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Turkey Point Carbon Cycle Research
Project
Measurement of energy, water vapour and carbon dioxide fluxes
and other meteorological variables over a chronosequence
of planted temperate conifer forests in southern Ontario,
Canada
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Ontario Flux Station - Fluxnet
Canada
Measurement of energy, water vapour and carbon dioxide fluxes
and other meteorological variables over over boreal mixed
forests in northern Ontario, Canada.
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Canadian Global Coupled Climate
Carbon Model (CGC3M) Project
Development of a dynamic carbon simulation model, named
as McMaster Dynamic Vegetation Model (MDVM) and its coupling
to regional and global climate models to perform climate
change studies at McMaster University super computing facilities,
SHARCNET.
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Turkey
Point Carbon Cycle Research Project
The McMaster University, Climate Change Research Program has
initiated a long-term field experiment to measure energy,
water vapour and CO2 exchanges over a chronosequence of planted
conifer forests in southern Ontario now as Turkey Point Carbon
Cycle Research Project. This initiative focus on studying
carbon sink and source strength, and water use efficiency
of plantation (afforested) stands. Long-term flux measurements,
in combination with ecosystem productivity models and high-resolution
remote sensing data will provide accurate estimates of net
carbon sequestration by plantation forests. The information
about carbon sequestration potential of afforestation will
help Canadian and international policy makers in planing and
developing realistic strategies to offset fossil fuel CO2
emissions to improve environmental quality.
For further details see our web
page
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Ontario
Flux Station Project - Fluxnet-Canada Boreal
mixedwood forests are the dominant species in the central
boreal landscape, occupying more than 50% of the total forested
land in northern Ontario. The large area of boreal mixedwoods
makes it the largest potential carbon sink of the central
boreal forest. Mixedwood forests are commercially harvested
throughout their development age. An important issue for carbon
cycling in boreal mixedwood forests is whether management
practices should encourage retention of mixedwood stands or
conversion (or partial conversion) to conifers.
Under Fluxnet-Canada Network Project, Queen
Univesity (Harry McCaughey, P.I.), McMater University and
Univesity of Toronto along with government organizations such
as Canadian Forest service (CFS) and Ontario Ministry of Natural
Resources (OMNR) has initiated a research project to examine
and quantify the impact of forest management practices on
carbon sequestration in northeastern mixedwood forests. The
site is located (48° 13' 00" N, 82° 09' 20"
W) near Timmins in Northern Ontario. Its is a heterogeneous
mixture of five main species: trembling aspen, white birch,
white spruce, black spruce, and balsam fir as a main component
of the understory.Research being conducted at the Ontario
Flux Station which is also known as the Groundhog River flux
station, will provide valuable information on the role of
climate variability and impact of selective site disturbance
on carbon exchange for this important forest type.
For further details see Ontario Flux Station web site at:
http://www.fluxnet-canada.ca/home.php?page=components_fsmp_on
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Integrated
Modelling and Scaling Project: Fluxnet-Canada Under
Integrated Modelling and Scaling Component of the Fluxnet-Canada
Project (R.Grant and H. Margolis, P.Is, respectively) and
the Climate Research Network (CRN) node sponsored by the Meteorological
Services of Canada, McMaster University has developed a process-based
ecosystem model known as Carbon-Canadian Land Surface Scheme
(C-CLASS; Arain et al., 2002). C-CLASS is being tested over
a range of forest ecosystems being monitored under Fluxnet-Canada
and other initiatives. This work will help to extrapolate
knowledge gained through stand level measurements to regional
and national scales. Key objectives are to develop and test
new methodologies for scaling processes from tower-to-region
using a well-tested ecosystem model in combination with high-resolution
remote sensing data and synthetic fields of meteorological
variables.
As a part of this initiative, a Model Inter-comparison
Study is also being conducted which involves all Fluxnet-Canada
participating model such as ECOSYS (R. Grant, U. of Alberta),
IBIS (D. Price, Canadian Forest Service), BEPS-InTEC (J. Chen,
U of Toronto) and U of Alberta version of C-CLASS (R. Grant).
A unique aspect of this study is model intercomparison for
several years over four diverseforest sites across North American.
C-CLASS is also participating in international PILPS-C1 study.
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Canadian Global
Coupled Climate Carbon Model (CGC3M) Project
As part of Canadian Global Coupled Climate Carbon
Model (CGC3M) Network Project (N. Roulet and K. Denman, P.I.s),
McMaster Univesity is developing a dynamic carbon simulation
model, named as McMaster Dynamic Vegetation Model (MDVM).
This effort is built on the work already carried out at the
Univesity of British Columbia and McMaster University under
the Climate Research Network (CRN) node, sponsored by the
Meteorological Services of Canada. The CRN node was focused
on parameterization, modification, and evaluation of the Canadian
Land Surface Scheme (CLASS, Verseghy et al., 2000) and incorporation
of various aspects of the terrestrial carbon cycle. CLASS
was developed to use in Canadian General Circulation Model.
Current MDVM development efforts include (a)
testing and improvement of already incorporated photosynthesis,
conductance and canopy respiration algorithms in CRN C-CLASS
for various plant functional types, (b) inclusion of a phenology
algorithm to represent the climatically-driven allocation
of carbon to the different plant components (e.g. leaf, stem,
and roots) (c) development and improvement of autotrophic
and heterotrophic respiration (d) incorporation of a simple
coupled carbon and nitrogen cycle model (e) development of
a mechanism to incorporate projections of land use changes
among land cover types.
Initial version of MDVM is being evaluated using
data sets measured under various Canadian and international
field campaigns such as BOREAS/BERMS, Ameriflux, Fluxnet-Canada,
Euro-Flux, PCARS, ABRACOS/LBA, Hapex-Shael, FIFE, etc. to
assess model parameterizations and its sensitivity across
a range of environmental condition. MDVM will be coupled to
regional and global climate models to perform coupled model
simulation on McMaster super computing facility, SHARCNET
to study future climate change.
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Environmental
quality and human health initiatives Under
this research initiative environmental quality and human health
issues are being investigated in Toronto-Hamilton intra-urban
region under an interdisciplinary health research initiative
i.e. Respiratory Disease in older adults: An interdisciplinary
approach, Dr. M. Loeb, (P.I.). This work is being done in
collaboration with Dr. M. Jerrett (McMaster Institute of Health
Studies). Objectives are to develop an integrand regional
air pollution transport model for the Great Lakes region.
In a similar Health Canada funded project, chronic exposure
assessment studies are being conducted in collaboration with
Dr. M. Jerrett (P.I.) to evaluate impact of traffic-related
air pollutants on respiratory health.
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