A multiscale and multidisciplinary investigation of ecosystem-atmosphere CO₂ exchange over the Rocky Mountains of Colorado

A significant fraction of Earth consists of mountainous terrain. However, the question of how to monitor the surface-atmosphere carbon exchange over complex terrain has not been fully explored. This article reports on studies by a team of investigators from U.S. universities and research institutes who carried out a multiscale and multidisciplinary field and modeling investigation of the CO₂ exchange between ecosystems and the atmosphere and of CO₂ transport over complex mountainous terrain in the Rocky Mountain region of Colorado. The goals of the field campaign, which included ground and airborne in situ and remote-sensing measurements, were to characterize unique features of the local CO₂ exchange and to find effective methods to measure regional ecosystem–atmosphere CO² exchange over complex terrain. The modeling effort included atmospheric and ecological numerical modeling and data assimilation to investigate regional CO₂ transport and biological processes involved in ecosystem-atmosphere carbon exchange. In this report, we document our approaches, demonstrate some preliminary results, and discuss principal patterns and conclusions concerning ecosystem-atmosphere carbon exchange over complex terrain and its relation to past studies that have considered these processes over much simpler terrain.