A primary purpose is to support a research program that increases basic understanding of how agricultural and grassland ecosystems exchange CO₂ with the atmosphere and how environmental change is likely to impact these ecosystems in the region.

• Net ecosystem CO₂ exchange is measured year-round using tower eddy covariance flux systems. Faculty, students and staff from several UNL departments (e.g., Agronomy and Horticulture, Biological Systems Engineering, Biological Sciences, Biochemistry, School of Natural Resources) collaborate with the GPRC personnel on detailed process-level studies of soil carbon dynamics, vegetation growth and partitioning, soil moisture, soil gas exchange and residue decomposition.
• A collaborative effort with CALMIT scientists is intended to provide regional extrapolation of CO₂ exchange using tower flux and satellite observations.
• Another collaborative project with scientists at the National Soil Tilth Laboratory (Ames, IA), NOAA-Atmospheric Turbulence and Diffusion Division (Oak Ridge, TN), and the University of Minnesota and USDA-ARS (St. Paul, MN) focuses on a synthesis of tower CO₂ and water vapor flux observations in key agricultural systems in the North American Carbon Program MCI (Mid-Continent Intensive) region.
• Using the data from national and international carbon flux networks (e.g., AmeriFlux, CarboEurope, Fluxnet), the GPRC personnel collaborate with several scientists in North America and Europe to help develop comparative information on processes controlling CO₂ and water vapor exchanges in a variety of ecosystems (e.g., agricultural crops, grasslands, forests).

Seasonal and Interannual Variability:
Net Ecosystem CO2 Exchange (NEE)
Mead, Nebraska

Seasonal and Interannual Variability:
Daily Evapotranspiration (ET)
Mead, Nebraska