Carbon, Water, and Energy Balance of the Arctic Landscape at Flagship Observatories and in a

PanArctic Network

Northeast Science Station, Cherskii, Russia

Carbon/Water/Energy Project

• Toolik Observatory

• Cherskii Observatory

• PanArctic Network

• Arctic Ecology Course

Data and analyses

• Net Ecosystem CO2 exchange (NEE)

• Methane • Dissolved C/element

losses• Water balance• Surface energy balance• Weather and

microclimate• Vegetation pattern and

reflectance

• Multivariable time series• Patch/footprint analyses• Landscape

element/energy budgets• PanArctic comparisons,

modeling• Toolik, Cherskii,

PanArctic data bases– Arctic LTER– NSIDC– PanArctic

Schedule and timing

• Summer 2007: Set up Cherskii & Toolik Observatories

• Year-round operation of tower flux and weather observations; summer only patch-scale studies, hydrology and stream chemistry; operate through 2007-2010

• Three PanArctic data meetings with international collaborators; first in Woods Hole winter 2007-2008, others @ Toolik 2008 and 2009

• Summer course @ Toolik 2007-2010

Local Data Base(Cherskii Staff, LTER)

Steering Committee (Bret-Harte, Barnes, Hobbie, Rastetter, Shaver, Zimov)

Education(Barnes, Hobbie,

Kade)

Network/Data Base(Rastetter, Postdoc,

Collaborators)

Toolik Observatory(Shaver, Bret-Harte,

Euskirchen)

Advisory Committee

Collaborating sites and projects

Cherskii Observatory(Zimov, Walter,

Bret-Harte)

Eddy Flux/micromet(Euskirchen, Shaver,

Bret-Harte)

Hydrology/Chemistry(Hobbie, LTER)

Fine Scale Fluxes(Bret-Harte, Shaver)

Methane(Walter)

Vegetation & NDVI(Bret-Harte, Shaver)

Field Course(Kade, All)

Seminar(Kade, All)

Eddy Flux/micromet(Zimov, Walter,

Euskirchen)

Hydrology/Chemistry(Zimov, Cherskii staff)

Vegetation & NDVI(Zimov, Walter)

Fine Scale Fluxes(Zimov, Walter)

Methane(Walter)

PanArctic Data Base(LTER, NSIDC, Collabs)

Data Workshops(Rastetter, Postdoc,

Collaborators)

Modeling workshops(Rastetter, Collaborators)

PanArctic syntheses(IPY, SEARCH)

Global syntheses(Global modeling orgs)

Outreach(Kade, All)

Local Data Base(TFS, LTER)

Toolik Lake at the intersection of three major environmental programs

NRC “Grand Challenges in Environmental Science”

• Biodiversity• Biogeochemistry• Climate Change• Hydroecology• Infectious disease• Invasive species• Land use

AON

NEON

LTER

Figure 2-3. The conceptual framework of the Arctic LTER project with a background of the foothills and mountains at Toolik Lake, Alaska (modified from the U.S. Postal Series Number 5, Nature of America). The large boxes are the three components of the landscape. The bullets inside the boxes are the factors and linkages within ecosystems that affect the formation, transformation, and movement of water, nutrients, and organic matter (OM). The two smaller boxes are the linkages between components. The bullets inside the boxes are the factors that control the transport and transformation of between components. BGC is biogeochemical; OM is organic matter; N is nitrogen; DIN is dissolved inorganic nitrogen.

The 26 U.S. sites lie in a variety of biotic and climate zones. They include arctic tundra, taiga, temperate forest, coniferous forest, grassland, desert, lakes, coastal, estuarine, and urban sites.

Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network