(First edition: 1998, this reprint: 2004). This publication presents an updated procedure for calculating reference and crop evapotranspiration from meteorological data and crop coefficients. The procedure, first presented in FAO Irrigation and Drainage Paper No. 24, Crop water requirements, in 1977, allows estimation of the amount of water used by a crop, taking into account the effect of the climate and the crop characteristics. The publication incorporates advances in research and more accurate procedures for determining crop water use as recommended by a panel of high-level experts organised by FAO in May 1990. The first part of the guidelines includes procedures for determining reference crop evapotranspiration according to the FAO Penman-Monteith method. These are followed by updated procedures for estimating the evapotranspiration of different crops for different growth stages and ecological conditions.

Crop evapotranspiration : guidelines for computing crop water requirements

When the atmospheric turbulent flux of a minor constituent such as CO2 (or of water vapour as a special case) is measured by either the eddy covariance or the mean gradient technique, account may need to be taken of variations of the constituent's density due to the presence of a flux of heat and/or water vapour. In this paper the basic relationships are discussed in the context of vertical transfer in the lower atmosphere, and the required corrections to the measured flux are derived.

If the measurement involves sensing of the fluctuations or mean gradient of the constituent's mixing ratio relative to the dry air component, then no correction is required; while with sensing of the constituent's specific mass content relative to the total moist air, a correction arising from the water vapour flux only is required. Correspondingly, if in mean gradient measurements the constituent's density is measured in air from different heights which has been pre-dried and brought to a common temperature, then again no correction is required; while if the original (moist) air itself is brought to a common temperature, then only a correction arising from the water vapour flux is required.

If the constituent's density fluctuations or mean gradients are measured directly in the air in situ, then corrections arising from both heat and water vapour fluxes are required.

These corrections will often be very important. That due to the heat flux is about five times as great as that due to an equal latent heat (water vapour) flux. In CO2 flux measurements the magnitude of the correction will commonly exceed that of the flux itself. The correction to measurements of water vapour flux will often be only a few per cent but will sometimes exceed 10 per cent.

Correction of flux measurements for density effects due to heat and water vapour transfer

Forest systems cover more than 4.1 x 109 hectares of the Earth9s land area. Globally, forest vegetation and soils contain about 1146 petagrams of carbon, with approximately 37 percent of this carbon in low-latitude forests, 14 percent in mid-latitudes, and 49 percent at high latitudes. Over two-thirds of the carbon in forest ecosystems is contained in soils and associated peat deposits. In 1990, deforestation in the low latitudes emitted 1.6 ± 0.4 petagrams of carbon per year, whereas forest area expansion and growth in mid- and high-latitude forest sequestered 0.7 ± 0.2 petagrams of carbon per year, for a net flux to the atmosphere of 0.9 ± 0.4 petagrams of carbon per year. Slowing deforestation, combined with an increase in forestation and other management measures to improve forest ecosystem productivity, could conserve or sequester significant quantities of carbon. Future forest carbon cycling trends attributable to losses and regrowth associated with global climate and land-use change are uncertain. Model projections and some results suggest that forests could be carbon sinks or sources in the future.

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/263/5144/185.full.pdf

Carbon pools and flux of global forest ecosystems.

FLUXNET: A New Tool to Study the Temporal and Spatial Variability of Ecosystem-Scale Carbon Dioxide, Water Vapor, and Energy Flux Densities

The eddy covariance technique ascertains the exchange rate of CO2 across the interface between the atmosphere and a plant canopy by measuring the covariance between fluctuations in vertical wind velocity and CO2 mixing ratio. Two decades ago, the method was employed to study CO2 exchange of agricultural crops under ideal conditions during short field campaigns. During the past decade the eddy covariance method has emerged as an important tool for evaluating fluxes of carbon dioxide between terrestrial ecosystems and the atmosphere over the course of a year, and more. At present, the method is being applied in a nearly continuous mode to study carbon dioxide and water vapor exchange at over a hundred and eighty field sites, worldwide. The objective of this review is to assess the eddy covariance method as it is being applied by the global change community on increasingly longer time scales and over less than ideal surfaces.

The eddy covariance method is most accurate when the atmospheric conditions (wind, temperature, humidity, CO2) are steady, the underlying vegetation is homogeneous and it is situated on flat terrain for an extended distance upwind. When the eddy covariance method is applied over natural and complex landscapes or during atmospheric conditions that vary with time, the quantification of CO2 exchange between the biosphere and atmosphere must include measurements of atmospheric storage, flux divergence and advection.

