Carbon exchange of grass in Hungary

Continuous measurement of net biosphere-atmosphere carbon exchange was performed in western Hungary over a managed semi-natural grassland field using the eddy covariance technique to estimate Net Ecosystem Exchange (NEE). The paper presents the measuring site and instrumentation, as well as the data processing methods applied. The measurements covered the period March 1999 to December 2000 during which, on an annual time scale, the region acted as a net CO2 sink, where NEE was -54 g C m(-2) in 1999 (data for January and February were estimated) and -232 g C m(-2) in 2000 (negative NEE represents CO2 uptake by the vegetation). The remarkable inter-annual difference may be the result of the significant climate difference between 1999 and 2000.