OVOC emissions from agricultural soil in northern Germany during the 2003 European heat wave

Fluxes of methanol and acetone were measured from an agricultural field plot during one of the hottest weeks of the heat wave of the summer of 2003 in Europe. Significant positive fluxes from the bare, plowed soil for these oxygenated volatile organic compounds were found. Methanol fluxes ranged from 0 to 0.20 mg C m−2 h−1 while acetone fluxes ranged from −0.01 to 0.05. Mixing ratios for both methanol and acetone showed significant increases at night, consistent with a ground-based emission source for both the compounds. Methanol emissions were well correlated with sensible heat flux, peaking around noon. Assuming abiological production from soil organic matter in the topsoil, we calculate that 48 kJ mol−1 of energy is required to liberate the methanol from the topsoil. In contrast to methanol, acetone fluxes were not correlated with any measured meteorological parameter. This suggests that acetone has another source and may be produced in the soil subsurface, possibly through biological or moisture-driven processes. Using the flux data, we also simulated relaxed eddy accumulation (REA) experiments and reconfirm that sonic temperature can be used to calculate b-factors for REA analysis of a variety of trace gas fluxes.