SBC-LARS features two main facilities: pine and grass

PINE

The original facility, the pine tower and lab, features a 36.5m (120′) triangular tower and a climate-controlled shed laboratory with line power and high speed internet.

The site is located in a 27 ha loblolly pine (Pinus taeda) plantation. The average canopy height is approximately 20 meters in the immediate footprint of the tower, where the loblolly trees are approximately 25 years old. Beyond the loblolly plantation, the site is surrounded by regionally representative, middle-aged, mixed deciduous forest that is dominated by red maple (Acer rubrum), tulip poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera), white oak (Quercus alba), and chestnut oak (Quercus prinus)

 

GRASS

Beginning in April 2016, a second, smaller “tower” began running in a switchgrass field, just 1.5 kilometers from the pine tower.  This facility features a nearly identical set of instruments as the pine tower, so that we can define the different ways loblolly pine and switchgrass remove carbon from the atmosphere and interact with climate.