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Purpose Aerenchymous plants are an important control for methane efflux from peatlands to the atmosphere, providing a bypass from the anoxic peat and avoiding oxidation in the oxic peat. We aimed to quantify the drivers of aerenchymous peatland species methane transport and the importance of this process for ecosystem-scale methane efflux. Methods We measured seasonal and interspecies variation in methane transport rate per gram of plant dry mass at a boreal fen and bog, which were upscaled to ecosystem-scale plant methane transport. Results Methane transport rate was better explained by plant species, leaf greenness and area than by environmental variables. Leaves appeared to transport methane even after senescence. Contrary to our expectations, both methane transport rate and the proportion of plant transport were lower in the fen (with greater sedge cover) than in the bog site. At the fen and bog, average methane transport rate was 0.7 and 1.8 mg g −1 d −1 , and the proportion of seasonally variable plant transport was 7–41% and 6–90%, respectively. Species-specific differences in methane transport rate were observed at the ecosystem-scale: Scheuchzeria palustris, which accounted for 16% of the aerenchymous leaf area in the fen and displayed the greatest methane transport rate, was responsible for 45% of the ecosystem-scale plant transport. Conclusion Our study showed that plant species influence the magnitude of ecosystem-scale methane emissions through their properties of methane transport. The identification and quantification of these properties could be the pivotal next step in predicting plant methane transport in peatlands.

We analysed the effect of the 2018 European drought on greenhouse gas (GHG) exchange of five North European mire ecosystems. The low precipitation and high summer temperatures in Fennoscandia led to a lowered water table in the majority of these mires. This lowered both carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) uptake and methane (CH 4 ) emission during 2018, turning three out of the five mires from CO 2 sinks to sources. The calculated radiative forcing showed that the drought-induced changes in GHG fluxes first resulted in a cooling effect lasting 15–50 years, due to the lowered CH 4 emission, which was followed by warming due to the lower CO 2 uptake. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Impacts of the 2018 severe drought and heatwave in Europe: from site to continental scale’.

A few studies on ozone deposition over lake water are available and so far only one using the eddy covariance technique (Wesely et al., 1981, https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00122295). A 23‐day field campaign was held in August‐September 2012 at the Lake Kuivajärvi in Hyytiälä, Finland. The results showed a mean flux of −30 ± 1 ng m−2 s−1 and deposition velocity of 0.86 ± 0.05 mm s−1. Deposition velocity showed a weak diurnal cycle over the lake with elevated values during the nighttime. The daytime and nighttime portions of the data set differed statistically. Analysis showed that waterside convective mixing enhanced deposition and such conditions pre‐dominantly occurred during nighttime. We compared the measured deposition velocities with the dry deposition model of air‐sea exchange, adjusted for the chemical sinks relevant for the lake. We suggest that the buoyant mixing and unaccounted chemistry can be responsible for the difference between the model results and observations. Plain Language Summary Ozone deposition was studied over lake in Southern Finland. Deposition velocity showed elevated values during the nighttime. Higher ozone deposition at night was related to enhanced convective mixing in uppermost water layers. Key Points Ozone deposition over the lake is enhanced by waterside buoyancy velocity Wind speed and friction velocity had minor or no impact on ozone deposition, instead waterside convective mixing enhanced deposition In late summer, over diurnal course higher deposition velocities occurred at night

Peatlands have acted as net CO2 sinks over millennia, exerting a global climate cooling effect. Rapid warming at northern latitudes, where peatlands are abundant, can disturb their CO2 sink function. Here we show that sensitivity of peatland net CO2 exchange to warming changes in sign and magnitude across seasons, resulting in complex net CO2 sink responses. We use multiannual net CO2 exchange observations from 20 northern peatlands to show that warmer early summers are linked to increased net CO2 uptake, while warmer late summers lead to decreased net CO2 uptake. Thus, net CO2 sinks of peatlands in regions experiencing early summer warming, such as central Siberia, are more likely to persist under warmer climate conditions than are those in other regions. Our results will be useful to improve the design of future warming experiments and to better interpret large-scale trends in peatland net CO2 uptake over the coming few decades.Peatlands have historically acted as a carbon sink, but it is unclear how climate warming will affect this. The response of peatland carbon uptake to warming depends on the timing of summer warming; early warming leads to increased CO2 uptake and later warming to decreased uptake.

