Within various projects , our working group uses field-ready gas analyzers that enable us to determine greenhouse gas exchange using closed chambers. The analyzers detect gas concentrations with lasers and gas-specific absorption spectra. Gas fluxes are then estimated via concentration change over chamber closure time.

Our group uses a GasScouter (Picarro Inc) and an Ultraportable Greenhouse Gas Analyzers (Los Gatos Research). Both devices simultaneously measure CO₂ and CH₄. Further, we use a couple of LI-820 (LI-COR) for CO₂ measurements which are embedded in custom-made portable logger systems (GERD – Gas Emissions Research Device) that have integrated measurements of environmental parameters, e. g. photosynthetic photon flux density, air and soil temperature and relative humidity. Finally, our group also runs an eddy-covariance system which measures CO₂ and CH₄ at ecosystem scale.

Since summer 2018, we also own a Picarro G2508 gas analyzer. It‘s supposed to run in an automated mesocosm experiment within the project WETSCAPES which is currently set up in Greifswald. There, CO₂, CH₄, N₂O fluxes will be measured with a custom-made automatic chamber system. The Picarro G2508 has been co-financed by the EU through the ERDF program: „Operationelles Programm Mecklenburg-Vorpommern 2014-2020 – Investitionen in Wachstum und Beschäftigung“.

All the analyzers enable us to compare net CO₂ exchange and CH₄/N₂O emissions on the plot-scale within short timescales. They also improve GHG budgets over longer timescales (e.g. years) and help us, in combination with plant and soil analyses, to determine changes in soil carbon stocks.