CARBO-Extreme

Contact
Nina Buchmann
Alexander Knohl

Project members
Dr. Anna Gilgen
Susanne Burri
Dr. Michael Bahn

Time plan
2009 - 2012

Research sites
Chamau
Früebüel
Alp Weissenstein
Stubai Tal

Context & Aim

Within the project CARBO-Extreme ("The terrestrial Carbon cycle under Climate Variability and Extremes – a Pan-European synthesis"), we aim to achieve an improved knowledge of the terrestrial carbon cycle in response to climate variability and extremes, to represent and apply this knowledge over Europe with predictive terrestrial carbon cycle modelling, to interpret the model predictions in terms of vulnerability of the terrestrial – in particular soil – carbon pools and give according advice to EU climate and soil protection policies.

Approach

This objective will be achieved by integrating three major types of recent and new solid scientific carbon cycle data, from: (i) soil process studies, (ii) a network of established ecosystem manipulation experiments, and (iii) long-term observations spanning several times-scales (e.g. eddy covariance data, tree rings and growth, crop yields, long-term remote sensing data on soil moisture and vegetation activity and soil carbon inventories).

We will contribute to the network of ecosystem manipulation experiments with research about the response of Swiss grasslands to drought within our NCCR project and with new stable isotope labeling experiments studying the short-term ecophysiological responses of grassland vegetation to drought. Here, we closely collaborate with Dr. Michael Bahn, University Innsbruck.

Publications

Teuling AJ, Hirschi M, Ohmura A, Wild M, Reichstein M, Ciais P, Buchmann N, Ammann C, Montagnani L, Richardson AD, Wohlfahrt G, Seneviratne SI (2009) A regional perspective on trends in continental evaporation. Geophysical Research Letters 36, L02404, doi:10.1029/2008GL036584