Risdalsheia in southern most Norway, is the site of the whole-catchment manipulation experiment with acid rain (RAIN project) and more recently the climatic change experiment (CLIMEX). The catchment is contained within a 1200 m2 greenhouse in which atmospheric CO2 is enriched to 560 ppmv and air temperature is increased to 3-5C above ambient. The target for air warming is +5C above ambient in January and +3C above ambient in July
with intermediate temperatures in the intervening months. These levels of CO2 and temperature were selected in line with predictions made for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Several models will be calibrated and evaluated using the data from Risdalsheia. To evaluate the effects of altered deposition quality on the cycling of nutrients and acidification of soils and waters, an application of MAGICand MERLIN is anticipated. As the data from CLIMEX becomes available, temperature and CO2 dependence will be added to the various
processes included in these models.
Photograph of the CLIMEX experiment
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