ALBERT

Description: We present results of three field campaigns using active longpath DOAS (Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy) for the study of reactive halogen species (RHS) BrO, IO, OIO and I2. Two recent field campaigns took place in Spring 2002 in Dagebüll at the German North Sea Coast and in Spring 2003 in Lilia at the French Atlantic Coast of Brittany. In addition, data from a campaign in Mace Head, Ireland in 1998 was partly re-evaluated. During the recent field campaigns volatile halogenated organic compounds (VHOCs) were determined by a capillary gas chromatograph coupled with an electron capture detector and an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (GC/ECD-ICPMS) in air and water. Due to the inhomogeneous distribution of macroalgae at the German North Sea Coast we found a clear connection between elevated levels of VHOCs and the appearance of macroalgae. Extraordinarily high concentrations of several VHOCs, especially CH3I and CH3Br of up to 1830 pptv and 875 pptv, respectively, were observed at the coast of Brittany, demonstrating the outstanding level of bioactivity there. We found CH2I2 at levels of up to 20 pptv, and a clear anti-correlation with the appearance of IO. The IO mixing ratio reached up to 7.7±0.5 ppt(pmol/mol) during the day, in reasonable agreement with model studies designed to represent the meteorological and chemical conditions in Brittany. For the two recent campaigns the DOAS spectra were evaluated for BrO, OIO and I2, but none of these species could be clearly identified (average detection limits around 2 ppt, 3 ppt, 20 ppt, resp., significantly higher in individual cases). Only in the Mace Head spectra evidence was found for the presence of OIO. Since macroalgae under oxidative stress are suggested to be a further source for I2 in the marine boundary layer, we re-analyzed spectra in the 500–600 nm range taken during the 1998 PARFORCE campaign in Mace Head, Ireland, which had not previously been analyzed for I2. We identified molecular iodine above the detection limit (~20 ppt), with peak mixing ratios of 61±12 ppt. Since I2 was undetectable during the Brittany campaign, we suggest that iodine may not be released into the atmosphere by macroalgae in general, but only by a special type of the laminaria species under oxidative stress. Only during periods of extraordinarily low water (spring-tide), the plant is exposed to ambient air and may release gaseous iodine in some way to the atmosphere. The results of our re-analysis of spectra from the PARFORCE campaign in 1998 support this theory. Hence, we feel that we can provide an explanation for the different I2 levels in Brittany and Mace Head.

Description: The Sahel belt of Africa has been the focus of intensive scientific research since the 1960s, spurred on by the chronic vulnerability of its population to recurring drought and the threat of long-term land degradation. But satellite sensors have recently shown that much of the region has experienced significant increases in photosynthetic activity since the early 1980s, thus re-energizing long-standing debates about the role that people play in shaping land surface status, and thus climate at regional scales. In this paper, we test the hypothesis that people have had a measurable impact on vegetation dynamics in the Sahel for the period 1982–2002. We compare potential natural vegetation dynamics predicted by a process-based ecosystem model with satellite-derived greenness observations, and map the agreement between the two across a geographic grid at a spatial resolution of 0.5°. As aggregated data-model agreement is very good, any local differences between the two could be due to human impact. We then relate this agreement metric to state-of-the-art data sets on demographics, pasture, and cropping. Our findings suggest that demographic and agricultural pressures in the Sahel are unable to account for differences between simulated and observed vegetation dynamics, even for the most densely populated areas. But we do identify a weak, positive correlation between data-model agreement and pasture intensity at the Sahel-wide level. This indicates that herding or grazing does not appreciably affect vegetation dynamics in the region. Either people have not had a significant impact on vegetation dynamics in the Sahel or the identification of a human "footprint" is precluded by inconsistent or subtle vegetation response to complex socio-environmental interactions, and/or limitations in the data used for this study. We do not exclude the possibility of a greater human influence on vegetation dynamics over the coming decades with changing land use.

Description: We present results of three field campaigns using active longpath DOAS (Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy) for the study of reactive halogen species (RHS) BrO, IO, OIO and I2. Two recent field campaigns took place in Spring 2002 in Dagebüll at the German North Sea Coast and in Spring 2003 in Lilia at the French Atlantic Coast of Brittany. In addition, data from a campaign in Mace Head, Ireland in 1998 was re-evaluated. During these field campaigns volatile halogenated organic compounds (VHOCs) were determined by GC/ECD-ICPMS in air and water. Due to the spatial distribution of macroalgae at the German North Sea Coast we found a clear connection between elevated levels of VHOCs and the appearance of macroalgae. Extraordinarily high concentrations of several VHOCs, especially CH3I and CH3Br of up to 1830 pptv and 875 pptv, respectively, were observed at the coast of Brittany, demonstrating the outstanding level of bioactivity there. We found CH2I2 at levels of up to 20 pptv, and a clear anti-correlation with the appearance of IO. The IO mixing ratio reached up to 7.7±0.5 ppt(pmol/mol) during the day, in reasonable agreement with model studies designed to represent the meteorological and chemical conditions in Brittany. For the two campaigns the DOAS spectra were evaluated for BrO, OIO and I2, but none of these species could be clearly identified (detection limits around 2 ppt, 3 ppt, 20 ppt, resp.). Only in the Mace Head spectra evidence was found for the presence of OIO. Since macroalgae under oxidative stress are suggested to be a further source for I2 in the marine boundary layer, we re-analyzed spectra in the 500–600 nm range taken during the 1998 PARFORCE campaign in Mace Head, Ireland, which had not previously been analyzed for I2. We identified molecular iodine above the detection limit (~20 ppt), with peak concentrations of 61±12 ppt. Since I2 was undetectable during the Brittany campaign, we suggest that iodine may not be released into the atmosphere by macroalgae in general, but only by a special type of the laminaria species under oxidative stress. Only during periods of extraordinarily low water (spring-tide), is the plant exposed to ambient air and may release gaseous iodine in some way to the atmosphere. The result of our re-analysis of spectra from the PARFORCE campaign in 1998 support this theory. Hence, we feel that we can provide an explanation for the different I2 levels in Brittany and Mace Head.

