How can CanFlux Data be Used?
Some examples of how CanFlux data can be used include:
To support climate research
A national-scale collaborative network of long-term flux measurements is demonstrably impactful. Such networks provide quantitative insights into ecosystem response to climate change including extreme events, and interannual variability and trends in ecosystem carbon and energy fluxes. The data collated by CanFlux will help to pose and answer research questions such as:
- How and why does an ecosystem’s carbon uptake change over time?
-
How do land management and conservation practices affect carbon storage?
- What drives carbon uptake and release, and how does this vary across ecosystems?
- How are fluxes affected by extreme events like forest fires, heatwaves, and droughts, of which the likelihood and intensity are increasing?
- How do ecosystems respond and feedback to climate change?
To improve and validate carbon models
As a multi-site network representing a wide range of Canadian ecosystems, CanFlux is pivotal in further developing and evaluating existing carbon models.
The Canadian Land Surface Scheme Including Biogeochemical Cycle (CLASSIC) simulates carbon and energy exchanges between ecosystems and the atmosphere and is used to quantify the impacts of climate change and land use on the carbon cycle. It has been validated on both local and global scales utilizing flux tower data, guided by an international benchmark system.
The Carbon Budget Model of the Canadian Forest Sector (CBM-CFS3) can incorporate over 200 pre-defined and customized disturbances, such as wildfires and deforestation, to estimate carbon stocks and quantify carbon transfer to the atmosphere as well as the forest products sector.
The Canadian Model for Peatlands (CaMP) is used to estimate carbon fluxes specifically for peatlands which make up ~12% of Canada’s land mass. CaMP has already been evaluated at 16 peatland sites across Canada, and further calibration and validation against high-quality, standardized data would be greatly beneficial.
There is an inherent synergy between carbon models and CanFlux observations, exemplified by the models themselves facilitating research, which in turn helps to identify areas where they need further development, improvement, and validation using flux tower data.
The union between CanFlux and Canadian carbon models is internationally relevant, for example, in global modelling efforts like the TRENDY project and model intercomparisons such as the Global Methane Budget 2000–2020.
To inform policy changes
Collectively, the carbon models briefly described are used by the Canadian government for national and international carbon monitoring, accounting, and reporting, including to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) assessments, informing climate mitigation and adaptation policy.