Practice for In Situ Measurement of CO2 Flux at Soils Profiles in Arid Areas

An approach is described for the in situ measurement of CO₂ flux at various depths in arid soil. In this method, a sampling tube is inserted to the desired soil depth in a pre-drilled hole, and an infrared CO₂ gas analyzer connected to the sampling tube is used to quantify CO₂ (based on absorption of CO₂ by infrared rays). In a preliminary test, the method was used to quantify CO₂ concentration and flux in an arid grassland soil. The results indicated that it could be used to quantify CO₂ flux in soil from 0–200 cm depths , and should be useful for estimating CO₂ flux and storage at different soil depths, for estimating the change in CO₂ emission from soil caused by change in land-use/land-cover, for assessing the rate of restoration of soil fertility and other soil properties in arid soils, and for monitoring leakage from geological storage of CO₂.