Relationship between soil CO2 concentrations and forest-floor CO2 effluxes

Effluxes calculated from soil CO2 concentration gradients near the surface closely agreed with the measured effluxes. Calculations indicated that more than 75% of the soil CO2 efflux originated in the top 20 cm soil. Calculated CO2 production varied with soil temperature, soil water content and season, and when scaled to 10 °C also showed some diurnal variation. Soil CO2 efflux and concentrations as well as soil temperature at the 5-cm depth varied in phase. Changes in CO2 storage in the 0-50 cm soil layer were an order of magnitude smaller than measured effluxes. Soil CO2 efflux was proportional to CO2 concentration at the 50-cm depth with the slope determined by soil water content, which was consistent with a simple steady-state analytical model of diffusive transport of CO2 in the soil. The latter proved successful in calculating effluxes during 2004.