• Energy Research
• 15. Life on land close

* Technical Challenges - Technology is relatively simple and has high conversion efficiency. * Cost Challenges - Despite efficiency, levelised costs are high, due to mainly 2 factors (1) the input cost of raw material is high, and (2) operating costs are high due to feedstock (methanol) and distillation operations. Selling oilcake has a significant effect on final product cost, with a 50% oilcake internal subsidy reducing the costs by R 6,500/ t (0.65 R/kWh). This would bring production cost into line with current range of diesel prices. * Environmental Challenges - Greenhouse gas savings are significant provided land use changes are carbon neutral. Limiting cultivation to subsistence cropland should assist with this goal. * Social and Institutional Challenges - Conversion of subsistence farmers in former homeland areas, with high reliance on cattle and maize, to a cash crop with side products for own consumption and cattle feed will require significant community involvement. Cooperative farming and marketing channels need to be investigated.

Project: Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6) datasets - These data have been generated as part of the internationally-coordinated Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6; see also GMD Special Issue: http://www.geosci-model-dev.net/special_issue590.html). The simulation data provides a basis for climate research designed to answer fundamental science questions and serves as resource for authors of the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC-AR6). CMIP6 is a project coordinated by the Working Group on Coupled Modelling (WGCM) as part of the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP). Phase 6 builds on previous phases executed under the leadership of the Program for Climate Model Diagnosis and Intercomparison (PCMDI) and relies on the Earth System Grid Federation (ESGF) and the Centre for Environmental Data Analysis (CEDA) along with numerous related activities for implementation. The original data is hosted and partially replicated on a federated collection of data nodes, and most of the data relied on by the IPCC is being archived for long-term preservation at the IPCC Data Distribution Centre (IPCC DDC) hosted by the German Climate Computing Center (DKRZ). The project includes simulations from about 120 global climate models and around 45 institutions and organizations worldwide. Summary: These data include the subset used by IPCC AR6 WGI authors of the datasets originally published in ESGF for 'CMIP6.ScenarioMIP.MIROC.MIROC6.ssp119' with the full Data Reference Syntax following the template 'mip_era.activity_id.institution_id.source_id.experiment_id.member_id.table_id.variable_id.grid_label.version'. The MIROC6 climate model, released in 2017, includes the following components: aerosol: SPRINTARS6.0, atmos: CCSR AGCM (T85; 256 x 128 longitude/latitude; 81 levels; top level 0.004 hPa), land: MATSIRO6.0, ocean: COCO4.9 (tripolar primarily 1deg; 360 x 256 longitude/latitude; 63 levels; top grid cell 0-2 m), seaIce: COCO4.9. The model was run by the JAMSTEC (Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, Kanagawa 236-0001, Japan), AORI (Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute, The University of Tokyo, Chiba 277-8564, Japan), NIES (National Institute for Environmental Studies, Ibaraki 305-8506, Japan), and R-CCS (RIKEN Center for Computational Science, Hyogo 650-0047, Japan) (MIROC) in native nominal resolutions: aerosol: 250 km, atmos: 250 km, land: 250 km, ocean: 100 km, seaIce: 100 km.

Data from Myers, M.C., J.T. Mason, B.J. Hoksch, C.A. Cambardella, J.D. Pfrimmer (2015) Birds and butterflies respond to soil-induced habitat heterogeneity in experimental plantings of tallgrass prairie species managed as agroenergy crops in Iowa, USA. Journal of Applied Ecology. This Excel file includes separate sheets containing the soil, vegetation, and bird and butterfly assemblage data analyzed in the paper. Four-letter column labels for species abundances are derived from the first two letters of the genus and species names (e.g. Chondestes grammacus = "chgr"). Species lists are available from the online Supporting Information. Please contact Mark Myers (mark.myers@uni.edu) with inquiries.

Monthly and daily summary from Barro Colorado Island (BCI). Data organized in horizontal format for seasonal and inter-year comparisonsLocation 9°9'42.36"N, 79°50'15.67"WParameters: air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed and direction, precipitation, sea surface temperature, solar radiation (pyranometer), air pressure, soil moisture, runoff, potential evapotranspiration, wet/dry season starting datesLutz catchment is a 9.73ha protected watershed on BCIThe Lutz tower was built in 1972 and was originally 42m. In 2002 it was increased to 48mThe data from 48m should be considered a separate data series from the data at 42m. Wind speed is significantly higher at 48m due to the distance to the top of the canopy.The Clearing is a small, open area surrounded by forest and some buildings. Station established in 1972. Consists of a Stevenson screen with max/min thermometers and air pressure sensor. Temperature/humidity sensor, rain gauge and evaporation sensors are located at various locations around the screen.

The timing of diel stem growth of mature forest trees is still largely unknown, as empirical data with high temporal resolution have not been available so far. Consequently, the effects of day-night conditions on tree growth remained uncertain. Here we present the first comprehensive field study of hourly-resolved radial stem growth of seven temperate tree species, based on 57 million underlying data points over a period of up to 8 years. We show that trees grow mainly at night, with a peak after midnight, when the vapour pressure deficit (VPD) is among the lowest. A high VPD strictly limits radial stem growth and allows little growth during daylight hours, except in the early morning. Surprisingly, trees also grow in moderately dry soil when the VPD is low. Species-specific differences in diel growth dynamics show that species able to grow earlier during the night are associated with the highest number of hours with growth per year and the largest annual growth increment. We conclude that species with the ability to overcome daily water deficits faster have greater growth potential. Furthermore, we conclude that growth is more sensitive than carbon uptake to dry air, as growth stops before stomata are known to close.

These datasets are associated with the following paper: Metsaranta, J.M., Mamet, S.D., Maillett, J., Barr, A.G. (2021). Comparison of tree-ring and eddy covariance derived annual ecosystem production estimates for jack pine and trembling aspen forests in Saskatchewan, Canada. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology. There are two files: (1) CBMOutput.zip. This contains the hybrid biometric modelled ecosystem C stock and flux estimates. (2) StandReconstructionData.zip. This contains the field measurement data and the tree level biomass and wood volume data for the Stand Reconstruction plots used to develop the hybrid biometric modelled estimates. The data are formatted as .csv files, and an associated Microsoft Excel spreadsheet explains the data columns and provides information on the associated units of measure.