CAREER: Contrasting environmental controls on regional CO2 and CH4 biogeochemistry-Research and education for placing global change in a regional, local context

该奖项由2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-5）资助。森林、湿地和湖泊中二氧化碳（CO2）和甲烷（CH 4）的源和汇显著改变了化石燃料排放对大气温室效应的影响，导致未来气候变化预测的主要不确定性来源。虽然在过去几十年中对CO2交换进行了广泛的研究，但对CH 4（一种强有力的温室气体）的研究却不那么详尽，特别是在森林湿地景观中。自然甲烷排放率及其与CO2交换的关系仍存在很大的不确定性。本CAREER建议的目标是启动一个新的研究区域甲烷交换，将其纳入现有的研究区域二氧化碳在一个447米的研究塔在上中西部，美国，并使用这些意见，以更好地模拟景观控制大气碳循环。这些观测结果将用于研究碳循环对区域大气化学和全球气候的影响。该提案将有助于促进威斯康星州大学研究甲烷和碳循环、环境微生物学和区域气候变化的研究团体不断壮大。除了支持一个新的教员从事这项研究，博士。将雇用一名学生和一名技术人员，并对他们进行最先进观测和建模技术方面的培训。暑期实习将提供大多数年，以提高本科科学专业的研究机会。该项目还需要购买最先进的、最近开发的气体分析仪，以支持美国几家小型初创公司目前正在进行的持续技术创新，这些公司正在领导这些环境应用仪器的开发。最后，外展活动是该提案的组成部分，将用于增加这一新兴科学学科的曝光：1）通过为期12天的全球变化夏季计划，在梅诺米尼国家学院的美国土著社区大学生; 2）高中生和一般公众在农村威斯康星州通过实践活动和在当地实地考察站的会谈;和3）来自印度的国际本科生访问者作为最近在威斯康星大学麦迪逊分校发起的学生实验室交流计划的一部分。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).Sources and sinks of carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) in forests, wetlands, and lakes significantly alter the impact of fossil fuel emissions on the atmospheric greenhouse effect, leading to a major source of uncertainty for future climate change predictions. While CO2 exchanges have been extensively studied over the past several decades, research on CH4, a potent greenhouse warming gas, has been less exhaustive, especially across forestwetland landscapes. Significant uncertainty remains on the rates of natural CH4 emission and its relationship to CO2 exchange. The goal of this CAREER proposal is to initiate a novel study of regional CH4 exchange, incorporate it into an existing study of regional CO2 at a 447 m research tower in the upper Midwest, USA, and use these observations to better model landscape controls on atmospheric carbon cycling. These observations will be used to investigate the impacts of carbon cycling on regional atmospheric chemistry and global climate.The proposal will help catalyze a growing research community at University of Wisconsin studying methane and carbon cycling, environmental microbiology, and regional climate change. In addition to supporting a new faculty member engaging in this research, a Ph.D. student and a technician will be hired and trained in state-of-the-art observational and modeling techniques. A summer internship will be offered most years to enhance research opportunities for undergraduate science majors. The project will also require acquisition of state-of-the-art, recently developed gas analyzers, which supports continued technology innovation currently ongoing at several small U.S. start-up companies that are leading the development of these instruments for environmental applications. Finally, outreach activities are integral to this proposal and will be used to increase exposure of this emerging science discipline to: 1) Native American community college students at the College of Menominee Nation via a 12 day global change summer program; 2) high school students and the general public in rural Wisconsin via hands-on activities and talks at a local field station; and 3) international undergraduate visitors from India as part of a recently initiated student lab exchange program at UW-Madison.