About ACME

The Airborne Carbon in the Mountains Experiment is the first aircraft field campaign of a program supported by the NSF Biocomplexity Program and NASA Interdisciplinary Science. It is taking place in the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado. The goal of the project is to understand carbon dynamics in montane forest regions by developing new methods for estimating carbon exchange at local to regional scales.
The project makes measurements at the stand scale using eddy covariance, small catchment or "carbonshed" scale using measurements of CO ₂ concentrations within local airsheds, and regional scales using measurements of CO ₂ and other species from aircraft. The multi-scaled flux measurements are coordinated with a long-term ongoing program of carbon measurements and ecosystem process studies. The approach of the field campaign is to obtain the meteorological, mixing ratio, and flux data required to compare and validate a "carbonshed" ecosystem model of CO ₂ vertical and horizontal transports.
The studies will help define differences between surface exchange of carbon in mountainous and flat landscapes to better understand the significance and contribution of mountain areas to the continental carbon budget. Flights were conducted in May and July of 2004. The measurements will be integrated and interpreted using a range of models including ecosystem process models, mesoscale atmospheric models, and innovative coupled ecosystem-atmosphere assimilation models.

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