Bridging the Energy Balance Gap in Eddy‐Covariance Measurements: Insights From Standardized Network Data

The lack of energy balance closure in Eddy-Covariance (EC) measurements is a well-known, still unresolved challenge in micrometeorology, with energy balance closure (EBC) rates typically ranging between 60% and 80%. While numerous hypotheses have been proposed to explain this imbalance, the relative contributions of neglected energy storage terms, data quality and flux processing options remain insufficiently disentangled. Using standardized ICOS and NEON datasets, we show that a significant portion of the observed energy imbalance can be attributed to overlooked or inconsistently handled energy components and turbulent flux quality control. Using data drawn from 84 sites, we show that comprehensive energy accounting-including soil heat flux, storage terms (soil, air, biomass), photosynthetic energy demand, and strict quality filtering of turbulent fluxes-improved EBC by 16% on average, with site-specific gains up to 40%. However, we also identify a persistent residual imbalance that is unlikely to be resolved through methodological refinements or additional measurements alone, pointing to fundamental physical processes that are not accounted for in the standard measurement and processing. We argue that this unresolved imbalance should be explicitly acknowledged and bounded, rather than implicitly absorbed into correction schemes, and we outline practical guidance for diagnosing and interpreting EBC in standardized flux networks. This perspective evaluates methodological advances and residual uncertainties, providing an actionable framework for the appropriate use of EC energy fluxes in carbon, water, and climate research.

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Publication Details

Journal
Global Change Biology
Published
2026-05-01
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.70892
Primary Topic
Plant Water Relations and Carbon Dynamics
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

Bridging the Energy Balance Gap in Eddy‐Covariance Measurements: Insights From Standardized Network Data

Natascha Kljun, Erkka Rinne, Abad Chabbi, Abin Thomas et al.
Global Change Biology
Plant Water Relations and Carbon Dynamics
article

Bridging the Energy Balance Gap in Eddy‐Covariance Measurements: Insights From Standardized Network Data

Natascha Kljun, Erkka Rinne, Abad Chabbi, Abin Thomas, Jean‐Christophe Domec, Ladislav Šigut, Daniel Berveiller, Marius Schmidt, Giacomo Nicolini, Simone Sabbatini, Christian Brümmer, Carmen Kalalian, Arne Iserbyt, Michiel Molen, Maarten Op de Beeck, Carlo Trotta, Benjamin Loubet, Matthias Mauder, Luca Di Fiore, Benjamin Dumont, Caleb Slemmons, Silvano Fares, Damiano Gianelle, Antonio Manco, Eiko Nemitz, Flavio Bastos Campos, Adriana Mariotti, Adam Young, Christopher Florian, Matthias Cuntz, Matthias Peichl, Rasmus Jensen, David Durden, Erik Lundin, Bert Gielen, Natalia Kowalska, Jean‐Marc Limousin, Iris Feigenwinter, Ivan Mammarella, Bernard Heinesch, Dario Papale, Leonardo Montagnani, Caroline Vincke, Holger Lange, Guillaume Simioni, Marilyn Roland
article en

Abstract

The lack of energy balance closure in Eddy-Covariance (EC) measurements is a well-known, still unresolved challenge in micrometeorology, with energy balance closure (EBC) rates typically ranging between 60% and 80%. While numerous hypotheses have been proposed to explain this imbalance, the relative contributions of neglected energy storage terms, data quality and flux processing options remain insufficiently disentangled. Using standardized ICOS and NEON datasets, we show that a significant portion of the observed energy imbalance can be attributed to overlooked or inconsistently handled energy components and turbulent flux quality control. Using data drawn from 84 sites, we show that comprehensive energy accounting-including soil heat flux, storage terms (soil, air, biomass), photosynthetic energy demand, and strict quality filtering of turbulent fluxes-improved EBC by 16% on average, with site-specific gains up to 40%. However, we also identify a persistent residual imbalance that is unlikely to be resolved through methodological refinements or additional measurements alone, pointing to fundamental physical processes that are not accounted for in the standard measurement and processing. We argue that this unresolved imbalance should be explicitly acknowledged and bounded, rather than implicitly absorbed into correction schemes, and we outline practical guidance for diagnosing and interpreting EBC in standardized flux networks. This perspective evaluates methodological advances and residual uncertainties, providing an actionable framework for the appropriate use of EC energy fluxes in carbon, water, and climate research.

Global Change BiologyVol. 32(5)
Fondazione Edmund Mach (IT), Finnish Meteorological Institute (FI), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR), University of Helsinki (FI), Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (DE), Università degli Studi della Tuscia (IT), University of Antwerp (BE), École Pratique des Hautes Études (FR), William & Mary (US), Duke University (US), Free University of Bozen-Bolzano (IT), Lund University (SE), Université de Montpellier (FR), Aarhus University (DK), AgroParisTech (FR), Williams (United States) (US), Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech (BE), Swedish Polar Research Secretariat (SE), National Ecological Observatory Network (US), Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SE), ETH Zurich (CH), Institut National de Recherche pour l'Agriculture, l'Alimentation et l'Environnement (FR), Centre d'Écologie Fonctionnelle et Évolutive (FR), École Nationale Supérieure des Sciences Agronomiques de Bordeaux-Aquitaine (FR), Ecologie, Société, Evolution (FR), UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (GB), Johann Heinrich von Thünen-Institut (DE), Silva (FR), Ecologie & Evolution (FR), Istituto per il Sistema Produzione Animale in Ambiente Mediterraneo (IT), Écologie Fonctionnelle et Écotoxicologie des Agroécosystèmes (FR), CMCC Foundation - Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change (IT), Czech Academy of Sciences, Global Change Research Institute (CZ), Écologie des Forêts Méditerranéennes (FR), Unité de Recherche Pluridisciplinaire Prairies et Plantes Fourragères (FR), Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research (NO), Sphere Institute (US), National Research Council (IT), Istituto di Studi sul Mediterraneo (CNR - ISMed) (IT), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (FR), Université de Lorraine (FR), Wageningen University & Research (NL), UCLouvain (BE)
Agence Nationale de la Recherche, Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung, Grantová Agentura České Republiky
Climate action
Openalex Percentile: Top 9%
Plant Water Relations and Carbon Dynamics
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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