Characterizing spatial representativeness of flux tower eddy-covariance measurements across the Canadian Carbon Program Network using remote sensing and footprint analysis

We describe a pragmatic approach for evaluating the spatial representativeness of flux tower measurements based on footprint climatology modeling analyses of land cover and remotely sensed vegetation indices. The approach was applied to the twelve flux sites of the Canadian Carbon Program (CCP) that include grassland, wetland, and temperate and boreal forests across an east–west continental gradient. The spatial variation within the footprint …