Air flow regime from 1999 to 2005 at the University of Michigan Biological Station and its relation to variability in net carbon dioxide flux and tropospheric ambient ozone; Summer 2006 analysis.

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to better understand the typical air flow regime and environmental conditions of the University of Michigan Biological Station (UMBS), and determine the seasonal and year-to-year variability from 1999-2005. Calculating back-trajectories of air parcels arriving at the station exposes the history of the air mass flow, which helps in the assessment of air quality. South and southwesterly flow will be compared to tropospheric ambient ozone levels to see if pollution is transported to UMBS by air mass flow. The analysis of the air flow regime will ultimately by compared to the year-to-year variability in net carbon dioxide flux at UMBS, to determine if there is a correlation with air quality. Other variables that will be compared to air mass flow and net carbon dioxide flux are ambient temperature, light intensity, soil moisture, soil temperature, precipitation, maximum leaf area index, and photosynthetic photon flux density. The conclusion in the air flow regime was that from 1999-2005, 11.4%+/-1.83 of the total air flow was westerly, 30.3%+/_2.11 was north and northwesterly, 3.4%+/_1.11 was northeasterly, 4.5%+/-0.95 was east and southeasterly, 23.1%+/-1.33 was south and southeasterly, and 27.3%+/-1.78 the flow regime was indeterminate. (The +/- value is the variablility in the flow regime throughout all the years, e.g. a greater value means more variability from year-to-year.)