Alp Weissenstein / Crap Alv (GR)

Site description

Alp Weissenstein (CH-Aws) is one of the three grasslands within the Swiss FluxNet, but the only one with two names: Crap Alv, as it is called in the local language Romansh.

It is a managed (grazed) alpine grassland at 1900–2500 m asl, mainly on calcareous bedrock. The area and the adjacent facilities are part of the external page Agro-Vet Strickhof. For the long-term history of the site, see external page here. Eddy covariance flux measurements were carried out in campaign mode during summer in 2006 to 2014 (tower coordinates: 46°34'59.5" N and 9°47'25.5" E; WGS84 46.583102, 9.790624; at 1978 m asl). Since 2014, measurements are running continuously.

Find out more about the general site info.

Enlarged view: Alp Weissenstein – Research station
ETH research station
Enlarged view: Alp Weissenstein – cows
Alpine grazing with cows
Enlarged view: Alp Weissenstein – adaptive EC mast
Adaptive eddy covariance tower

Publications

2024

Nelson JA, Walther S, Gans F, Kraft B, Weber U, Novick K, Buchmann N, Migliavacca M, Wohlfahrt G, Šigut L, Ibrom A, Papale D, Göckede M, Duveiller G, Knohl A, Hörtnagl L, Scott RL, Zhang W, Hamdi ZM, Reichstein M, Aranda-Barranco S, Ardö J, Op de Beeck M, Billdesbach D, Bowling D, Bracho R, Brümmer C, Camps-Valls G, Chen S, Cleverly JR, Desai A, Dong G, El-Madany TS, Euskirchen ES, Feigenwinter I, Galvagno M, Gerosa GA, Gielen B, Goslee I, Goslee S, Gough CM, Heinesch B, Ichii K, Jackowicz-Korczynski MA, Klosterhalfen A, Knox S, Kobayashi H, Kohonen KM, Korkiakoski M, Mammarella I, Gharun M, Marzuoli R, Matamala R, Metzger S, Montagnani L, Nicolini G, O'Halloran T, Ourcival JM, Peichl M, Pendall E, Ruiz Reverter B, Roland M, Sabbatini S, Sachs T, Schmidt M, Schwalm CR, Shekhar A, Silberstein R, Silveira ML, Spano D, Tagesson T, Tramontana G, Trotta C, Turco F, Vesala T, Vincke C, Vitale D, Vivoni ER, Wang Y, Woodgate W, Yepez EA, Zhang J, Zona D, Jung M (2024) X-BASE: the first terrestrial carbon and water flux products from an extended data-driven scaling framework, FLUXCOM-X. Biogeosciences 21: 5079-5115, doi: external page 10.5194/bg-21-5079-2024

Nelson JA, Walther S, Gans F, Kraft B, Weber U, Novick K, Buchmann N, Migliavacca M, Wohlfahrt G, Šigut L, Ibrom A, Papale D, Göckede M, Duveiller G, Knohl A, Hörtnagl L, Scott RL, Zhang W, Hamdi ZM, Reichstein M, Aranda-Barranco S, Ardö J, Op de Beeck M, Billdesbach D, Bowling D, Bracho R, Brümmer C, Camps-Valls G, Chen S, Cleverly JR, Desai A, Dong G, El-Madany TS, Euskirchen ES, Feigenwinter I, Galvagno M, Gerosa GA, Gielen B, Goslee I, Goslee S, Gough CM, Heinesch B, Ichii K, Jackowicz-Korczynski MA, Klosterhalfen A, Knox S, Kobayashi H, Kohonen KM, Korkiakoski M, Mammarella I, Gharun M, Marzuoli R, Matamala R, Metzger S, Montagnani L, Nicolini G, O'Halloran T, Ourcival JM, Peichl M, Pendall E, Ruiz Reverter B, Roland M, Sabbatini S, Sachs T, Schmidt M, Schwalm CR, Shekhar A, Silberstein R, Silveira ML, Spano D, Tagesson T, Tramontana G, Trotta C, Turco F, Vesala T, Vincke C, Vitale D, Vivoni ER, Wang Y, Woodgate W, Yepez EA, Zhang J, Zona D, Jung M (2024) X-BASE: the first terrestrial carbon and water flux products from an extended data-driven scaling framework, FLUXCOM-X. EGUsphere [preprint], doi: external page 10.5194/egusphere-2024-165

