weaknesses of each approach. FVS and MREA converge less often when ground flux components dominate, while CEC might result in noisy P and R for small NEE. Finally, in the CEC and MREA framework, the ratio T/ET is shown to be related to the correlation coefficient for carbon dioxide and water vapor concentrations, which can thus be used as a qualitative measure of the importance of stomatal and non-stomatal components. Overall, these results advance the understanding of the skill and agreement of all three methods, and inform future studies where the various approaches can be applied simultaneously and intercompared.

Choosing an optimal <i>β</i> factor for relaxed eddy accumulation applications across vegetated and non-vegetated surfaces

Abstract. Accurately measuring the turbulent transport of reactive and conservative greenhouse gases, heat, and organic compounds between the surface and the atmosphere is critical for understanding trace gas exchange and its response to changes in climate and anthropogenic activities. The relaxed eddy accumulation (REA) method enables measuring the land surface exchange when fast-response sensors are not available, broadening the suite of trace gases that can be investigated. The β factor scales the concentration differences to the flux, and its choice is central to successfully using REA. Deadbands are used to select only certain turbulent motions to compute the flux. This study evaluates a variety of different REA approaches with the goal of formulating recommendations applicable over a wide range of surfaces and meteorological conditions for an optimal choice of the β factor in combination with a suitable deadband. Observations were collected across three contrasting ecosystems offering stark differences in scalar transport and dynamics: a mid-latitude grassland ecosystem in Europe, a loose gravel surface of the Dry Valleys of Antarctica, and a spruce forest site in the European mid-range mountains. We tested a total of four different REA models for the β factor: the first two methods, referred to as model 1 and model 2, derive βp based on a proxy p for which high-frequency observations are available (sensible heat Ts). In the first case, a linear deadband is applied, while in the second case, we are using a hyperbolic deadband. The third method, model 3, employs the approach first published by Baker et al. (1992), which computes βw solely based upon the vertical wind statistics. The fourth method, model 4, uses a constant βp, const derived from long-term averaging of the proxy-based βp factor. Each β model was optimized with respect to deadband size before intercomparison. To our best knowledge, this is the first study intercomparing these different approaches over a range of different sites. With respect to overall REA performance, we found that the βw and constant βp, const performed more robustly than the dynamic proxy-dependent approaches. The latter models still performed well when scalar similarity between the proxy (here Ts) and the scalar of interest (here water vapor) showed strong statistical correlation, i.e., during periods when the distribution and temporal behavior of sources and sinks were similar. Concerning the sensitivity of the different β factors to atmospheric stability, we observed that βT slightly increased with increasing stability parameter z/L when no deadband is applied, but this trend vanished with increasing deadband size. βw was unrelated to dynamic stability and displayed a generally low variability across all sites, suggesting that βw can be considered a site-independent constant. To explain why the βw approach seems to be insensitive towards changes in atmospheric stability, we separated the contribution of w′ kurtosis to the flux uncertainty. For REA applications without deeper site-specific knowledge of the turbulent transport and degree of scalar similarity, we recommend using either the βp, const or βw models when the uncertainty of the REA flux quantification is not limited by the detection limit of the instrument. For conditions when REA sampling differences are close to the instrument's detection limit, the βp models using a hyperbolic deadband are the recommended choice.

Critical Observations of Gaseous Elemental Mercury Air‐Sea Exchange

AbstractAir‐sea exchange of gaseous elemental mercury (Hg0) is not well constrained, even though it is a major component of the global Hg cycle. Lack of Hg0 flux measurements to validate parameterizations of the Hg0 transfer velocity contributes to this uncertainty. We measured the Hg0 flux on the Baltic Sea coast using micrometeorological methods (gradient‐based and relaxed eddy accumulation [REA]) and also simulated the flux with a gas exchange model. The coastal waters were typically supersaturated with Hg0 (mean ± 1σ = 13.5 ± 3.5 ng m−3; ca. 10% of total Hg) compared to the atmosphere (1.3 ± 0.2 ng m−3). The Hg0 flux calculated using the gas exchange model ranged from 0.1–1.3 ng m−2 h−1 (10th and 90th percentile) over the course of the campaign (May 10–June 20, 2017) and showed a distinct diel fluctuation. The mean coastal Hg0 fluxes determined with the two gradient‐based approaches and REA were 0.3, 0.5, and 0.6 ng m−2 h−1, respectively. In contrast, the mean open sea Hg0 flux measured with REA was larger (6.3 ng m−2 h−1). The open sea Hg0 flux indicated a stronger wind speed dependence for the Hg0 transfer velocity compared to commonly used parameterizations. Although based on a limited data set, we suggest that the wind speed dependence of the Hg0 transfer velocity is more consistent with gases that have less water solubility than CO2 (e.g., O2). These pioneering flux measurements using micrometeorological techniques show that more such measurements would improve our understanding of air‐sea Hg exchange.

Affordable relaxed eddy accumulation system to measure fluxes of H2O, CO2, CH4 and N2O from ecosystems

The relaxed eddy accumulation (REA) technique is frequently applied to measure fluxes of a large variety of atmospheric tracers above ecosystems. It is often the method of choice since the eddy covariance (EC) technique is limited to a few tracers due to the lack of fast response analysers, high financial costs and in some cases high power consumption. REA avoids the need for a fast response analyser by collecting air from up-drafts and down-drafts into separate reservoirs. After collecting the air over a predefined time period, trace gas concentrations in the reservoirs are analysed by a slow response analyser and the average fluxes can be calculated.We developed and tested a REA system that is capable of measuring CO2, CH4, N2O and H2O fluxes simultaneously with only one gas analyser (Picarro G2805). This system is compatible with virtually any gas analyser and thus supports the flux analysis of a wide range of other air constituents such as isotopes, aerosols and volatile organic compounds. Furthermore, the modular design and rugged casing makes the sampling system robust and portable, and with its 12 V DC operation it is suitable for a wide range of field campaigns. The performance of the REA system was tested during the growing seasons of 2018 and 2020 on a grassland on organic soil in central Sweden.The system has worked reliably during several months in the Nordic climate, covering ambient temperatures between -20°C and +30°C. Measured fluxes of CO2 and H2O agree well with fluxes measured independently by an EC system. The similarity in the technology and the determined detection limits made us confident that the REA system even captures fluxes of CH4 and N2O well.