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Institute for Atmospheric and Earth System Research Infrastructure / Agriculture

INAR RI Agriculture

The targets of Paris climate agreement cannot be reached by greenhouse gas (CO2, CH4, N2O) emission reductions alone, and effective ways to remove CO2 from the atmosphere and to increase carbon (C) sinks and storages in terrestrial ecosystems including agricultural soils are critically needed. Seasonality in temperature, snow cover, rainfall and agricultural practices strongly affect the C and nitrogen (N) cycling, greenhouse gas (GHG) and reactive N exchange processes in northern agricultural soils. These key features should be taken into account when modelling and upscaling of emissions to regional, national and continental scales. INAR RI Agriculture will establish a set of highly instrumented research platforms for agricultural land in Finland to increase understanding of the climate and air quality impacts of northern agriculture. INAR RI Agriculture consortium brings together top level scientists from the University of Helsinki, Finnish Meteorological Institute, Natural Resources Institute Finland and the University of Eastern Finland, providing strong multidisciplinary expertise in agricultural sciences, soil and environmental sciences, microbiology and atmospheric sciences. The planned state-of-the-art infrastructures in INAR RI Agriculture include establishing 1) long-term field stations for continuous measurements of GHG and reactive N exchange from cultivated mineral soils, 2) movable field measurement stations for campaign based measurements of GHG exchange from cultivated peat soils, a variety of crops and management practices, and 3) instrumenting a state-of-the-art stable isotope gas facility (SIG lab) for detailed process studies to understand processes relevant to C and N turnover,

GHG emissions and C sequestration potential in northern arable soils. Such a measurement network and data are critically needed to develop efficient measures for C sequestration and climate policy as well as science-based marketing of agricultural C sequestration for climate services. The INAR RI Agriculture infrastructure will develop internationally high quality, integrated services and data for a variety of user groups and communities, and serves as a platform for additional research projects, international collaboration, as well as inclusion of the sites into international infrastructure networks.