Boreal forest soils emit various reactive compounds to the atmosphere, which affect ozone and secondary aerosol formation. However, they are poorly characterized and their influence on atmospheric chemistry is not well understood. This consortium project of the Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI) and the Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke) will improve methods to analyse these yet unknown compounds, measure the composition and amounts of their emissions from different types of nitrogen-limited boreal forest soils. The project will also study in the laboratory the effects of wetting/drying and thawing/freezing on these soil emissions, as well as their aerosol formation potential. Field measurements will be performed in long-term, well-documented field experiments that make it possible to find out the response of these organic emissions to soil properties and, for instance, to tree species in the stand and harvesting intensity.

2022

2026