Reference database for literature survey of methods currently used for measuring greenhouse gas fluxes

This dataset is a reference database for literature survey of methods currently used for measuring greenhouse gas (GHG) fluxes. To make this systematic literature analysis of GHG flux measurement methods, we searched the Web of Science database by topic using the following search string: TS = ((((greenhouse gas* AND flux*) OR (greenhouse gas* AND emission*)) AND measure*) OR (((greenhouse gas* AND flux*) OR (greenhouse gas* AND emission*)) AND map*)) The string was selected after testing multiple word combinations and making preliminary assessments of titles to ensure that the search was sufficiently broad to include a variety of methods measuring GHGs in different environments. The literature search which defined the frame of this review was performed on 26 July 2020 and yielded 11 992 papers published between 1990 and July 2020. Sub-searches on known common measurement approaches e.g. eddy covariance, remote sensing, flux chambers, etc gave 200—>700 hits each, confirming that they were well represented. The 11 992 hits were divided into groups of 500 papers (the last group containing 492). Six researchers divided the papers and performed a title scan. The papers were classified according to the likelihood that the paper would include detailed method description(s) (by the priority codes: 0 = not likely, 1 = unclear, 2 = probably as part of methods description, 3 = high—methods in focus, and 4 = very high—method development/comparisons in clear focus). For the 3481 papers with priority codes 2–4, the abstracts were read. A focus on GHG flux measurements was confirmed in 2041 papers which were assessed further to retrieve information on flux types, method class, environment, gas, spatial scale, mobility, platform, biome and continent – and it is these papers that are listed in the datafile. The dataset was originally published in DiVA and moved to SND in 2024.