Active projects

• Measurement and modelling of N₂O fluxes from Irish Agricultural Grasslands
• ForestC: C stocks and CO₂ fluxes in Irish forests

  The objectives of ForestC are as follows:

  1. To determine soil C stocks at 60 forest sites throughout Ireland and to use these data to develop a quantitative assessment of C stocks in Irish forest soils.
  2. To determine the effect of afforestation and deforestation on CO₂ and CH₄ dynamics in peat soils and to develop CO₂ and CH₄ emission factors for afforested and deforested blanket peat.
  3. To determine the effect of broad-leaf afforestation of mineral soils on soil C stocks.
  4. To investigate the effect of afforestation on CO₂ and N₂O fluxes in grassland.

• Extreme weather, climate and natural disasters in Ireland

  There are disparate sources on historical climate and extreme events in Ireland. However, no broad scale survey of extreme events, climatic change, and the impacts thereof has been undertaken. This project seeks to combine knowledge from the direct observational record, the proxy record and the historical record. Information from these disparate sources will be synthesised into a comprehensive study of the interaction of climate and society in Ireland from first settlement to the modern day. The scope of this project, both in temporal coverage and types of sources, is unique. An interdisciplinary approach is proposed as the interpretation of each type of source requires specific expertise. A wikispace facilitates cross-site and cross-discipline collaboration.

  This project is funded by the Environmental Protection Agency under the STRIVE programme.

• SoilH — Interactions of soil hydrology, land use and climate change and their impacts on soil quality.
• SoilC – Monitoring and Modelling of Soil Carbon Stocks
• Irish Flood Warning System

  This pilot project is based on the already existing, but inefficient flood warning system in on the river Blackwater in Mallow. The communication infrastructure has been improved to as well as the addition of a website which allows the river monitoring sites to be viewed on the internet. Flood prediction models will be created from current and past data from river monitoring sites both in close proximity and further a field from the areas most at risk and also from rain gauges in the local area.

  Long term it is hoped that the project will be used in other parts of the country that are similarly prone to flooding.

• Nitroeurope – Measuring & Modelling N₂O across Europe

  NitroEurope — or NEU for short — is a developing effort for integrated European research into the nitrogen cycle with a particular focus on:

  • Multiple components of the nitrogen cycle and its interactions with the carbon cycle: treating inputs and outputs via air and water and changes in stocks for terrestrial ecosystems (forests, shrub lands, grasslands and crop lands).
  • Flux measurements to quantify processes and to address to the European perspective, using a range of methods from simple (Level 1) to the most sophisticated (Level 3).
  • Experimental manipulation of terrestrial ecosystems in relation to the key drivers of change in the nitrogen and carbon cycles: climate change, atmospheric composition change, land management and land use change.
  • Modelling the process interactions and scaling up to consider fluxes at the plot, landscape, region and European level.
  • Consideration of scenarios of past and present conditions including the interactions related to nitrogen for Kyoto issues and the synergies (or conflicts) with other nitrogen source sectors and issues.

  The project involves over 60 research groups across Europe encompassing a variety of different techniques for measuring N₂O ranging from basic chamber measurements to eddy covariance. The Celticflux site in Cork featuring the Trace Gas Analyser will be amongst the more sophisticated and long term monitoring sites.