Assessment of a relaxed eddy accumulation for measurements of fluxes of biogenic volatile organic compounds: study over arable crops and a mature beech forest

A relaxed eddy accumulation (REA) system, based on the design by Beverland et al. (Journal of Geophysics Research 101 (D17) 22, 807-22, 815), for the measurement of biogenic VOC species was evaluated by intercomparison with an eddy correlation CO2 flux system over a mature deciduous beech canopy (Fagus Sylvatica) during the FOREXNOX program. Measurements from a site where winter wheat and barley (Hordeum Vulgare and Triticum Aestivum) were being harvested are also presented. The system was inter-compared with two different eddy correlation systems for measuring CO2 fluxes. Good results were obtained with correlation coefficients for the REA system ranging from 0.71 to 0.82, lending further confidence in the use of this technique. Daily averaged biogenic emissions from the wheat and barley canopies were significantly larger than expected, likely a result of harvesting. Fluxes measured over the beech canopy were also larger than might be expected from northern latitude deciduous forests.