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The European research infrastructure ICOS, of which CzechGlobe is also a founding member, published the second issue of the European Greenhouse Gas Bulletin – FLUXES in July 2023.
The publication aims to alert policy makers, political advisors and journalists to current climate-related issues.
The main message of this issue is a warning to European climatologists against overconfidence in nature’s ability to save us from climate change. ICOS General Director Werner Kutsch draws attention to the vulnerability of terrestrial and oceanic ecosystems as carbon sinks. Their ability to absorb and store carbon is decreasing due to human activity and climate change.
The publication deals in detail with forest ecosystems in the EU, whose capacity to store carbon has decreased by a third over the last decade. Some forests have even become a source of carbon. According to Manuel Acosta of CzechGlobe, in addition to logging and the natural aging of forests, climate change and the associated greater risks of drought periods, fires, and pests also contribute to this.
The text also notes the potential of oceans and coastal ecosystems to sequester carbon, and a significant chapter is devoted to greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture which cannot be eliminated by phasing out fossil fuels. Carbon farming is mentioned in this context.
A Carbon Removal Certification System is currently being discussed by the European Parliament, which should encourage the use of innovative solutions for capturing, recycling and storing CO2 by farmers, foresters and industries. It is the data and knowledge of ICOS scientists that offer great potential to be used in the development of the carbon uptake and storage monitoring system required for carbon removal certification.
Download the FLUXES bulletin.
More On July 11-14, 2023, the annual FLUXNET conference was held in Brno. It was organized by CzechGlobe and the Mendel University in Brno. FLUXNET is a global network made up of regional networks (ICOS from Europe, Ameriflux, OzFLUX, SAEON, MexFLUX and AsiaFLUX) bringing together workplaces that deal with the measurement of greenhouse gas fluxes using the covariance method.
At the same time, FLUXNET is an example of the need for global cooperation and infrastructure to contribute to achieving long-term sustainability.
The FLUXNET community met after five years and conference participants discussed measurement techniques, data processing and the integration of CH₄ and N₂O measurements into a joint processing and database. An important point of the conference was the discussion on how the FLUXNET community could contribute to carbon accounting and the carbon credit system and how it could have a greater impact on the general public.
More information at ICOS.
More In June 26 – 29th 2023 CzechGlobe, Dept. of Remote Sensing, hosted in Brno the SCERIN-10 Workshop on Earth System Observations titled “Recent terrestrial ecosystems LCLU changes and driving forces – challenges for remote sensing and sustainable management”.
The SCERIN regional network (under the umbrella of NASA) associates scientists and Earth system observation experts from Southeastern and Central Europe. Forty participants from 10 countries reviewed the ongoing and upcoming follow-up activities of SCERIN and proposed the establishment of a new working group focusing on urban ecosystems observations within the network structure. The workshop also included field excursion to the ecosystem station in Lanžhot and the Runšpurk Nature Reserve (South Moravia) where participants could learn about different solutions for water and landscape management in the region.
The collective of authors Stanislav Juráň, John Grace and Otmar Urban received the award for the best article in the journal Atmosphere for 2021. The article has 40 citations and is one of the highly cited articles according to Web of Science.
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