Multi-gas analyzer for greenhouse gas and ammonia emissions from agro-ecosystems

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Agro-ecosystems contribute significantly to our total national emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) and ammonia (NH3). These emissions have significant impacts on the environment and measurements are necessary to evaluate the sustainability of various farming and land-use practices. The requested equipment is a multi-gas analyzer based on Fourier Transform Infra-Red spectroscopy with capabilities for continuous measurement of GHG (carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, methane) and NH3 mixing ratios in air. This equipment will be interfaced with four gas chambers with possibility for expansion to 16 through a multiplexer. This robust and rugged setup will allow for a wide-range of studies on GHG and NH3 emissions from soils subjected to contrasting management systems. More importantly, it will enable experiments to target research gaps on microbial control of GHG and NH3 emissions, and management of microbial communities for reduced emissions. This will address the need for inter-disciplinary research bridging biosphere-atmosphere exchange, and microbial diversity and processes. The multi-gas analyzer will immediately contribute to the training and research activities of 17 students and post-doctoral fellows who all aspects of emission measurements, including automatic chamber deployment and precision trace gas concentration measurements which will support our efforts in mitigating GHG and NH3 emissions from agricultural systems.