Description: We used satellite remote sensing data; fraction of photosynthetically active radiation absorbed by vegetation (fPAR) from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) in combination with tower eddy covariance and meteorological measurements to characterise the Light Use Efficiency parameter (ε) variability and the maximum ε (εmax) for two contrasting Canadian peatlands. Eight-day MODIS fPAR data were acquired for the Mer Bleue (2000 to 2003) and Western Peatland (2004). Flux tower eddy covariance and meteorological measurements were integrated to the same eight-day time stamps as the MODIS fPAR data. A light use efficiency model: GPP = ε×APAR (where GPP is Gross Primary Productivity and APAR is absorbed photosynthetically active radiation) was used to calculate ε. The εmax value for each year (2000 to 2003) at the Mer Bleue bog ranged from 0.58 g C MJ−1 to 0.78 g C MJ−1 and was 0.91 g C MJ−1 in 2004, for the Western Peatland. The average growing season ε for the Mer Bleue bog for the four year period was 0.35 g C MJ−1 and for the Western Peatland in 2004 was 0.57 g C MJ−1. The average snow free period for the Mer Bleue bog over the four years was 0.27 g C MJ−1 and for the Western Peatland in 2004 was 0.39 g C MJ−1. Using the light use efficiency method we calculated the εmax and the annual variability in ε for two Canadian peatlands. We determined that temperature was a growth-limiting factor at both sites Vapour Pressure Deficit (VPD) however was not. MODIS fPAR is a useful tool for the characterization of ε at flux tower sites.

Description: The Sahel belt of Africa has been the focus of intensive scientific research since the 1960s, spurred on by the chronic vulnerability of its population to recurring drought and the threat of long-term land degradation. But satellite sensors have recently shown that much of the region has experienced significant increases in photosynthetic activity since the early 1980s, thus re-energizing long-standing debates about the role that people play in shaping land surface status, and thus climate at regional scales. In this paper, we test the hypothesis that people have had a measurable impact on vegetation dynamics in the Sahel for the period 1982–2002. We compare potential natural vegetation dynamics predicted by a process-based ecosystem model with satellite-derived greenness observations, and map the agreement between the two across a geographic grid at a spatial resolution of 0.5°. As aggregated data-model agreement is very good, any local differences between the two could be due to human impact. We then relate this agreement metric to state-of-the-art data sets on demographics, pasture, and cropping. Our findings suggest that demographic and agricultural pressures in the Sahel are unable to account for differences between simulated and observed vegetation dynamics, even for the most densely populated areas. But we do identify a weak, positive correlation between data-model agreement and pasture intensity at the Sahel-wide level. This indicates that herding or grazing does not appreciably affect vegetation dynamics in the region. Either people have not had a significant impact on vegetation dynamics in the Sahel or the identification of a human "footprint" is precluded by inconsistent or subtle vegetation response to complex socio-environmental interactions, and/or limitations in the data used for this study.

Description: We used satellite remote sensing data; fraction of photosynthetically active radiation absorbed by vegetation (fPAR) from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) in combination with tower eddy covariance and meteorological measurements to characterise the light use efficiency parameter (ε) variability and the maximum ε (εmax) for two contrasting Canadian peatlands. Eight-day MODIS fPAR data were acquired for the Mer Bleue (2000 to 2003) and Western Peatland (2004). Flux tower eddy covariance and meteorological measurements were integrated to the same eight-day time stamps as the MODIS fPAR data. A light use efficiency model: GPP=ε * APAR (where GPP is Gross Primary Productivity and APAR is absorbed photosynthetically active radiation) was used to calculated ε. The εmax value for each year (2000 to 2003) at the Mer Bleue bog ranged from 0.58 g C MJ−1 to 0.78 g C MJ−1 and was 0.91 g C MJ−1 in 2004, for the Western Peatland. The average growing season ε for the Mer Bleue bog for the four year period was 0.35 g C MJ−1 and for the Western Peatland in 2004 was 0.57 g C MJ−1. The average snow free period ε for the Mer Bleue bog over the four year period was 0.27 g C MJ−1 and for the Western Peatland in 2004 was 0.39 g C MJ−1. Using the light use efficiency method we calculated the εmax and the annual variability in ε for two Canadian peatlands. We determined that temperature was a growth-limiting factor at both sites Vapour Pressure Deficit (VPD) however was not. MODIS fPAR is a useful tool for the characterization of ε at flux tower sites.