Towards ICOS labelling of urban sites – Review of ICOS protocols from an urban perspective

Towards ICOS labelling of urban sites - review of ICOS protocols from an urban perspective

 ICOS RI is about to involve urban stations into the monitoring program. The first urban stations are already labelled as associated site. The ETC Working Group „Measurements over Urban Areas“, established in 2018, aims to define standard methods for fluxes and meteorological measurements over urban areas. A „Workshop on strategies to monitor greenhouse gases in urban environments“ organized by this Working Group in Helsinki/Hyytiälä from July 1-4 in 2019 in order to discuss the topic. Among others, it was agreed, that the ICOS protocols and labelling criteria for natural ecosystems have to be adapted to the specific properties of urban flux towers, if it comes to a labelling process for urban sites within ICOS RI. This contribution reviews the ICOS protocols as published in Int. Agrophys. 2018, 32 and the labeling criteria for ICOS ETC class 1 and class 2 sites from an urban perspective and lists possible modifications to be implemented in a future labelling process for urban sites.