Osterwalder S, Schibler R, Hüglin C, Schwarzenbach B, Stupple G, MacSween K,Bishop K, Alewell C, Buchmann N (2024) Spatial and seasonal dynamics of gaseous elemental mercury concentrations over Switzerland observed by a passive air sampler network. Environmental Science: Atmospheres 4: 848-860, doi: external page 10.1039/D4EA00052H

2023

Abdalla M, Feigenwinter I, Richards M, Vetter SH, Wohlfahrt G, Skiba U, Pintér K, Nagy Z, Hejduk S, Buchmann N, Newell Price P, Smith P (2023) Evaluation of the ECOSSE model for estimating soil respiration from eight European permanent grassland sites. Agronomy 13: 1734, doi: external page 10.3390/agronomy13071734

Li Y, Eugster W, Riedl A, Lehmann MM, Aemisegger F, Buchmann N (2023) Dew benefits on alpine grasslands are cancelled out by combined heatwave and drought stress. Frontiers in Plant Science 14: 1136037, doi: external page 10.3389/fpls.2023.1136037

Tang ACI, Flechard CR, Arriga N, Papale D, Stoy PC, Buchmann N, Cuntz M, Douros J, Fares S, Knohl A, Šigut L, Simioni G, Timmermans R, Grünwald T, Ibrom A, Loubet B, Mammarella I, Belelli Marchesini L, Nilsson M, Peichl M, Rebmann C, Schmidt M, Bernhofer C, Berveiller D, Cremonese E, El-Madany TS, Gharun M, Gianelle D, Hörtnagl L, Roland M, Varlagin A, Fu Z, Heinesch B, Janssens I, Kowalska N, Dušek J, Gerosa G, Mölder M, Tuittila E-S, Loustau D (2023) Detection and attribution of an anomaly in terrestrial photosynthesis in Europe during the COVID-19 lockdown. Science of the Total Environment 166149, doi: external page 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.166149

Xie M, Ma X, Wang Y, Li C, Shi H, Yuan X, Hellwich O, Chen C, Zhang W, Zhang C, Ling Q, Gao R, Zhang Y, Ochege FU, Frankl A, De Maeyer P, Buchmann N, Feigenwinter I, Olesen JE, Juszczak R, Jacotot A, Korrensalo A, Pitacco A, Varlagin A, Shekhar A, Lohila A, De Ligne A, Carrara A, Brut A, Kruijt B, Loubet B, Heinesch B, Chojnicki B, Helfter C, Vincke C, Shao C, Bernhofer C, Brümmer C, Wille C, Tuittila ES, Nemitz E, Meggio F, Dong G, Lanigan GJ, Niedrist G, Wohlfahrt G, Zhou G, Goded I, Gruenwald T, Olejnik J, Jansen J, Neirynck J, Tuovinen JP, Zhang J, Klumpp K, Pilegaard K, Šigut L, Klemedtsson L, Tezza L, Hörtnagl L, Urbaniak M, Roland M, Schmidt M, Sutton MA, Hehn M, Saunders M, Mauder M, Aurela M, Korkiakoski M, Du M, Vendrame N, Kowalska N, Leahy PG, Alekseychik P, Shi P, Weslien P, Chen S, Fares S, Friborg T, Tallec T, Kato T, Sachs T, Maximov T, Morra di Cella U, Moderow U, Li Y, He Y, Kosugi Y, Luo G (2023) Monitoring of carbon-water fluxes at Eurasian meteorological stations using random forest and remote sensing. Scientific Data 10: 587, doi: external page 10.1038/s41597-023-02473-9

