Proposal for Establishing a Mobile Gas-Exchange and Emission Research Facility at the School of the Environment, Duke University

最近的一个主要研究重点是生态系统对温室气体和微量气体的排放、沉积和吸收。这项研究是必要的，因为预测预测二氧化碳（CO2）加倍将对生态系统过程和生产力产生重大影响，而且因为气体的自然排放或沉积对调节空气污染至关重要。为了了解这两个领域的过程，正在努力评价工业、城市和农业地区附近生态系统变化的影响。因此，许多科学和政府机构都制定了计划，支持土壤、生物圈和大气之间相互作用的研究，这些相互作用与温室气体和微量气体的产生、消耗或沉积有关。杜克大学提议建立一个流动实验室，用于土壤生物圈和大气之间气体排放和吸收机制的基础研究和更多的应用研究。该综合实验室将包括最先进的痕量气体分析仪、水蒸气和二氧化碳气体分析仪、超声波风速计、叶级孔隙计、地球探测器、时域反射计、木质部热通量系统，以及各种环境监测设备，如净辐射计、短波和长波辐射传感器。来自该仪器阵列的数据将由移动实验室内的中央工作站收集。仪器将被安置在一辆载有两个可移动塔和一个土壤探测器的研究车上，这将允许在树木树冠高处和土壤表层深处的偏远地点迅速安装传感器。移动设备的最大优点是它可以支持许多试验点的研究，并可以同时用于几个项目，每个项目都需要定期测量气体通量，而不是连续监测。凭借其灵活性和增强的能力，该设施将使环境学院和整个研究界的研究人员能够以新的方式解决物理、生物和化学科学领域的关键科学问题。它将加强对以下基本问题的研究：1)环境条件（例如，平均气象条件、能量和水分含量）如何控制叶片水平的气体扩散；2)森林冠层内部的气流如何与汽车上方的气流相互作用，如何分散或沉积温室气体和微量气体；3)大气压力和地下土壤过程如何控制各种生态系统中气体和水分的储存和通量。有关生态系统排放或消耗的生物源气体或其他微量气体的数量的问题将由该设施所需的设备直接测量。我们相信，移动实验室不仅会对跨学科研究产生深远影响，而且会对杜克大学新成立的环境学院的教学产生深远影响。对生态学、生物地球化学、生态毒理学、水资源、空气质量、林业和湿地感兴趣的学生将有机会在研究项目和课程中使用新技术，分析来自广泛生态系统的数据，并获得多学科实地实验的经验。这些学生包括环境科学专业的本科生，年轻的研究生水平的环境管理学生，杜克大学继续教育项目的职业中期专业人员，以及未来的博士研究员。最后，我们期望该实验室能从美国能源部和美国环保署获得更多的资助，并为私营工业研究利益、林务局、美国农业部农业研究服务局和美国国家科学基金会（NSF）提供新的资金来源。

A major recent thrust in research has focused on ecosystem emission, deposition, and uptake of greenhouse and trace gases. This research is needed because predictions forecast that a doubling of carbon dioxide (CO2) will have a significant impact on ecosystem processes and productivity, and because the natural emission or deposition of gases is critical in regulating air pollution. To achieve understanding of processes in both areas, efforts are being made to evaluate the effect of alteration od ecosystems in the vicinity of industrial, urban, and agricultural areas. As a result, many scientific and government agencies have formed programs to support research on the interaction between the soil, biosphere, and atmosphere in relation to greenhouse and trace gas production, consumption, or deposition. Duke University proposes to develop a mobile laboratory that will be used for both basic and more applied research on the mechanisms of the emission and uptake of gases between the soil-biosphere and the atmosphere. The integrated laboratory will include state-of the art trace gas analyzers, water vapor and CO2 gas analyzers, ultra-sonic anemometers, leaf-level porometery, a geoprobe, time domain reflectometers, xylem heat flux systems, and a wide range of environmental monitoring devices such as net radiometers, short and long-wave radiation sensors. The data from this instrument array will be collected by a central work station within the mobile laboratory. Instruments will be housed in a research vehicle containing two movable towers and a soil probe which will permit a rapid installation of the sensors at remote sites high in tree canopies and deep in the soil regolith. The great advantage of a mobile facility is that it can support research at many experimental s ites and can be used concurrently for several projects, each of which requires periodic gas flux measurements rather than continuous monitoring. With its flexibility and enhanced capabilities, this facility will allow researchers both within the School of the Environment and throughout the research community to address key scientific questions that range across the physical, biological, and chemical sciences in new ways. It will enhance the investigation of such fundamental questions as 1) how environmental conditions (e.g., mean meteorological conditions, energy, and moisture content) control leaf- level gas diffusion, 2) how the air flow inside the forest canopy interacts with the air flow above the car,opy to disperse or deposit greenhouse and trace gases, 3) how atmospheric pressure and subsurface soil processes control gas and moisture storage and flux in a variety of ecosystems. Questions about the amount of biogenic or other trace gases emitted or consumed by ecosystems will be directly measured by the equipment requested for this facility. We believe that the mobile laboratory will have a profound impact not only on the interdisciplinary research but on teaching at Duke University's new School of the Environment. Students interested in ecology, biogeochemistry, ecotoxicology, water resources, air quality, forestry, and wetlands will benefit from the opportunities of using the new technology in research projects and coursework, analyzing data from a wide range of ecosystems, and acquiring experience in multidisciplinary field experiments. These students include undergraduate environmental science majors, young graduate-level environmental management students, mid-career professionals in Duke's continuing education program, and future Ph.D researchers. Finally, we expect that the laboratory will attract further funding from DOE and EPA and open new sources for funding from private industry research interests, the Forest Service, the Agriculture Research Service of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the National Science Foundation (NSF).