NEW METHOD TO STUDY CARBON RATIO IN DOUGLAS FIR FOREST
HOUGHTON--A Michigan Technological University researcher has received a $150,000 grant from the Department of Energy and a $19,000 grant from the U.S.D.A. Forest Service to begin a three year project monitoring the exchange of carbon dioxide and water between the atmosphere and a Douglas fir forest in the Wind River region of southern Washington.
Dr. Jiquan Chen aims to determine whether the Douglas fir forests in the Pacific Northwest are a carbon source or a carbon "sink". A carbon sink is an area whose ecosystem takes in more carbon dioxide from the air while growing than it releases.Chen's research is an attempt to evaluate the increasing levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Global warming is caused by these high levels of carbon dioxide, due mainly to fossil fuel burning. Scientists believe that as the human population of the earth rises, carbon dioxide levels will double within the next fifty years, Chen said.
Mounted anemometers on a crane projecting above the forest canopy will measure the amount of major variables carried in the air, such as the amount of carbon, water, and wind energy. Using that data, the forest's ability to take in carbon will be calculated.
This method of studying the variables in the air is a recent technique, due to the height of the crane used in the study and the size of the trees. The crane is one of only three in the world; the other two are located in Panama. For the first time, scientists can view the forest from the top and mount equipment on the crane, above the 230-foot-tall Douglas fir trees. The crane is 270-foot-tall, providing a scope of 6.2 acres for the observations. The forest is treated as one system in this study, not detailed with separate data for trees, soil and vegetation. The results will be more accurate than in past methods, where researchers scaled up test results from branches and needles to correlate with whole trees, according to Chen.
Chen is collaborating on this project with researchers from the University of California-Davis and the University of Washington. "This project is very challenging because the trees are so big", he said. "We can not enclose a portion of a forest, but using the crane, we can monitor it's environment."
Once the data is compiled, it will be analyzed physically and mathematically to help forest managers determine whether planting Douglas fir forests will reduce or increase carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere.
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Contact Jiquan Chen at 906-487-3432 or e-mail: [email protected].
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