The paradox of assessing greenhouse gases from soils for nature-based solutions

Abstract

Abstract. Quantifying the role of soils in nature-based solutions requires accurate estimates of soil greenhouse gas (GHG) fluxes. Technological advances allow us to measure multiple GHGs simultaneously, and now it is possible to provide complete GHG budgets from soils (i.e., CO2, CH4, and N2O fluxes). We propose that there is a conflict between the convenience of simultaneously measuring multiple soil GHG fluxes at fixed time intervals (e.g., once or twice per month) and the intrinsic temporal variability in and patterns of different GHG fluxes. Information derived from fixed time intervals – commonly done during manual field campaigns – had limitations to reproducing statistical properties, temporal dependence, annual budgets, and associated uncertainty when compared with information derived from continuous measurements (i.e., automated hourly measurements) for all soil GHG fluxes. We present a novel approach (i.e., temporal univariate Latin hypercube sampling) that can be applied to provide insights and optimize monitoring efforts of GHG fluxes across time. We suggest that multiple GHG fluxes should not be simultaneously measured at a few fixed time intervals (mainly when measurements are limited to once per month), but an optimized sampling approach can be used to reduce bias and uncertainty. These results have implications for assessing GHG fluxes from soils and consequently reduce uncertainty in the role of soils in nature-based solutions.