A novel new T-FACE research platform advancing climate change simulation in paddy fields

This paper introduces an innovative new research platform known as T-FACE (Temperature by Free-Air CO2 Enrichment) for climate change simulation developed by Chinese Academy of Sciences. This T-FACE enables the simulation of future climate scenarios, specifically focusing on the interaction between high CO2 levels and warming within the paddy fields. The elevated CO2 treatment involves maintaining ambient CO2 levels in addition to an increase of 200 ppm, and the elevated temperature treatment includes a 2℃ rise in whole-ecosystem warming (air, water and soil surface temperature increase) compared to ambient conditions. The level of precision and stability achieved in the treatment control is of the first-class level. This is the first platform to explore the interaction between elevated CO2 and whole-ecosystem warming in open ecosystems. It can provide climate change simulation conditions for crop science, soil science, plant nutrition, ecology, environmental science and other related fields. This enables the study of how farmland systems respond, adapt to and address climate change.