We used (low-budget) flux chambers that and a low-budget GC (SRI Inc.) for measurements of GHGs emissions from soil in Iowa. The link to conference paper is below:
The method was developed by USDA-ARS. Here are couple of papers that might be useful. The last link has a very good description of the method and flux chamber construction:
- Venterea R. Theoretical comparison of advanced methods for calculating nitrous oxide fluxes using non-study state chambers. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J., 2013, 77: 709-720.
- Jarecki, MK, Parkin TB, Chan ASK, Hatfield JL, Jones R. Greenhouse gas emissions from two soils receiving nitrogen fertilizer and swine manure slurry. J. Environ. Qual., 2008, 37: 1432-1438.
I am assuming that you are looking for a simple GHG calculator to estimate GHG emissions from agricultural soils.
There are several GHG calculators that can be downloaded (free), and the following document explained how to select a calculator depending on four factors: (a) Aim, (b) geographical focus, (c) activity scope, and (d) time & skills.
Since you are asking for a calculator that does not require much time and skill to learn at the beginning, I suggest you to read the following document and choose one from the 18 calculators listed. They cover different ecosystems (crop lands, forestry, and livestock farms) and also differ in activities accounted for. Almost all calculators account for N2O emissions from soil, if that is what you are interested to perform. Some of them also account for soil CO2 emissions due to change in management.
I am familiar with only one of the calculators listed in the document (HOLOS) and it has two versions depending on the objective: one version aimed for farmers/producers and the other version aimed for researchers. However, HOLOS has primarily a Canadian focus. There are several calculators in the list that has a European focus.
Here is the title of the document and the link to download:
REVIEW OF GHG CALCULATORS IN AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY SECTORS: A Guideline for Appropriate Choice and Use of Landscape Based Tools
In our university university there is a researcher who defended a thesis on development of tools for estimation of GHG emissions in agriculture sector (in Ukraine and Poland, don't remember exactly?). If you are interested in contacting this person please let me know.
Book Spatial modeling of greenhouse gas emissions from stationary sources
Book Information technologies for creation of cadastre of greenho...
Book Information Technologies for Greenhouse Gas Inventories and ...
Book Uncertainties in Greenhouse Gas Inventories - Expanding Our ...
There are several methods, eddy covariance (expensive and training needed) for large area estimate of GHGs, chambers (static and automatic) techniques. There several biogeochem models - but first you need field data to calibrate and validate these models. There are GHG calculators available - but again you need a strong field database to assess if these calculators are doing a fair job of estimating your emissions or sinks. Basically, for a well planned assessment, you need to make masurements - one or the other way. Without proper field experiments, estimations are what they are - guestimates. If you would like to discuss further, please feel free to write to me - Shurpali
To measure greenhouse gas emissions such as CO2 and N2O measurements, a standard closed chamber methodology can be used along with an INNOVA-1412 field portable photoacoustic gas analyzer (LumaSense Technologies). Then, the total average GHG emissions can be calculated from all three replicates over all sampling dates of each treatment. It encompasses the temporal and spatial variability. For total GHG flux over the trial period the area under each treatment curve is calculated through standard integration. At the same time, the intensity of gas emission per unit grain yield can also be calculated as the ratio of the cumulative emission of a gas and grain yield. For detail information, you can consult the article attached here.