<p>Monitoring CO<sub>2</sub> emissions originating from urban areas has become a necessity to support sustainable urban planning strategies and climate change mitigation efforts. Integrative decision support, where net effects of various emission/sink components are considered and compared, is now an increasingly relevant part of urban planning processes. The current emission inventories rely on indirect approaches that use fuel and electricity consumption statistics for determining CO<sub>2</sub> emissions. The consistency of such approaches is questionable and they usually neglect the contribution of the biogenic components of the urban carbon cycle (i.e. vegetation, soil). Moreover, their spatial and temporal scales are restricted because consumption statistics are often available in coarse spatial scales (national, provincial/state, municipal) and usually scaled down using proxy data (e.g. population density) to city-scale annual estimates. The diFUME project (https://mcr.unibas.ch/difume/) is developing a methodology for mapping and monitoring the actual urban CO<sub>2</sub> flux at optimum spatial and temporal scales, meaningful for urban design decisions. The goal is to develop, apply and evaluate independent models, capable to estimate all the different components of the urban carbon cycle (i.e. building emissions, traffic emissions, human metabolism, photosynthetic uptake, plant respiration, soil respiration), combining mainly Eddy Covariance (EC) with Earth Observation (EO) data. EC provides continuous in-situ measurements of CO<sub>2</sub> flux at the local scale. Processing, analysis and interpretation of urban EC measurements is challenging due to the inherent spatial complexity of CO<sub>2</sub> source and sink configurations of the urban structure. The diFUME methodology is using multiple EO datasets to achieve multi-scale monitoring of urban cover, morphology and vegetation phenology in order to characterize the urban source/sink configurations and parameterize turbulent flux source area models. Such combination of EC and EO provides enhanced interpretation of the measured CO<sub>2</sub> flux, analysis of its controlling factors and therefore the potential of fine scale mapping and monitoring. The diFUME methodology is being developed and applied in the city of Basel, exploiting the available long-term database (> 15 years) of urban EC measurements. The first results highlight the potential of EO-derived geospatial data to interpret the complexity of urban EC measurements. Seasonal and land cover related trends in the EC-measured CO<sub>2</sub> flux are recognized, while the use of environmental, census and mobility datasets are increasing the interpretation capabilities and the modelling potential of the urban CO<sub>2</sub> flux patterns.</p>
", "keywords": ["diFUME", "13. Climate action", "11. Sustainability", "urban carbon dioxide flux", "15. Life on land", "7. Clean energy", "6. Clean water", "12. Responsible consumption"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-19498"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-19498", "name": "item", "description": "10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-19498", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-19498"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2020-03-23T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.1016/j.agrformet.2024.110086", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-05-29T16:15:36Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2024-05-31", "title": "Comparison between lower-cost and conventional eddy covariance setups for CO2 and evapotranspiration measurements above monocropping and agroforestry systems", "description": "Open AccessPeer reviewed", "keywords": ["Physical sciences", "Evapotranspiration", "Lower-cost eddy covariance", "Carbon dioxide flux", "Agroforestry", "Gas analyzer"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agrformet.2024.110086"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Agricultural%20and%20Forest%20Meteorology", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1016/j.agrformet.2024.110086", "name": "item", "description": "10.1016/j.agrformet.2024.110086", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1016/j.agrformet.2024.110086"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2024-07-01T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.5194/egusphere-egu21-9906", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-05-29T16:21:58Z", "type": "Report", "created": "2021-03-04", "title": "Spatiotemporal dynamics of CO2 flux in Basel city centre", "description": "<p>Independent, timely and accurate monitoring of urban CO<sub>2</sub> emissions is important to assess the progress towards the Paris Agreement goals, evaluate the mitigation potential of the implemented actions and support urban planning, policy- and decision-making processes. However, there are several challenges towards achieving comprehensive urban emission monitoring at the required scales, which are mainly related to the complexities in the urban form, the urban function and their interactions with the atmosphere. Cities are highly heterogeneous mosaics of CO<sub>2</sub> sources and sinks. Typically, the main emission sources in an urban neighbourhood are vehicles and buildings, while the contribution of human, plant and soil respiration can be also significant depending on population density and green area fraction. At the same time, urban vegetation acts as carbon sink, mitigating urban