The publication presents an empirical model of global carbon flux using meteorological data provided by satellites as well as observations from a global network of eddy covariance towers (FLUXNET) that measure wind speed, trace gas fluxes, and other atmospheric parameters. By combining these point measurements with broad areal coverage of satellite observations, Professor Kiely and co-authors developed a model that accurately estimates a number of ecosystem-atmosphere fluxes, including the amount of carbon used to fuel plant growth, the carbon produced by the ecosystem, and the latent and sensible energy transfer rates. The authors suggest that their empirical approach is not meant to replace theoretically derived simulations but, rather, to work with them to improve the understanding of environmental dynamics.

Professor Ger Kiely is a Principal Investigator in the Environmental Research Institute and Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering with research interests in surface hydrology and land-atmosphere interaction, climate change - extreme events, flood event analysis, and coupling of water, energy and carbon cycles.

(1) Jung, M. M. Reichstein, H. Margolis, A. Cescatti, A. Richardson, A. Arain, A. Arneth, C. Bernhofer, D. Bonal, J. Chen, D. Gianelle, N. Gobron, G. Kiely, W. Kutsch, G. Lasslop, B. Law, A. Lindroth, L. Merbold, L. Montagnani, E. Moors, D. Papale, M. Sottocornola, F. P. Vaccari, and C. Williams. (2011). Global patterns of land-atmosphere fluxes of carbon dioxide, latent heat, and sensible heat derived from eddy covariance, satellite, and meteorological observations. J. Geophys. Res., doi:10.1029/2010JG001566, Sept.2011. [16 pages; IF 3.62;]

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