ICONEEx combines high-resolution Sentinel and MODIS data with eddy-covariance flux towers to model Net Ecosystem CO2 Exchange across ~92% of Ireland's terrestrial area including wetlands, peatlands, grassland, and forestry.
Climate change poses a significant environmental challenge for humanity, and accurately predicting its intensity, as well as its impact on terrestrial ecosystems, is crucial.
To achieve this, monitoring, modelling, and mapping greenhouse gas (GHG) exchanges between the biosphere and the atmosphere is essential. Monitoring is also important to achieve the European Union's goal to achieve a balance between GHG emissions and removals by 2050 and maintain negative emissions thereafter. While in situ measurement techniques, such as the eddy covariance flux tower (ECFT), have been used for decades to measure ecosystem-level exchanges of carbon, such as Net Ecosystem Exchange (NEE) of CO2, their footprint is limited to only 1 km2.
To overcome this limitation, satellite remote sensing data has been used to upscale these measurements to regional and global scales, but previous work has relied on low-resolution remote sensing data, such as the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensor (at 250m or 500m spatial resolution).
This study aims to use a combination of high-resolution remote sensing data and measurements from in situ ECFT data to model the NEE of CO2 across ~92% of Ireland's terrestrial area, covering major land covers such as wetlands (coastal and peatlands), grassland, and forestry. The model will integrate datasets from both ESA (Copernicus Sentinel-1 and 2) and NASA (MODIS PAR) with the light response curve parameters derived from the ECFT data in Ireland, to model NEE CO2 at a national scale.
The results will be useful for monitoring, reporting, and verifying NEE across a range of ecosystems in Ireland. They can also be used to enhance National Inventory Reporting and national ambitions on climate, influence targeted policymaking, and verify land management decisions.
Lightning talk in the "Strengthening Collaboration" session at the Grand Hotel, Malahide, alongside producers, users, and network coordinators from across Ireland's flux community.
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Poster on upscaling Net Ecosystem CO₂ Exchange for Irish ecosystems, presented at the AsiaFlux conference in Pangkalan Kerinci, Indonesia.
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A poster at ESA's flagship Earth observation conference, showcasing ICONEEx work to global researchers.
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Ten intensive days at Hyytiälä Forest Station, Finland: 35 students learning the carbon cycle and climate change relevant to ICOS.
ReadAccess to NASCO eddy-covariance flux tower data: 28 towers across Irish agricultural landscapes will feed the model.
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Saunders, Connolly & Habib present "Counting carbon on agricultural peat soils", with crucial insights into peatland carbon dynamics.
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Selected from 200 global applicants. The programme is funded by the Embassy of Ireland in Norway and the Marine Institute.
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Connolly & Habib presented the ICONEEx project at the European Geosciences Union General Assembly in Vienna.
ReadOfficial launch of the satellite-driven model to upscale Irish CO₂ Net Ecosystem Exchange across ~92% of Ireland's terrestrial area.
ReadThe ICONEEx team works very closely with the eddy-covariance flux tower community, with collaborators based in leading academic and research institutions across Ireland.
Trinity College Dublin
University College Dublin
University College Cork
University of Limerick
Teagasc
Bord na Móna
National Parks & Wildlife Service
University of Galway