Working Group 3a: Ecosystem functions and reserves (Coordinator: Rosa Maria Canals, UPNA)

Main Activities: Inventory of existing databases and protocols on carbon, water and biodiversity in the Pyrenees; construction of a complete database of ecosystem variables using the different existing databases (carbon, nitrogen, productivity, biodiversity, water); ecosystem surveys around the micro-meteorological stations installed to assess ecosystem productivity, biodiversity, respiration, photosynthesis, soil characteristics, etc.; characterization of agricultural practices (fertilization, soil management, etc.); study of the impact of fire (prescribed burning) on grassland ecosystems (effects on nitrogen and carbon cycles, productivity and biodiversity); development and comparison of empirical and mechanistic models for carbon spatialization, ecosystem productivity and biodiversity.

 

Working Group 3b: Ecosystem fluxes (Coordinator: Eric Ceschia, CESBIO)

Main Activities: Setting-up of micro-meteorological stations on agricultural plots and grasslands at different altitudes (between 100 m and 2000 m); assessment of the local fluxes of carbon, water and energy (using eddy covariance stations and other sensors), discrete air sampling (CO₂, N₂O, CO, CH₄, SF₆); transfer of expertise and tools for flux calculations and advanced analysis: Net Ecosystem Exchange (NEE) partition, gap filling, sensitivity analysis, etc.; calculations of carbon and greenhouse gas budgets at local and regional scales.

 

Working Group 4a: Atmospheric studies (Coordinator: Josep Anton Morguì, IC3)

Main Activities: Study of regional CO₂, water and energy fluxes; Airplane campaigns twice a year to measure the atmospheric CO₂ concentration along horizontal and vertical profiles (between 300 m and 7500 m asl); use of Lagrangian models to study atmospheric transportation; Standardization of meteorological measurements (soil profiles).

 

Working Group 4b: Images and satellite studies (Coordinator: Agustin Lobo, ICTJA-CSIC)

Main Activities: Elaboration of a catalogue of the imagery available for the region of study; review of existing remote sensing work related to carbon fluxes; creation of a guide on upscaling and downscaling techniques; study of the relation between high/low resolution imagery and carbon/water fluxes at CESBIO sites; exercise on the integration of LANDSAT/SPOT sequences with MODIS/VEGETATION time series; tuning of RGB (Red Green Blue) into CIR (Colour Infrared) camera; airborne remote sensing mission specifications; comparison of the dataset available since now in the Pyrenees with the new one; airborne campaigns above the Pyrenees to collect data (images, concentration profiles, etc.); study of land use, land cover and snow cover dynamics; estimation of the albedo effect associated to vegetation burning.

 

Working Group 5: Dissemination (Coordinator: Jean François Dejoux, CESBIO)

Main Activities: efficient and regular communication of FLUXPYR activities: design of the logo, triptics, posters and website, newsletters write-up, conference organization, etc.; translations of dissemination and technical documents (Spanish, French, English and Catalan); creation of a directory of all the academic courses related to mountain environment (identification of the contents and teachers); set up of academic courses and proposition of thesis topics for graduate and postgraduate students (e.g. local actors and their perception of climate change; climate change and local practices); surveys of socio-economic and institutional actors involved in climate change studies; organization of workshops and exchanges between institutions; diffusion of the data and maps generated by FLUXPYR and their integration in an Open System Resources (OSR) website; study of the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) interoperability with the APEM GeoServer and OGC interoperability with a Spanish GeoServer (Miramon).

 

FLUX AND STOCKS MEASUREMENTS Micro-meteorological masts (2-3 m high) and tall towers (30-65 m) placed above agricultural land or grassland ensure the continuous measurement of CO2, water and energy fluxes between biosphere and atmosphere. They are equipped with dataloggers, 3D sonic anemometers, temperature and relative humidity sensors, CO2-H2O open path infrared analysers, rain-gauges, radiation sensors, soil temperature and soil water content probes, and are powered by solar panels, batteries or 220 V.
	Planes equipped with gas analysers allow measurement of vertical and horizontal profiles of atmospheric CO2 concentration.
Light-portable equipment is also used for discrete gas concentration measurements in the field: e.g. pressurized flasks to take air samples for CO2 concentration measurements, photoacoustic gas analyser to assess soil and plant respiration and greenhouse gas emissions (e.g. nitrous oxide, methane), LI 6400 to measure photosynthesis, etc.
EARTH OBSERVATION - REMOTE SENSING Georeferenced aerial images taken from small planes or specifically designed Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), together with satellite images (e.g. LANDSAT, SPOT) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) allow the study and modelling of snow cover, land cover and use, carbon storage and vegetation dynamics.