Droughts can have an impact on forest functioning and production, and even lead to tree mortality. However, drought is an elusive phenomenon that is difficult to quantify and define universally. In this study, we assessed the performance of a set of indicators that have been used to describe drought conditions in the summer months (June, July, August) over a 30-year period (1981–2010) in Finland. Those indicators include the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI), the Standardized Precipitation–Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI), the Soil Moisture Index (SMI), and the Soil Moisture Anomaly (SMA). Herein, regional soil moisture was produced by the land surface model JSBACH of the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology Earth System Model (MPI-ESM). Results show that the buffering effect of soil moisture and the associated soil moisture memory can impact on the onset and duration of drought as indicated by the SMI and SMA, while the SPI and SPEI are directly controlled by meteorological conditions. In particular, we investigated whether the SMI, SMA and SPEI are able to indicate the Extreme Drought affecting Forest health (EDF), which we defined according to the extreme drought that caused severe forest damages in Finland in 2006. The EDF thresholds for the aforementioned indicators are suggested, based on the reported statistics of forest damages in Finland in 2006. SMI was found to be the best indicator in capturing the spatial extent of forest damage induced by the extreme drought in 2006. In addition, through the application of the EDF thresholds over the summer months of the 30-year study period, the SPEI and SMA tended to show more frequent EDF events and a higher fraction of influenced area than SMI. This is because the SPEI and SMA are standardized indicators that show the degree of anomalies from statistical means over the aggregation period of climate conditions and soil moisture, respectively. However, in boreal forests in Finland, the high initial soil moisture or existence of peat often prevent the EDFs indicated by the SPEI and SMA to produce very low soil moisture that could be indicated as EDFs by the SMI. Therefore, we consider SMI is more appropriate for indicating EDFs in boreal forests. The selected EDF thresholds for those indicators could be calibrated when there are more forest health observation data available. Furthermore, in the context of future climate scenarios, assessments of EDF risks in northern areas should, in addition to climate data, rely on a land surface model capable of reliable prediction of soil moisture.

Commercially available fast-response analysers for methane (CH ) and nitrous oxide (N O) have recently become more sensitive, more robust and easier to operate. This has made their application for long-term flux measurements with the eddy-covariance method more feasible. Unlike for carbon dioxide (CO ) and water vapour (H O), there have so far been no guidelines on how to optimise and standardise the measurements. This paper reviews the state-of-the-art of the various steps of the measurements and discusses aspects such as instrument selection, setup and maintenance, data processing as well as the additional measurements needed to aid interpretation and gap-filling. It presents the methodological protocol for eddy covariance measurements of CH and N O fluxes as agreed for the ecosystem station network of the pan-European Research Infrastructure Integrated Carbon Observation System and provides a first international standard that is suggested to be adopted more widely. Fluxes can be episodic and the processes controlling the fluxes are complex, preventing simple mechanistic gap-filling strategies. Fluxes are often near or below the detection limit, requiring additional care during data processing. The protocol sets out the best practice for these conditions to avoid biasing the results and long-term budgets. It summarises the current approach to gap-filling.

This study scrutinizes a decade-long series of ozone deposition measurements in a boreal forest in search for the signature and relevance of the different deposition processes. The canopy-level ozone flux measurements were analysed for deposition characteristics and partitioning into stomatal and non-stomatal fractions, with the main focus on growing season day-time data. Ten years of measurements enabled the analysis of ozone deposition variation at different time-scales, including daily to inter-annual variation as well as the dependence on environmental variables and concentration of biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOC-s). Stomatal deposition was estimated by using multi-layer canopy dispersion and optimal stomatal control modelling from simultaneous carbon dioxide and water vapour flux measurements, non-stomatal was inferred as residual. Also, utilising the big-leaf assumption stomatal conductance was inferred from water vapour fluxes for dry canopy conditions. The total ozone deposition was highest during the peak growing season (4 mm s−1) and lowest during winter dormancy (1 mm s−1). During the course of the growing season the fraction of the non-stomatal deposition of ozone was determined to vary from 26 to 44% during day time, increasing from the start of the season until the end of the growing season. By using multi-variate analysis it was determined that day-time total ozone deposition was mainly driven by photosynthetic capacity of the canopy, vapour pressure deficit (VPD), photosynthetically active radiation and monoterpene concentration. The multi-variate linear model explained the high portion of ozone deposition variance on daily average level (R2 = 0.79). The explanatory power of the multi-variate model for ozone non-stomatal deposition was much lower (R2 = 0.38). The set of common environmental variables and terpene concentrations used in multivariate analysis were able to predict the observed average seasonal variation in total and non-stomatal deposition but failed to explain the inter-annual differences, suggesting that some still unknown mechanisms might be involved in determining the inter-annual variability. Model calculation was performed to evaluate the potential sink strength of the chemical reactions of ozone with sesquiterpenes in the canopy air space, which revealed that sesquiterpenes in typical amounts at the site were unlikely to cause significant ozone loss in canopy air space. The results clearly showed the importance of several non-stomatal removal mechanisms. Unknown chemical compounds or processes correlating with monoterpene concentrations, including potentially reactions at the surfaces, contribute to non-stomatal sink term.

