Impacts of climate, N and P deposition and land use on water as a driver of the greenhouse gases regulatory ecosystem service in headwater catchments

Project description

This Water4All Transnational Project (EU Horizon) aims to answer two major research questions: 1) Are headwater catchments currently acting as sinks or sources of CO2 and other greenhouse gases? 2) Is this status changing with global change, and if so, in what direction?

We will develop low-cost sensors to obtain high-resolution measurements of greenhouse gases in both time and space. We will then use these and other methods to determine the carbon balance in a network of headwater catchments across Europe (boreal and Arctic Northern Europe to mountains in Central and Southern Europe), covering climatic and N-P deposition gradients.

The project consists of an interdisciplinary consortium, with a core of hydro(geo)logists and biogeochemists, with complementary expertise in the use and development of low-cost sensors, hydrological and biogeochemical models, and stable isotopes. The consortium’s complementary expertise enables us to work at the catchment scale, with experts on soil, vegetation, groundwater, stream/rivers, lakes, and the connection to the atmosphere.