• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.149-160
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• 2007

KoFlux Gwangneung Supersite comprises complex topography and diverse vegetation types (and structures), which necessitate complementary multi-disciplinary measurements to understand energy and matter exchange. Here, we report the results of this ongoing research with special focuses on carbon/water budgets in Gwangneung forest, implications of inter-dependency between water and carbon cycles, and the importance of hydrology in carbon cycling under monsoon climate. Comprehensive biometric and chamber measurements indicated the mean annual net ecosystem productivity (NEP) of this forest to be ${\sim}2.6\;t\;C\;ha^{-1}y^{-1}$. In conjunction with the tower flux measurement, the preliminary carbon budget suggests the Gwangneung forest to be an important sink for atmospheric $CO_2$. The catchment scale water budget indicated that $30\sim40%$ of annual precipitation was apportioned to evapotranspiration (ET). The growing season average of the water use efficiency (WUE), determined from leaf carbon isotope ratios of representative tree species, was about $12{\mu}mol\;CO_2/mmol\;H_2O$ with noticeable seasonal variations. Such information on ET and WUE can be used to constrain the catchment scale carbon uptake. Inter-annual variations in tree ring growth and soil respiration rates correlated with the magnitude and the pattern of precipitation during the growing season, which requires further investigation of the effect of a monsoon climate on the catchment carbon cycle. Additionally, we examine whether structural and functional units exist in this catchment by characterizing the spatial heterogeneity of the study site, which will provide the linkage between different spatial and temporal scale measurements.