Micrometeorological techniques to measure ecosystem-scale greenhouse gas fluxes for model validation and improvement

Dynamic models are explicit in time and therefore experimental data to validate and improve such models must also be explicit in time. The micrometeorological eddy covariance flux measurement technique is the recommended method for obtaining such data. However, in reality, chemical analyzers for greenhouse gas fluxes such as CH4 and N2O are not always fast enough for application with the eddy covariance in a strict sense. Here we show how a combination of the eddy covariance method with the flux-gradient approach could solve the problem, and how current knowledge of the behavior of slow chemical sensors could be used to perform eddy covariance flux measurements even with such sensors.