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:
- 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.
- 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.
- To determine the effect of broad-leaf afforestation of mineral soils on soil C stocks.
- 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
- CarboEuroflux – Quantifying the CO2 balance in Europe
The overarching goal of CARBOEUROFLUX programme is to improve our understanding on magnitude, location, temporal behaviour and causes of the carbon source/sink strengths of terrestrial ecosystems which can be used to improve the negotiation capacity of the European Community in the context of the Kyoto protocol. Following this goal more specifically the project CARBOEUROFLUX aims:
- To investigate the magnitude of the carbon sources/sinks for a range of terrestrial ecosystems, in respect of species, age, climate, nitrogen loads and geographical locations.
- To understand the effect of inter and intra-annual climate variations on the magnitude of carbon exchanges of terrestrial ecosystems.
- To investigate the role of soil, wood and leaves biomass respiration on the partition of the ecosystem carbon exchanges.
- To validate ecosystem model of carbon sequestration across a range of climate, species and vegetation structure
- To verify the stock change approach versus flux measurements as requested by the Kyoto protocol for carbon accounting in the commitment period
- To investigate the role of forest management on the carbon sequestration
The project is based on 30 study sites where continuous long term carbon, energy and water exchanges will be investigated together with ecological processes controlling the ecosystem biospheric exchanges.The study sites represent various terrestrial ecosystems of the European continent, encompassing various species, community structure, management practices and distribution with respect to the change of European climate conditions.The methodology for ecosystem exchanges of carbon and energy is based on the eddy covariance theory. The flux stations measure the net flux of carbon entering or leaving the ecosystem. This is the flux which, if summed annually, provides the estimate of Net Ecosystem Exchange (NEE),and thus provides a direct measurement of the annual ecosystem carbon source/sink strength. In order to reduce the uncertainty associated with site-to-site variation on flux measurement methods and calculations, the CARBOEUROFLUX programme is designed with the same hardware and software specifications at all sites. Furthermore data collected at the CARBOEUROFLUX sites will be quality controlled, corrected for frequency losses and sensor separation and, when needed, corrected for night-time fluxes with the same procedures. The CARBOEUROFLUX sites are distributed along a North–South transect, going from about 41° to 65° North Latitude and from about 20° West to 25° East longitude.
The selected sites fall into four main climate classes: Mediterranean, Temperate - Atlantic, Temperate - Continental and Boreal. The major forest biomes are constituted by deciduous (beech, turkey oak) and evergreen (pinus, spruce, helm oak) forests. In these sites the inter-annual variability of carbon fluxes will be investigated. Other forest plantations, natural ecosystems and agricultural crops which are directly related to Article 3.3 and 3.4 of the Kyoto protocol, are included in the current site selection.
The existing Celticflux sites in Cork, Kerry and Wexford have been joined onto this collective programme.
- 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. The online flood warning system.
- 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.