emissions locally. This study attempts to unravel the complex urban CO<sub>2</sub> flux dynamics by modelling each component separately (i.e. building emissions, traffic emissions, human metabolism, photosynthetic uptake, plant respiration, soil respiration) based on high resolution geospatial, meteorological and population activity datasets. The case study is the city centre of Basel, Switzerland. The models are calibrated and evaluated using Eddy Covariance measurements of CO<sub>2</sub> flux from two permanent tower sites in the city centre, covering a significant part of the study area. Moreover, an extended field campaign for the measurement of the biogenic components (i.e. photosynthetic uptake, plant respiration, soil respiration) has been active since the summer of 2020, involving regular chamber flux measurements and soil stations across the study area. The study reveals the spatial and temporal complexity of the urban CO<sub>2</sub> flux dynamics both diurnally and seasonally. The relative contribution of each flux component to the seasonal cycle is presented, while the mitigation potential of urban vegetation is evaluated. Cross-comparison between model outputs and Eddy Covariance measurements are discussed in respect to source area variability, airflow complexity in the urban canopy layer and irregular unrecognized emission sources.</p>
", "keywords": ["diFUME", "urban biogenic carbon dioxide flux", "13. Climate action", "11. Sustainability", "15. Life on land", "7. Clean energy", "12. Responsible consumption"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu21-9906"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.5194/egusphere-egu21-9906", "name": "item", "description": "10.5194/egusphere-egu21-9906", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.5194/egusphere-egu21-9906"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2021-03-04T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.5281/zenodo.4506403", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-05-29T16:23:34Z", "type": "Journal Article", "title": "Quantifying biogenic carbon dioxide fluxes in an urban area", "description": "Urban areas constitute complex and highly heterogeneous mosaics of CO\u2082 sources and sinks. Anthropogenic emissions - mainly from fuel combustion due to vehicle traffic, building heating, energy production and other industrial activities - are producing high amounts of CO\u2082, dominating the urban CO\u2082 flux. The biogenic fluxes (i.e. photosynthesis, autotrophic-heterotrophic respiration) are usually smaller than the anthropogenic fluxes in urban areas, however they potentially affect the seasonal and spatial variability of urban emissions according to green area cover fraction and seasonal climate variability. Quantifying the urban biogenic fluxes would help in discriminating human emissions from natural fluxes, recognizing the seasonal and interannual CO\u2082 emission variability and trends, enhance our current understanding on urban metabolism and function, and eventually improve the current urban emission inventories. Urban biogenic flux dynamics are expected to differ significantly from the rural ecosystems due to the extreme variability of urban climate in micro and local scales, urban-related stressors and diverse management practices. The Urban Heat Island (UHI) phenomenon is one of the factors that would potentially alter the urban biogenic CO\u2082 balance, since it affects both soil and air temperature which are important environmental drivers of the biogenic CO\u2082 flux processes. A relevant scientific question is if urban green tends to behave as carbon sink or source in the long term, which is still a matter of controversy in today\u2019s literature. In the framework of diFUME project (https://mcr.unibas.ch/difume/), the spatial and temporal variability of CO\u2082 flux by the anthropogenic and biogenic sources and sinks in Basel city centre is modelled and monitored. The approach involves the development of mechanistic models of photosynthetic uptake, plant respiration and soil respiration, dedicated to urban environment, according to meteorological observations, spatial representation of urban structure and EO monitoring of vegetation dynamics. An extended urban sensor network in the study area is used to monitor air temperature, soil temperature and soil moisture variability. The spatial variability of solar radiation is modelled according to the 3-dimensional architecture of the urban canopy. A high-resolution aerial Lidar dataset of the study area is used to extract building and tree morphology, as well as tree Leaf Area Index (LAI). The multiple radiation interactions between buildings and urban vegetation are considered in a multilayer modelling approach of radiation intercepted by plant canopies, taking into account horizontal and vertical distribution of LAI and building structures. The biogenic flux models are calibrated during an extended field campaign of microscale in-situ CO\u2082 flux measurements on urban trees and soils of Basel city centre during the summer of 2020. This study presents the developed modelling approaches for the three biogenic fluxes, the first results from the field measurement campaign and initial estimations of the spatial and temporal variability the urban biogenic CO\u2082 fluxes.", "keywords": ["diFUME", "urban biogenic carbon dioxide flux", "13. Climate action", "11. Sustainability", "15. Life on land", "7. Clean energy", "12. 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