CarboCount CH

Quantifying greenhouse gas fluxes and their sensitivity to climate variations: A case study in Central Europe and Switzerland

Contact
Nina Buchmann

Project Members
Ines Bamberger
Werner Eugster

Further project info
Internal project page

On-line data
Quickview of some data

Collaborations
Empa, Dr. Dominik Brunner
ETHZ, Dr. Nicolas Gruber
University of Bern, Dr. Markus Leuenberger
ETHZ, Dr. Sonia Seneviratne
C2SM, Dr. Isabelle Bey

Timeplan
2012-2014

Related Projects
GHG-Europe
FasMeF
Swiss FluxNet
NitroEurope

Aim

CarboCount CH aims to develop a prototype modelling and observing system for CO2 and CH4 at the regional scale with the objective to quantify and understand CO2 and CH4 fluxes and their sensitivity to recent and current climate variability.

Approach

The approach is to integrate so-called “top-down”methods based on atmospheric measurements and models with “bottom-up” methods based on local (e.g. flux) measurements, process-based models of natural fluxes, and statistical information on anthropogenic emissions. The project will focus on central Europe and especially central Switzerland where

(i) there exists a strong basis for building a CO₂/CH₄ measurement network

(ii) rich and detailed data sets are available to provide input and independent verification, and

(iii) the heterogeneity of the region provides the challenge needed to test such a system.

Experimental Sites

Network of concentration and flux measurements in Switzerland. Red circles are the new representative measurements sites with continuous measurements of CO2 and CH4 setup by CarboCount CH. Green and light green circles are existing sites of the Swiss FLUXNET network and the ETH research catchment Rietholzbach with open-path CO2 and H2O instruments. Blue circles are other existing sites with variable combinations of CH4 or CO2 with other measurements. None of these presently offers simultaneous observations of CO2 and CH4. NABEL is the Swiss air pollution monitoring network operated by Empa. NABEL plans to install in 2011 Picarro CO and CO2 analyzers at Payerne and Rigi. Jungfraujoch (JFJ) is a global station of the Global Atmospheric Watch network of WMO measuring virtually all GHGs (CO2, CH4, N2O, halocarbons, SF6) including continuous (1 Hz) measurements of 13C(CO2) and 18O(CO2).

Publications