Aircraft Monitoring of Surface Carbon Dioxide Exchange
R. L. DESJARDINS 1,
E. J. BRACH 1,
P. ALVO 2, and
P. H. SCHUEPP 2
1 Land Resource Research Institute and Engineering and Statistical Research Institute, Research Branch, Agriculture Canada, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0C6
2 McGill University, Ste. Anne de Bellevue, Quebec, Canada H9X 1C0
Aircraft-mounted sensors were used to measure the exchange of carbon dioxide above a cornfield, a forest, and a lake under midday conditions. Mean absorption values of 3400, 1200, and 100 milligrams of carbon dioxide per square meter per hour, respectively, are consistent with reported ground-based observations of carbon dioxide flux. Such information, gathered by aircraft, could be used to provide a quantitative evaluation of source and sink distributions of carbon dioxide in the biosphere, to establish a correlation between satellite data and near-surface measurements, and to monitor crop performance.
Submitted on July 28, 1981
Revised on October 26, 1981