Performances of four methane gas analyzers suitable for eddy covariance measurements are assessed. The assessment and comparison was performed by analyzing eddy covariance data obtained during summer 2010 (1 April to 26 October) at a pristine fen, Siikaneva, Southern Finland. High methane fluxes with pronounced seasonality have been measured at this fen. The four participating methane gas analyzers are commercially available closed-path units TGA-100A (Campbell Scientific Inc., USA), RMT-200 (Los Gatos Research, USA), G1301-f (Picarro Inc., USA) and an early prototype open-path unit Prototype-7700 (LI-COR Biosciences, USA). The RMT-200 functioned most reliably throughout the measurement campaign, during low and high flux periods. Methane fluxes from RMT-200 and G1301-f had the smallest random errors and the fluxes agree remarkably well throughout the measurement campaign. Cospectra and power spectra calculated from RMT-200 and G1301-f data agree well with corresponding temperature spectra during a high flux period. None of the gas analyzers showed statistically significant diurnal variation for methane flux. Prototype-7700 functioned only for a short period of time, over one month, in the beginning of the measurement campaign during low flux period, and thus, its overall accuracy and season-long performance were not assessed. The open-path gas analyzer is a practical choice for measurement sites in remote locations due to its low power demand, whereas for G1301-f methane measurements interference from water vapor is straightforward to correct since the instrument measures both gases simultaneously. In any case, if only the performance in this intercomparison is considered, RMT-200 performed the best and is the recommended choice if a new fast response methane gas analyzer is needed.

The study of lake-atmosphere interactions was the main purpose of a 2014 summer experiment at Alqueva reservoir in Portugal. Near-surface fluxes of momentum, heat and mass [water vapour (H 2 O) and carbon dioxide (CO 2 )] were obtained with the new Campbell Scientific's IRGASON Integrated Open-Path CO 2 /H 2 O Gas Analyser and 3D Sonic Anemometer between 2 June and 2 October. On average, the reservoir was releasing energy in the form of sensible and latent heat flux during the study period. At the end of the 75 d, the total evaporation was estimated as 490.26 mm. A high correlation was found between the latent heat flux and the wind speed (R = 0.97). The temperature gradient between air and water was positive between 12 and 21 UTC, causing a negative sensible heat flux, and negative during the rest of the day, triggering a positive sensible heat flux. The reservoir acted as a sink of atmospheric CO 2 with an average rate of −0.026 mg m −2 s −1 . However, at a daily scale we found an unexpected uptake between 0 and 9 UTC and almost null flux between 13 and 19 UTC. Potential reasons for this result are further discussed. The net radiation was recorded for the same period and water column heat storage was estimated using water temperature profiles. The energy balance closure for the analysed period was 81%. In-water solar spectral downwelling irradiance profiles were measured with a new device allowing measurements independent of the solar zenith angle, which enabled the computation of the attenuation coefficient of light in the water column. The average attenuation coefficient for the photosynthetically active radiation spectral region varied from 0.849 ± 0.025 m −1 on 30 July to 1.459 ± 0.007 m −1 on 25 September.

The experimental data on methane fluxes into the atmosphere from Fennoscandian lakes is analyzed. The contribution made by the lake network of this northern region to the atmospheric methane budget is estimated as 320 ± 23 KtCH4 per year. From 16 to 37% of the annual methane emission from Fennoscandian lakes is carried out by methane produced during the ice cover period. The methane fluxe rate from studied lakes is estimated as 2.6 ± 0.2 gCH4m–2 yr–1. Among lakes of the region, small lakes (area <0.1 km2) are the most intensive sources of atmospheric methane per unit area.