Averaging CO2 flux measurements over long periods (days to year) reduces random sampling error to relatively small values. Unfortunately, data gaps are inevitable when constructing long data records. Data gaps are generally filled with values produced from statistical and empirical models to produce daily and annual sums of CO2 exchange. Filling data gaps with empirical estimates do not introduce significant bias errors because the empirical algorithms are derived from large statistical populations. On the other hand, flux measurement errors can be biased at night when winds are light and intermittent. Nighttime bias errors tend to produce an underestimate in the measurement of ecosystem respiration.

Despite the sources of errors associated with long-term eddy flux measurements, many investigators are producing defensible estimates of annual carbon exchange. When measurements come from nearly ideal sites the error bound on the net annual exchange of CO2 is less than ±50 g C m−2 yr−1. Additional confidence in long-term measurements is growing because investigators are producing values of net ecosystem productivity that are converging with independent values produced by measuring changes in biomass and soil carbon, as long as the biomass inventory studies are conducted over multiple years.

/pdf/assessing-the-eddy-covariance-technique-for-evaluating-38dltwlqrv.pdf

Assessing the eddy covariance technique for evaluating carbon dioxide exchange rates of ecosystems: past, present and future

Soil Heat Flux and Soil Temperature. Air Temperature and Sensible Heat Transfer. Wind and Turbulent Transfer. Atmospheric Humidity and Dew. Modification of the Soil Temperature and Moisture Regimes. Evaporation and Evapotranspiration. Field Photosynthesis, Respiration, and the Carbon Balance. Windbreaks and Shelter Effects. Frost and Frost Control. Water Use Efficiency in Crop Production: New Approaches. Human and Animal Biometeorology. Index.

Microclimate: the biological environment

Results are presented of micrometeorological measurements made over alfalfa and soybeans under conditions of sensible heat advection at Mead, Neb. The sensible heat advection phenomenon reported here is of a regional rather than a local nature. The exchange coefficient for sensible heat (KH) is found to be generally greater than the exchange coefficient for water vapor (KW). This result contradicts the usual assumption of equality of KH and KW under nonadvection (lapse or unstable) conditions when the net transfer of both sensible heat and water vapor are away from the earth's surface. Under advective conditions, however, heat and water vapor are transferred in opposite directions. Our results are supported by Warhaft's (1976) recently published theoretical analysis in which he concludes that the greatest departure of KH/KW from unity will occur when temperature and humidity gradients are of opposite sign.

/pdf/turbulent-exchange-coefficients-for-sensible-heat-and-water-573xdpev3q.pdf

Turbulent Exchange Coefficients for Sensible Heat and Water Vapor under Advective Conditions

Eddy correlation equipment was used to measure mass and energy fluxes over a soybean crop. A rapid response CO2 sensor, a drag anemometer, a Lyman-alpha hygrometer and a fine wire thermocouple were used to sense the fluctuating quantities. Diurnal fluxes of sensible heat, latent heat and CO2 were calculated from these data. Energy budget closure was obtained by summing the sensible and latent heat fluxes determined by eddy correlation which balanced the sum of net radiation and soil heat flux. Peak daytime CO2 fluxes were near 1.0 mg m−2 (ground area) s−1. The eddy correlation technique was also employed in this study to measure nocturnal CO2 fluxes caused by respiration from plants, soil, and roots. These CO2 fluxes ranged from - 0.1 to - 0.25 mg m−2s−1. From the data collected over mature soybeans, a relationship between CO2 flux and photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) was developed. The crop did not appear to be light-saturated at PAR flux densities < 1800 ΜEi m−2 s−1. The light compensation point was found to be about 160 ΜEi m−2 s−1.

Eddy correlation measurements of CO 2 , latent heat, and sensible heat fluxes over a crop surface

Severe and widespread drought occurred over a large portion of the United States between 1974 and 1977. Impacts on agriculture and other industries, as well as local water supplies, were substantial. The federal government responded with forty assistance programs administered by sixteen federal agencies. Assistance was provided primarily in the form of loans and grants to people, businesses and governments experiencing hardship caused by drought. The total cost of the program is estimated at $7–8 billion. Federal response to the mid-1970s drought was largely untimely, ineffective and poorly coordinated. Four recommendations are offered that, if implemented, would improve future drought assessment and response efforts: 1) reliable and timely informational products and dissemination plans; 2) improved impact assessment techniques, especially in the agricultural sector, for use by government to identify periods of enhanced risk and to trigger assistance measures; 3) administratively centralized drou...

/pdf/improving-federal-response-to-drought-57wbxkjep3.pdf

Norman J. Rosenberg

Papers

Microclimate: the biological environment

Microclimate: the biological environment

Turbulent Exchange Coefficients for Sensible Heat and Water Vapor under Advective Conditions

Eddy correlation measurements of CO 2 , latent heat, and sensible heat fluxes over a crop surface

Improving Federal Response to Drought