Inter-Annual Variation In Carbon Dioxide and Water Fluxes From a Grazed Pasture In the Semi-Arid Texas High Plains.

A study was initiated in the Texas High Plains in 2010 to understand the magnitudes of water, energy and carbon fluxes for selected agro-ecosystems. As part of this study, carbon dioxide and energy flux measurements were made from a grazed pasture using eddy covariance method and automated soil respiration chambers.  The field was a center-pivot irrigated pasture of WW-B. Dahl. The carbon fluxes were used to calculate the net ecosystem exchange (NEE) and net primary production (NPP). In addition to carbon flux measurements, other continuous measurements were made including latent heat flux, sensible heat flux, soil heat flux, net radiation, and fraction of absorbed photosynthetically active radiation (fAPAR), along with periodic measurements of biomass.