Biosphere – Atmosphere Interactions

A changing climate will have major impacts on precipitation patterns and the whole hydrological system, promoting extreme events that will increase plant stress throughout different ecosystems. The reaction of plants to these stresses and the corresponding effect on the atmosphere are multifaceted and not completely understood.

Across different landscapes and topographies, local features such as elevation, vegetation, and terrain complexity alter flow patterns and the nature of turbulent exchange processes. Each environment’s unique climatic conditions shape the vegetation, which in turn affects interactions between biosphere and atmosphere.

While our research in Innsbruck primarily focuses on mountain forests, this session welcomes contributions on biosphere-atmosphere exchanges across all types of ecosystems and landscapes.

Key topics include the turbulent fluxes of CO₂ and water vapor as well as the emission of Biogenic Volatile Organic Compounds (BVOCs) – a group of chemicals released by plants as means of communication, defense, and stress signaling. These emissions have implications for atmospheric chemistry, including the formation of tropospheric ozone and secondary organic aerosols (SOA), both of which are crucial for understanding the effects of climate change on air quality and ecosystem resilience.

The session will also cover advanced measurement techniques, including the eddy covariance method for turbulent flux measurements and Proton-Transfer-Reaction Mass Spectrometry (PTR-MS) for measuring BVOC emissions.