MRI: Acquisition of a Soil Greenhouse Gas Flux Measurement System to Support Research in Coastal Ecology and Sustainable Agriculture

向克莱姆森大学颁发了一个奖项，以支持获得一个土壤温室气体通量测量系统。这一系统将满足对重要温室气体浓度和通量进行快速、准确和现场测量的需要。该仪器测量水蒸气、二氧化碳、氨以及特别强烈的温室气体甲烷和一氧化二氮的浓度和土壤流出量。该系统将部署在克莱姆森大学巴鲁克海岸生态和森林科学研究所的实地实验中，旨在阐明海平面上升对沿海湿地生态系统功能的作用和对气候的反馈潜力。它还将部署在南卡罗来纳州的农业研究站，以加强对空气和水污染、肥料损失和可持续农业的研究。该系统将允许研究人员生成数据集和科学，并大大提高准确性，适用性和可扩展性。该系统将用于包括本科生和研究生以及博士后研究人员在内的多元化研究团队的项目，其中包括女性，第一代大学毕业生和科学界代表性不足的少数民族。 该仪器还将用于新的研究生课程，包括湿地生态学，沿海生态学和地球化学。甲烷和一氧化二氮是强大的温室气体，对地球气候产生重大的辐射强迫。湿地和农业系统是全球的主要来源，但驱动其源，汇和环境驱动因素的敏感性的机制知之甚少。这一差距可主要归因于难以在环境中存在的极低浓度下测量这些痕量气体，以及在没有人为因素的情况下进行采样的障碍。该土壤气体通量测量系统的获得将通过在现场可部署配置中提供优异的灵敏度和时间分辨率来克服这些障碍。一系列多路复用，自动化的土壤通量室将允许在原地重复测量的治疗，从而提高统计的严谨性和强度的结论。该系统的初步用途将是加强正在进行的资助项目，这些项目评估盐水入侵对沿海森林湿地的影响，农业系统氮损失的速度和类型，恢复蓄水湿地和旧稻田对温室气体排放的影响，以及生物燃料柳枝稷生产的生命周期分析。这些研究的数据和分析将发表在同行评审的科学期刊上，在科学会议上发表，并用于教育和公共宣传活动。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估来支持。

An award is made to Clemson University to support the acquisition of a soil greenhouse gas flux measurement system. This system will fill needs for rapid, accurate, in-situ measures of important greenhouse gas concentrations and fluxes. The instrument measures concentrations and soil efflux of water vapor, carbon dioxide, ammonia, and the especially potent greenhouse gases methane and nitrous oxide. Based at Clemson University's Baruch Institute of Coastal Ecology and Forest Science, the system will be deployed in field experiments designed to elucidate the role of sea level rise on coastal wetland ecosystem functioning and potential for feedbacks to climate. It also will be deployed at agricultural research stations across South Carolina to augment research on air and water pollution, fertilizer loss, and sustainable agriculture. This system will allow researchers to generate datasets and science with greatly improved accuracy, applicability, and scalability. The system will be used in projects that include undergraduate and graduate students and postdoctoral researchers across a diverse team of researchers including women, first-generation college graduates, and underrepresented minorities in science. The instrument will also be used in new graduate classes that cover wetland ecology, coastal ecology, and biogeochemistry.Methane and nitrous oxide are powerful greenhouse gases that exert a significant radiative forcing on Earth's climate. Wetlands and agricultural systems are major sources globally, but the mechanisms driving their sources, sinks, and sensitivity to environmental drivers are poorly understood. This gap can be attributed largely to the difficulty in measuring these trace gases at the very low concentrations at which they occur in the environment and by barriers to sampling without artifacts. The acquisition of this soil gas flux measurement system will overcome these obstacles by providing excellent sensitivity and time resolution in a field deployable configuration. An array of multiplexed, automated soil flux chambers will allow for replicate measures of treatments in situ, thus enhancing statistical rigor and the strength of conclusions. Initial use of the system will be to augment ongoing, funded projects that assess the effects of saltwater intrusion on coastal forested wetlands, the rates and types of nitrogen losses from agricultural systems, the effects of restoring impounded wetlands and old rice fields on greenhouse gas emissions, and life cycle analysis of switchgrass production for biofuels. Data and analyses from these studies will be published in peer-reviewed scientific journals, presented at scientific meetings, and used in both educational and public outreach activities.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.