Coupling Eddy Covariance Measurements with Remote Sensing to Upscale Net Carbon Flux Across a Heterogeneous Landscape

Abstract:

Estimates of net carbon exchange at broad spatial scales that capture finer scale landscape heterogeneity offer the possibility to improve our understanding of the interactions between land use and climate change across mixed landscapes. Toward this end, we used a cluster of eddy flux towers located within 7.5 km of one another in southern New Hampshire across four land cover types—mixed forest, cornfield, hayfield, and impervious surface—and a remote-sensing based approach to upscale tower-based estimates of net ecosystem exchange (NEE). Here we present results from a modified regression tree analysis that incorporates Landsat 8 (30-100m resolution) as well as MODIS (1 km resolution) in order to estimate NEE in a heterogeneous landscape in New England. The approach of upscaling flux observations from eddy covariance flux towers offers an alternative approach for estimating NEE of carbon at both landscape and regional scales.