DOE/BER FACE Facility
The DOE/BER FACE Facility is an Office of Science user facility. It is composed of infrastructure at four locations (sites) in the United States. Those four sites are located in:

What FACE Is

FACE is an acronym for "free-air CO2 enrichment" (see: Allen, L.H., Jr. (1992) Free-air CO2 enrichment field experiments: an historical overview. Critical Reviews in Plant Sciences 11:121-134). It is a method and infrastructure used to experimentally enrich the atmosphere enveloping portions of a terrestrial ecosystem with controlled amounts of CO2 (and in some cases, other gases), without using chambers or "walls." The goal is to study effects of elevated atmospheric CO2 concentration on plants and ecosystems under relatively undisturbed conditions (i.e., to avoid the changes in microclimate caused by most chamber systems).
Other information about FACE, including links to other FACE experiments and sites worldwide, is available through the CDIAC FACE web site.

Facility Operational Goal

An operational goal of the DOE/BER FACE Facility is to operate the user facility (i.e., control CO2 concentration at superambient values in the elevated-CO2 treatment "rings") for more than 96% of the scheduled operating hours during fiscal year 2006. Scheduled operating hours are dynamic and they differ between sites and years based on: None of these factors except solar elevation (and plant phenology for evergreen vegetation) can be predicted a priori.
Monthly and fiscal-year scheduled and operationing hours, rounded to the nearest hour, for the DOE/BER FACE Facility follow. Summary statistics for the facility as a whole are derived by averaging values for each of the four sites (this method was approved by the BERAC). The summary statistics for the facility as a whole are listed in columns labeled "Fac".
DOE/BER FACE Facility Operational Statistics
(NC = North Carolina site, NV = Nevada site,
TN = Tennessee site, WI = Wisconsin site)
  Operating hours Scheduled hours % of
goal
  NC NV TN WI Fac NC NV TN WI Fac  
 
Dec 06 272 219 0 0 123 272 221 0 0 123 99.5%
Nov 06 287 466 28 0 195 288 471 28 0 197 99.3%
Oct 06 355 665 327 4 338 356 666 334 4 340 99.4%
 
FY 06 4260 6944 2054 1844 3776 4291 6848 2283 1875 3824 98.7%
 
Sep 06 395 681 351 305 433 396 685 386 309 444 97.5%
Aug 06 444 730 414 389 494 445 731 416 394 497 99.6%
Jul 06 458 729 437 420 511 473 731 437 428 517 98.8%
Jun 06 465 687 446 412 503 466 688 450 417 505 99.5%
May 06 464 721 285 223 423 465 722 424 223 458 92.3%
Apr 06 403 612 98 0 278 411 613 147 0 293 95.0%
Mar 06 330 446 0 0 194 331 447 0 0 195 99.7%
Feb 06 207 374 0 0 145 208 375 0 0 146 99.7%
Jan 06 276 352 0 0 157 277 352 0 0 157 99.8%
Dec 05 176 345 0 0 130 176 346 0 0 131 99.8%
Nov 05 283 476 0 0 190 285 553 0 0 210 90.6%
Oct 05 359 695 23 95 293 359 701 23 105 297 98.7%
 
FY 05 4166 7167 2111 1770 3804 4176 7200 2260 1822 3865 98.4%
 
Sep 05 395 702 310 330 434 396 703 373 334 452 96.1%
Aug 05 442 716 411 391 490 443 725 411 394 493 99.3%
Jul 05 471 706 427 413 504 472 721 445 428 517 97.6%
Jun 05 463 674 440 400 494 465 674 468 421 507 97.5%
May 05 459 699 397 119 419 460 700 426 124 428 97.9%
Apr 05 395 589 126 0 278 395 590 137 0 281 98.9%
Mar 05 287 573 0 0 215 288 576 0 0 216 99.5%
Feb 05 215 493 0 0 177 216 493 0 0 177 99.9%
Jan 05 169 442 0 0 153 169 442 0 0 153 100.0%
Dec 04 200 407 0 0 152 200 408 0 0 152 99.8%
Nov 04 301 482 0 0 196 302 483 0 0 196 99.7%
Oct 04 369 684 0 117 293 370 685 0 121 294 99.5%
 
FY 04 4052 7033 2357 1693 3784 4068 7068 2622 1728 3872 97.7%
 
Sep 04 393 677 316 287 418 394 680 372 291 434 96.3%
Aug 04 441 722 368 374 476 442 722 410 381 489 97.4%
Jul 04 470 701 431 421 506 471 701 435 427 509 99.5%
Jun 04 460 677 402 389 482 464 686 451 398 500 96.4%
May 04 462 708 398 134 426 463 709 438 137 437 97.4%
Apr 04 399 656 74 0 282 401 658 100 0 290 97.4%
Mar 04 350 680 0 0 258 352 680 0 0 258 99.8%
Feb 04 170 412 0 0 146 171 413 0 0 146 99.7%
Jan 04 131 344 0 0 119 131 345 0 0 120 99.8%
Dec 03 145 318 0 0 116 145 320 0 0 116 99.6%
Nov 03 273 447 0 0 180 275 449 0 0 181 99.4%
Oct 03 358 691 368 88 376 359 705 416 94 394 95.6%

Note: An entry of 0 scheduled hours
indicates that the dominant vegetation at the site is
deciduous and that that vegetation was leafless
during that month.

Program Manager

Dr. Jeffrey S. Amthor
Climate and Environmental Sciences Division, SC-23.1
U.S. Department of Energy, GTN Bldg.
1000 Independence Avenue, SW
Washington DC 20585-1290

Phone: (301) 903-2507
Fax: (301) 903-8519
E-mail: jeff.amthor@science.doe.gov