2022

Fu Z, Ciais P, Makowski D, Bastos A, Stoy P,C, Ibrom A, Knohl A, Migliavacca M, Cuntz M, Šigut L, Peichl M, Loustau D, El-Madany TS, Buchmann N, Gharun M, Janssens I, Markwitz C, Grünwald T, Rebmann C, Mölder M, Varlagin A, Mammarella I, Kolari P, Bernhofer C, Heliasz M, Vincke C, Pitacco A, Cremonese E, Foltýnová L, Wigneron J-P (2022) Uncovering the critical soil moisture thresholds of plant water stress for European ecosystems. Global Change Biology 28: 2111-2123, doi: external page 10.1111/gcb.16050

2020

Gharun M, Hörtnagl L, Paul-Limoges E, Ghiasi S, Feigenwinter I, Burri S, Marquardt K, Etzold S, Zweifel R, Eugster W, Buchmann N (2020) Physiological response of Swiss ecosystems to 2018 drought across plant types and elevation. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B 375: 20190521, doi: external page 10.1098/rstb.2019.0521

Graf A, Klosterhalfen A, Arriga N, Bernhofer C, Bogena H, Bornet F, Brüggemann N, Brümmer C, Buchmann N, Chi J, Chipeaux C, Cremonese E, Cuntz M, Dušek J, El-Madany TS, Fares S, Fischer M, Foltynova L, Gielen B, Gottschalk P, Gharun M, Ghiasi S, Grünwald T, Heinemann G, Heinesch B, Heliasz M, Holst J, Hörtnagl L, Ibrom A, Ingwersen J, Jurasinski G, Klatt J, Knohl A, Koebsch F, Konopka J, Korkiakoski M, Kowalska N, Kremer P, Kruijt B, Lafont S, Léonard J, De Ligne A, Longdoz B, Loustau D, Magliulo V, Mammarella I, Manca G, Mauder M, Migliavacca M, Mölder M, Ney P, Nilsson M, Neirynck J, Paul-Limoges E, Peichl M, Pitacco A, Poyda A, Rebmann C, Roland M, Sachs T, Schmidt M, Siebicke L, Schrader F, Šigut L, Tuittila ES, Varlagin A, Vendrame N, Vincke C, Völksch I, Wille C, Weber S, Wizemann HD, Zeeman M, Vereecken H (2020) Altered energy partitioning across terrestrial ecosystems in the European drought year 2018. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B 375:  20190524, doi: external page 10.1098/rstb.2019.0524

Nelson JA, Pérez-Priego O, Zhou S, Poyatos R, Zhang Y, Blanken PD, Gimeno TE, Wohlfahrt G, Desai AR, Gioli B, Limousin JM, Bonal D, Paul-Limoges E, Scott RL, Varlagin A, Fuchs K, Montagnani L, Wolf S, Delpierre N, Berveiller D, Gharun M, Marchesini LB, Gianelle D, Šigut L, Mammarella I, Siebicke L, Black TA, Knohl A, Hörtnagl L, Magliulo V, Carvalhais N, Migliavacca M, Reichstein M, Jung M (2020) Ecosystem transpiration and evaporation: insights from three water flux partitioning methods across FLUXNET sites. Global Change Biology 26: 6916-6930, doi: external page 10.1111/gcb.15314

Pastorello GZ, … Buchmann N, … Eugster W, … Feigenwinter I, … Gharun M, … Hörtnagl L, …, Maier R, … Merbold L, …, Paul-Limoges E, … in total 286 coauthors (2020) The FLUXNET2015 dataset and the ONEFlux processing pipeline for eddy covariance data. Scientific Data 7: 225, doi: external page 10.1038/s41597-020-0534-3

2019

Gilgen AK, Klaus VH, Lüscher A, Buchmann N (2019) ‘From research – for practice’: translating research findings for practical application. In: Huguenin-Elie O, Studer B, Kolliker R, Reheul D, Probo M, Barre P, Feuerstein U, Roldan-Ruiz I, Mariotte P, Hopkins A (Eds.) Improving sown grasslands through breeding and management. p. 536

