Recent decades show an increasing concern about climate change and air quality, and how natural and anthropogenic processes affect them. However, there are several atmospheric components and mechanisms that are not sufficiently understood, measured or whose effect still presents high uncertainties according to the Fifth IPCC Assessment Report and related studies.In order to support policy- and decision-making to combat climate change and its impacts, several international initiatives are developing strategies for monitoring the different components of the climate system to produce standardised, high-precision and long-term observations at different spatial levels: ACTRIS mainly focused on aerosols, ICOS on carbon balance and LifeWatch-ERIC focuses on biodiversity.
The members of INTEGRATYON3 actively contribute to these international initiatives. However, despite the common objective of these three e-infrestructure, there is a not clear interaction (even collaboration) between them. The need of such interactions is particularly relevant (and essential) in processes related to surface/atmosphere exchanges. In this context, improving the knowledge on greenhouse gases and biogenic and non-biogenic aerosol particles exchanges between soil and atmosphere in drylands from an integrated perspective at three spatial levels, namely atmosphere, ecosystem and vadose zone, is crucial to understand the role that such ecosystems play in climate change. In this regard, the general objectives of the proposed coordinated project are: (1) understanding the main drivers controlling CO2 emission (and storage) of the vadose zone and its contribution into the Net Ecosystem Carbon Balance in drylands, (2) quantification of particle emissions and the drivers controlling atmospheric dispersion in the ABL over drylands.
Thus, the proposed configuration addresses the required combination of measurements for advanced studies of CO2 and aerosol particle emissions, including the observation of the heterogeneity of land surface fluxes, ABL dynamics and soil features. INTEGRATYON3 has marked multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary character in its conceptual designing, experimental approach and outcomes. It enables a novel class of experimental design that capitalizes on the integration of instrumentation for the three e-infraestructures to measure the quantities needed to evaluate and improve the knowledge on surface/atmosphere exchanges investigating turbulent processes. The exchanges are relevant from local to global scales, and their strength varies both regionally and seasonally depending on soil moisture, advection and climate regimes, among others. To improve our understanding of the state and the evolution of surface/atmosphere interactions as well as the ABL dynamics, it is critical that the exchanges between the different components including the aforementioned three levels, are well characterized to be appropriately represented in weather, climate, and Earth system models.
To reach these goals, we have designed an ambitious work program around the three levels organized as follows: two WPs devoted to coordination and dissemination, one WP for each one of the three levels (atmosphere, ecosystem and vadose zone) and, finally, one WP about integration.
The general objectives (GOs) of the proposed coordinated project are:
GO#1. Understanding the main drivers controlling CO2 emission (and storage) of the vadose zone and its contribution into the Net Ecosystem Carbon Balance in drylands
GO#2. Quantification of particle emissions and the drivers controlling atmospheric dispersion in the ABL over drylands
Accordingly, the specific objectives (SOs) of each subproject are:
SO#1. Improvement the eddy covariance technique: measurements and GHG flux calculation (responsable: P. Serrano Ortiz (PI2), subproject #1)
SO#2. Estimation of vadose zone (included soil) CO2 and radon stocks and their temporal variations in drylands (responsible: F. Domingo Poveda (PI), subproject #2)
SO#3. Determination of the ABL dynamics promoting subterranean ventilation and its storage (responsable: J. L. Guerrero Rascado (PI1), subproject #1)
SO#4. Estimation of the Lands Degradation index in the studied sites and its connection with main drivers controlling the subterranean CO2 ventilation (responsible: F. Domingo Poveda (PI), subproject #2)
SO#5. Quantification of the interannual variability of the net ecosystem carbon (and water) balance in drylands and the contribution of ventilation processes (responsible: P. Serrano Ortiz (PI2), subproject #1)
SO#6. Characterization (size, mineralogy and biogenic components) and quantification of the particles emitted to the atmosphere in the studied drylands (responsible: F. Domingo Poveda (PI), subproject #2)
SO#7. Quantification of aerosol particles exchanges by eddy covariance in drylands (responsible: J. L. Guerrero Rascado (PI1), subproject #1)
SO#8. Development a stand-alone methodology for deriving particle fluxes from Doppler lidar and auxiliary instrumentation (responsible: J. L. Guerrero Rascado (PI1), subproject #1)
WP#1: Management and coordination
WP#2: ABL structures characterization by vertically-resolved atmospheric information
WP#3: Eddy covariance and complementary measurements
WP#4: CO2 and particles reservoirs
WP#5: Knowledge integration
WP#6: Dissemination of the project: objectives and results
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Aranda-Barranco, S., P. Serrano-Ortiz, A. S. Kowalski, and E. P. Sánchez-Cañete, E. P., The temporary effect of weed-cover maintenance on transpiration and carbon assimilation of olive trees, Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 329, 109266, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agrformet.2022.109266, 2023.
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Kim, M., C. Lopez-Canfin, R. Lázaro, E. P. Sánchez-Cañete and B. Weber, Unravelling the main mechanism responsible for nocturnal CO2 uptake by dryland soils, Science of The Total Environment, 926, 171751, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.171751, 2024.
Kotthaus, S., J. A. Bravo-Aranda, M. Collaud-Coen, J. L. Guerrero-Rascado, M. J. Costa, D. Cimini, E. J. O’Connor, M. Hervo, L. Alados-Arboledas, M. Jiménez-Portaz, L. Mona, D. Ruffieux, A. Illingworth and M. Haeffelin, Atmospheric boundary layer height from ground-based remote sensing: a review of capabilities and limitations, Atmospheric Measurement Techniques, 16, 433–479, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-433-2023, 2023.
Kowalski, A. S., The Flux You Say?: Comments on The Integrated Carbon Observation System in Europe, Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 104 (12), 949-952, https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-22-0274.1, 2023.
Lázaro, R., C. Gascón and C. Rubio, Runoff and soil loss in biocrusts and physical crusts from the Tabernas Desert (Southeast Spain) according to rainfall intensity, Frontiers in Microbiology, 14, 1171096, doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2023.1171096, 2023.
Moya, M. R., A. López-Ballesteros, E. P. Sánchez-Cañete, P. Serrano-Ortiz, C. Oyonarte, F. Domingo and A. S. Kowalski, Ecosystem CO2 release driven by wind occurs in drylands at global scale, Global Change Biology, 00, 1–14, https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/gcb.16277, 2022.
Ortiz-Amezcua, P., J. Andújar-Maqueda, A. J. Manninen, P. Pentikainen, E. J. O’Connor, I. S. Stachlewska, G. A. Moreira, J. A. Benavent-Oltra, J. A. Casquero-Vera, P. Poczta, D. Wang, K. M. Harenda, B. H. Chojnicki, D. M. Szczepanik, Ł. Janicka, D. Schüttemeyer, L. Alados-Arboledas and J. L. Guerrero-Rascado, Dynamics of the atmospheric boundary layer over two middle-latitude rural sites with Doppler Lidar, Atmospheric Research, 280, 106434, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosres.2022.106434, 2022.
Rubio, C. and R. Lázaro, Patterns in biocrust recovery over time in semiarid Southeast Spain, Frontiers in Microbiology, 14, 1184065, doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2023.1184065, 2023.
