Eddy covariance (EC) measurements of net ecosystem exchange (NEE) over sites with multiple land cover classes may suffer from significant uncertainty due to heterogeneity in biological source/sink distribution and flux footprint variation, masking the “true” signal of the target system. We present a filtering approach based on the footprint-weighted contribution of non-target areas (non-target footprint fraction; NTFF) to 30-min flux measurements using remote sensing (RS)-derived land cover classification at 10 m resolution. Our findings, based on the analysis of 3–4 months of data across three heterogeneous sites, indicated an apparent reduction in source/sink distribution-related bias relative to unfiltered data. The apparent total NEE of the measurement period increased slightly at a tall forest site likely due in part to NTFF acting as a weak advection indicator. Total NEE became more negative by up to 189.32 g C m−2 at a mountain vineyard affected by nighttime anthropogenic emissions but was relatively unaffected at an Alpine peatland site where the non-target vegetation was difficult to differentiate using satellite information. Energy balance closure (EBC) was improved at all sites. This filtering method can be implemented at EC sites using existing measurements and open access RS information, providing a potential tool for improving the representativeness and inter-comparability of carbon budgets measured at heterogeneous sites. This approach can be integrated into existing processing pipelines, complementing standard quality control methods. Further research could develop an objective NTFF threshold and validate results at other sites against independent methods.
- Reducing Spatial Bias at Heterogeneous Sites: A Novel Eddy Covariance Filtering Approach Integrating Footprint Modeling and Remote Sensing
- Torben Oliver Callesen - Free University of Bozen-BolzanoAnna Candotti - Free University of Bozen-BolzanoS Treby - The University of MelbourneS Grover - RMIT UniversityDamiano Zanotelli - Free University of Bozen-BolzanoMassimo Tagliavini - Free University of Bozen-BolzanoLeonardo Montagnani - Free University of Bozen-Bolzano
- Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, Vol.131(5), pp.1-25
- 2169-8953
- 2169-8961
- 131
- American Geophysical Union
- 25
- (UNIBZ)98256873
991007329761901241 - n.a.
- © 2026. The Author(s). This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
- Faculty of Agricultural, Environmental and Food Sciences
- English
- Journal article
- Callesen TO, Candotti A, Treby S, Grover S, Zanotelli D, Tagliavini M, Montagnani L