Fluxes of CO2, CH4 and N2O from alpine grassland in the Tibetan Plateau

Using static chamber technique, fluxes of CO2, CH4 and N2O were measured in the alpine grassland area from July 2000 to July 2001, determinations of mean fluxes showed that CO2 and N2O were generally released from the soil, while the alpine grassland accounted for a weak CH4 sink. Fluxes of CO2, CH4 and N2O ranged widely. The highest CO2 emission occurred in August, whereas almost 90% of the whole year emission occurred in the growing season. But the variations of CH4 and N2O fluxes did not show any clear patterns over the one-year-experiment. During a daily variation, the maximum CO2 emission occurred at 16:00, and then decreased to the minimum emission in the early morning. Daily pattern analyses indicated that the variation in CO2 fluxes was positively related to air temperatures (R2=0.73) and soil temperatures at a depth of 5 cm (R2=0.86), whereas daily variations in CH4 and N2O fluxes were poorly explained by soil temperatures and climatic variables. CO2 emissions in this area were much lower than other grasslands in plain areas.