4. Conclusions
The performance assessment of the closed-path EC system showed that this system was suitable for EC measurements. The frequency attenuations, observed for the close-path system CO2 and CH4 cospectra in this study, are in agreement with results from previous studies. For the water vapor closed-path cospectra, larger attenuations were most likely caused by water vapor molecule interaction with the tubing walls. Values of R2 for the relationship between H2O and CO2 fluxes, measured by open-path and closedpath systems, were 0.94 to 0.98, respectively. The closed-path EC system overestimated the CO2 by approximately 5% and underestimated the latent heat fluxes by about 10% when compared with the open-path system measurements. In a dusty environment, such as the feedlot in our study, closed-path EC gas analyzers are likely to resultin better data retention compared to narrow-band open-path EC analyzers, which are sensitive to the deposition of particulate matter on the sensor window. Average fluxes of CH4 and CO2 from the feedlot were 2.63 mol m−2 s−1 and 103.8 mol m−2 s−1, respectively, during the study period. These emission rates were in agreement with other reported studies using micrometeorological methods in feedlots. In general, the flux densities were higher in the pens near the tower under stable conditions, but were lower as the source distance increased under stable conditions, probably due to the dilution effect from road and alleys. However, highly variable flux densities were observed near the tower, which could be related to changes in source strength and homogeneity, caused by for example, animal movement. A manuscript under preparation will evaluate these hypotheses.