The influence of forest management (clear-cutting) on volatile organic compounds and secondary organic aerosols in boreal forests
Scope
Boreal forests are a major source of biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs), which undergo atmospheric oxidation and contribute to the formation of secondary organic aerosol (SOA) and cloud condensation nuclei. Global and regional models typically treat BVOC emissions from forests as steady and constitutive and often fail to represent disturbance-driven or management-driven emission bursts. Approximately two-thirds of the world’s boreal forests are actively managed. Clear-cutting, a common forest management practice involving the uniform removal of most or all trees within a designated area, can substantially alter biosphere–atmosphere interactions. In Sweden, approximately 2% of the managed forest area is harvested annually.
This project is based on continuous observations conducted from 2020 to the present at the Norunda ACTRIS and ICOS research station in the Swedish boreal forest, where a clear-cutting event occurred in 2022 surrounding the main measurement tower. This event provides a unique opportunity to investigate how forest harvesting influences atmospheric composition on both short and long timescales. State-of-the-art mass spectrometers are used to measure the gas- and particle-phase chemical composition of the atmosphere during different stages of the harvesting process. Quantitative measurements of VOC concentrations and fluxes are combined with chemical modeling to improve our understanding of atmospheric chemistry responses to forest management and to better constrain VOC emissions and their impacts on secondary organic aerosol formation.
Funding
Feedback between a changing climate and vegetation: The role of volatile organic compounds and biogenic aerosols (CLIVE)
