Airborne Microwave Observatory of Subcanopy and Subsurface Mission-LaSelva, Costa Rica

North American ecosystems are critical components of the global carbon cycle, exchanging large amounts of carbon dioxide and other gases with the atmosphere. Net ecosystem exchange (NEE) quantifies these carbon fluxes, but current continental-scale estimates contain high levels of uncertainty. Root-zone soil moisture (RZSM) and its spatial and temporal hetergeneity influence NEE and contribute as much as 60-80 percent to the uncertainty. Energy and CO2 Fluxes have been monitored from 1997 to 2007 using Bowen Ratio technique, and since spring of 2004 with eddy covariance.