RIFT

Coordinating institution : IRD

Project leader : Jérôme Demarty
Project duration : 60 months | April 1st  2023 → March 31th 2028

Grant : 2 800 000 €

 

Insitutional partnerships : CIRAD

Associated institutions : INRAE - Université Grenoble Alpes - Université de Toulouse - CNRS

 

The RIFT project is the component of the FairCarboN programme dedicated to strengthening infrastructures for monitoring greenhouse gas (GHG) fluxes at the Soil–Vegetation–Atmosphere (SVA) interface, commonly referred to as flux towers. These towers are essential tools for assessing carbon fluxes in agroecosystems. RIFT brings together a set of activities combining measurements of various surface fluxes (energy/water/carbon), complementary observations (e.g., proximal sensing), and studies of the variables and mechanisms that drive these fluxes.

The network consists of around twelve sites located in Mediterranean and tropical regions, where such towers are under‑represented in global databases such as FLUXNET, despite their existence. It brings together measurement specialists as well as modellers, ecophysiologists, and hydrologists. The project requires continuous measurements over five years, with a minimum set of measurements at each site and additional specific measurements at selected sites.

One of the project’s stated objectives is to build capacity and autonomy among local partners through technical support and training sessions. Scientific coordination of the network is organised into four Working Groups (WGs):

• WG1 focuses on data acquisition and dissemination (protocols, metrology, post‑processing, diagnostics, gap‑filling, archiving, etc.).
• WG2 aims to characterise and quantify key processes at each site and through cross‑site analyses: net primary productivity, soil carbon balance, respiration, and associated ecosystem indicators (Carbon Use Efficiency, Water Use Efficiency, etc.).
• WG3 implements, compares, and improves existing dynamic ecosystem models to generate time series of key observed or intermediate variables (water status, heterogeneity, etc.).
• WG4 focuses on remote‑sensing observables, from evaluating existing “off‑the‑shelf” products to developing multi‑sensor, multispectral models capable of capturing spatial variability and ensuring scale transfer across resolutions. It relies on local in‑situ measurements (proximal sensing, drones).

Coordinators : Jérôme Demarty (IRD, HydroSciences Montpellier), Olivier Roupsard (CIRAD, Eco&Sols) & Gilles Boulet (IRD, CESBio)