ACQUISITION OF AN INSTRUMENTATION ARRAY TO MONITOR AND MODEL WATER, CARBON AND ENERGY FLUXES AT THE HILLSLOPE SCALE IN THE LANDSCAPE EVOLUTION OBSERVATORY

1340912 Troch该赠款为获得新的环境传感和采样能力提供支持，以增强和实现亚利桑那州甲骨文生物圈2号（B2）的景观演变观测站（LEO）的科学目标。 低地球轨道的目标是允许在山坡尺度上对水、能源和碳的地表通量进行有控制的研究，其中在中等复杂的地貌上以亚米尺度监测关键的可观测量。 观测到的通量的空间和时间变化及其与控制和观测的气候参数的关系和反馈将用于为更大流域、大陆甚至全球尺度的陆地-地表水、能量和碳循环过程的改进模型提供信息。000平方米的环境控制设施。 低地球轨道中型生态系统的基本设计是三个30米长、12米宽、1米深的倾斜（与水平方向成大约10度）钢罐，罐中填充了粒度均匀的玄武岩火山灰作为起始土壤。作为其框架设计的一部分，所述罐具有分布式测力传感器阵列，所述分布式测力传感器阵列允许精确确定跨罐的重量变化，并且位于罐的表面上方的是降水模拟系统，所述降水模拟系统是速率可控的并且可以跨土壤罐的表面变化。 设计的一个方面是，地表径流和侵蚀是专门防止地下抽水和水的土壤层饱和？低地轨道不是为侵蚀过程研究设计的。 这些罐密集排列有用于抽取孔隙沃茨和气体的采样端口，并且已经添加了许多传感器模态，包括土壤水分含量探头、土壤温度传感器、土壤水势传感器、土壤水采样器、土壤气体采样器、CO2传感器、表面热通量板、电阻层析成像探头、压力计以及水流和排水流量计。 初步计划要求对没有维管植物的实验景观进行1-2年的研究，然后种植一系列维管植物类型，以便研究中型生态系统中物理、化学和生物系统的共同进化及其对陆地-大气水、能量和碳交换的影响。

1340912TrochThis grant provides support for the acquisition of new environmental sensing and sampling capabilities to enhance and realize the scientific goals of the Landscape Evolution Observatory (LEO) at Biosphere 2 (B2) in Oracle, AZ. The goals of LEO are to permit controlled study of land surface fluxes of water, energy and carbon at the hillslope scale where key observables are monitored at sub-meter scales across a moderately complex landscape. The observed spatial and temporal variability of fluxes and their relationship and feedbacks to controlled and observed climatic parameters would then be used to inform improved models of land-surface water, energy and carbon cycling processes at larger watershed, continental and even global scales.LEO consists of three replicated 340 m2 convergent experimental watershed mesocosms constructed inside a 5,000 m2 environmentally controlled facility at B2. The LEO mesocosms have as their basic design, three, 30 m length, 12 m width, 1 m depth, sloped (approximately 10 degrees from horizontal) steel tanks that have been filled with a grain size homogenized basaltic tephra as a starting soil. The tanks have as part of their frame design, arrays of distributed load cells that permit precise determination of weight changes across the tanks and located above the surface of the tanks are precipitation simulation systems that are rate controllable and can be varied across the surface of the soil tanks. An aspect of the design is that overland flow and erosion is specifically prevented by subsurface pumping and removal of water as the soil horizon saturates ? LEO is not designed for erosion process studies. The tanks are densely arrayed with sampling ports for drawing pore waters and gases and numerous sensor modalities have already been added including soil moisture content probes, soil temperature sensors, soil water potential sensors, soil water samplers, soil gas samplers, CO2 sensors, surface heat flux plates, electrical resistivity tomography probes, piezometers, and water flow and drainage flowmeters. The initial plan calls for 1-2 years of studies of the experimental landscapes devoid of vascular plants followed by the planting of an array of vascular plant types to allow for study of the co-evolution of the physical, chemical, and biological systems in the mesocosms and their influence on the land-atmosphere exchanges of water, energy and carbon.***