2017

Eugster E, Emmel C, Wolf S, Buchmann N, McFadden JP, Whiteman CD (2017) Effects of vernal equinox solar eclipse on temperatures and wind directions in Switzerland. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics 17: 14887-14904, doi: external page 10.5194/acp-17-14887-2017

Wilcox K R, Shi Z, Gherardi L A, Lemoine N P, Koerner S E, Hoover D L, Bork E, Byrne K N, Cahill Jr. J, Collins S L, Gilgen AK, Holub P, Jiang L, Knapp A K, LeCain D, Liang J, Garcia-Palacios P, Peñuelas J, Pockmann W T, Smith M D, Sun S, White S R, Yadjian L, Zhu K, Luo Y (2017) Asymmetric responses of primary productivity to precipitation extremes: A synthesis of grassland precipitation manipulation experiments. Global Change Biology 23: 4376-4385, doi: external page 10.1111/gcb.13706

2015

Prechsl UE, Burri S, Gilgen AK, Kahmen A, Buchmann N (2015) No shift to deeper water uptake depth in response to summer drought of two lowland and sub-alpine C3 grasslands in Switzerland. Oecologia 177: 97-111

2014

Prechsl UE, Gilgen AK, Kahmen A, Buchmann N (2014) Reliability and quality of water isotope data collected with a low budget precipitation collector. Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry 28: 879-885

2013

Kohler M, Leiber F, Willems H, Merbold L, Liesegang A (2013) Influence of altitude on vitamin D and bone metabolism of lactating sheep and goats Journal of Animal Science 91: 5259-5268, doi: external page 10.2527/jas.2013-6702

Imer D, Merbold L, Eugster W, Buchmann N (2013) Temporal and spatial variations of CO2, CH4 and N2O fluxes at three differently managed grasslands. Biogeosciences 10: 5931-5945, doi: external page 10.5194/bg-10-5931-2013

Finger R, Gilgen AK, Prechsl U, Buchmann N (2013) An economic assessment of drought effects on three grassland systems in Switzerland. Regional Environmental Change 2: 365-374

2011

Hartmann AA, Buchmann N, Niklaus PA (2011) A study of soil methane sink regulation in two grasslands exposed to drought and N fertilization. Plant and Soil 342: 265-275

Stiehl-Braun PA, Hartmann AA, Kandeler E, Buchmann N, Niklaus PA (2011) Interactive effects of drought and N fertilisation on the spatial distribution of methane assimilation in grassland soils. Global Change Biology 17: 2629-2639

2010

Zeeman MJ, Hiller R, Gilgen AK, Michna P, Plüss P, Buchmann N, Eugster W (2010) Management, not climate, controls net CO2 fluxes and carbon budgets of three grasslands along an elevational gradient in Switzerland. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology 150: 519-​530

2009

Gilgen AK, Buchmann N (2009) Response of temperate grasslands at different altitudes to simulated summer drought differed but scaled with annual precipitation. Biogeosciences 6: 2525-2539

2008

Gilgen AK, Buchmann N (2008) Effects of summer drought on temperate grassland performance. Grassland Science in Europe 13: 913-915

Hiller R, Zeeman MJ, Eugster W (2008) Eddy covariance flux measurements in the complex terrain of an Alpine valley in Switzerland. Boundary-Layer Meteorology 129: 449-467

Student theses

2018

Patrick Krähenbühl (BSc Agrarwissenschaften), ETH Zurich. CO2 Flüsse während der Schneeschmelze auf der Alp Weissenstein

2011

Christine Steinlin (MSc Env. Sciences), ETH Zurich. Winter fluxes of CO2, CH4 and N2O on a subalpine grassland

2010

Gwendolin Bitter (MSc Atmospheric and Climate Sciences), ETH Zürich. Microclimate of alpine grasslands under experimental drought conditions

2007

Samuel Schmid (Agrar. Ing.), ETH Zurich. Funktionelle und pflanzensoziologische Charakterisierung der alpin-subnivalen Vegetation im Gebiet der ETH-Forschungsstation Alp Weissenstein am Albulapass (GR, Schweiz)

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