AlFHoNSo · Analysing Forest Hydrocarbons with Networks of Sensors
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2015-06-01 → 2017-05-31
- EU contribution
- €183,455
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF-EF-RI
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
Analysing Forest Hydrocarbons with Networks of Sensors
In this project the fellow (Dr. Peter M. Edwards) has taken a multidisciplinary approach to develop a novel methodology for the study of atmospheric variability using low cost sensor technologies. Our ability to accurately represent atmospheric chemical and physical processes in predictive models is central to the management of global issues such as air pollution and climate change. Measurements of atmospheric composition are vital if we are to challenge and improve our understanding of the atmospheric system. The current research paradigm for atmospheric chemical observation is the use of highly technical and expensive instruments to provide extremely detailed and accurate information at a particular location. Unfortunately the high cost and size of these instruments prohibits the deployment over long time periods or of large numbers over large spatial scales. This means that although our understanding of processes occurring at particular locations is supported by detailed observations, our understanding of the spatial and temporal variability in these processes is much more uncertain. What is needed is an observational methodology that compliments existing approaches, but enables the study of atmospheric spatial and temporal variability. This fellowship has taken a first step towards this, by developing a small, low power instrument based on low cost sensors that will provide information on atmospheric variability.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
Forested ecosystems play a central role in the Earth system. However, whether for the regulation of atmospheric carbon dioxide, the uptake of ozone or the emission of reactive carbon, small-scale variability inherent in forests makes their parameterisation in models difficult. Recent developments in cheap, small, lower power sensors and robust network technology can ultimately drive a range of science communities (ecology, atmospheric chemistry, carbon flux) towards a new concept of a ‘highly instrumented forest’. Within a highly instrumented forest, the environment is autonomously observed using large numbers of low cost sensors, giving a wide spatial perspective on forest interactions with the atmosphere. Such an approach contrasts markedly with the current paradigm where a single site, equipped with a small number of highly specialised instruments, is treated as being representative of a whole forest. This fellowship will develop and apply a unique sensor network for assessment of the spatial and long-term temporal variability in volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted by forests. VOCs play a vital role in controlling the regional and global concentration of ozone, aerosol and methane, all of which are key players in climate change and air quality degradation, but the spatial heterogeneity of emissions from forests is unknown. The sensors will be tested both in the laboratory and in small-scale trials. The fellowship will culminate in the application of a sensor network in a UK Forestry Commission research forest, to resolve for the first time the true spatial and temporal variability of biogenic VOCs throughout a forest canopy. This fellowship will exploit the fellow’s experience gained in the UK and USA, and the world-leading expertise at the University of York to produce new earth system science and a transferable chemical technology applicable to other research questions, whilst propelling an exciting researcher’s career onto the highest scientific track.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- UNIVERSITY OF YORK · YORK NORTH YORKSHIRECoordinatorUnited Kingdom
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union