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Widespread reduction in sun-induced fluorescence from the Amazon during the 2015/2016 El Niño

Koren, Gerbrand ; Van Schaik, Erik ; Araújo, Alessandro C. ; Boersma, K. Folkert ; Gärtner, Antje LU orcid ; Killaars, Lars ; Kooreman, Maurits L. ; Kruijt, Bart ; Van Der Laan-Luijkx, Ingrid T. and Von Randow, Celso , et al. (2018) In Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 373(1760).
Abstract

The tropical carbon balance dominates year-to-year variations in the CO2 exchange with the atmosphere through photosynthesis, respiration and fires. Because of its high correlation with gross primary productivity (GPP), observations of sun-induced fluorescence (SIF) are of great interest. We developed a new remotely sensed SIF product with improved signal-to-noise in the tropics, and use it here to quantify the impact of the 2015/2016 El Niño Amazon drought. We find that SIF was strongly suppressed over areas with anomalously high temperatures and decreased levels of water in the soil. SIF went below its climatological range starting from the end of the 2015 dry season (October) and returned to normal levels by February 2016... (More)

The tropical carbon balance dominates year-to-year variations in the CO2 exchange with the atmosphere through photosynthesis, respiration and fires. Because of its high correlation with gross primary productivity (GPP), observations of sun-induced fluorescence (SIF) are of great interest. We developed a new remotely sensed SIF product with improved signal-to-noise in the tropics, and use it here to quantify the impact of the 2015/2016 El Niño Amazon drought. We find that SIF was strongly suppressed over areas with anomalously high temperatures and decreased levels of water in the soil. SIF went below its climatological range starting from the end of the 2015 dry season (October) and returned to normal levels by February 2016 when atmospheric conditions returned to normal, but well before the end of anomalously low precipitation that persisted through June 2016. Impacts were not uniform across the Amazon basin, with the eastern part experiencing much larger (10 – 15%) SIF reductions than the western part of the basin (2 – 5%). We estimate the integrated loss of GPP relative to eight previous years to be 0.34 – 0.48 PgC in the three-month period October – November – December 2015. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue ‘The impact of the 2015/2016 El Niño on the terrestrial tropical carbon cycle: patterns, mechanisms and implications’.

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publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Amazon rainforest, Drought response, El Niño-Southern Oscillation, Gross primary production, Sun-induced fluorescence, Tropical terrestrial carbon cycle
in
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
volume
373
issue
1760
article number
20170408
publisher
Royal Society Publishing
external identifiers
  • pmid:30297473
  • scopus:85054780412
ISSN
0962-8436
DOI
10.1098/rstb.2017.0408
language
English
LU publication?
no
id
83533806-3abe-493b-b6b4-aa461e9aa2df
date added to LUP
2020-12-15 17:15:45
date last changed
2024-07-11 05:28:40
@article{83533806-3abe-493b-b6b4-aa461e9aa2df,
  abstract     = {{<p>The tropical carbon balance dominates year-to-year variations in the CO<sub>2</sub> exchange with the atmosphere through photosynthesis, respiration and fires. Because of its high correlation with gross primary productivity (GPP), observations of sun-induced fluorescence (SIF) are of great interest. We developed a new remotely sensed SIF product with improved signal-to-noise in the tropics, and use it here to quantify the impact of the 2015/2016 El Niño Amazon drought. We find that SIF was strongly suppressed over areas with anomalously high temperatures and decreased levels of water in the soil. SIF went below its climatological range starting from the end of the 2015 dry season (October) and returned to normal levels by February 2016 when atmospheric conditions returned to normal, but well before the end of anomalously low precipitation that persisted through June 2016. Impacts were not uniform across the Amazon basin, with the eastern part experiencing much larger (10 – 15%) SIF reductions than the western part of the basin (2 – 5%). We estimate the integrated loss of GPP relative to eight previous years to be 0.34 – 0.48 PgC in the three-month period October – November – December 2015. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue ‘The impact of the 2015/2016 El Niño on the terrestrial tropical carbon cycle: patterns, mechanisms and implications’.</p>}},
  author       = {{Koren, Gerbrand and Van Schaik, Erik and Araújo, Alessandro C. and Boersma, K. Folkert and Gärtner, Antje and Killaars, Lars and Kooreman, Maurits L. and Kruijt, Bart and Van Der Laan-Luijkx, Ingrid T. and Von Randow, Celso and Smith, Naomi E. and Peters, Wouter}},
  issn         = {{0962-8436}},
  keywords     = {{Amazon rainforest; Drought response; El Niño-Southern Oscillation; Gross primary production; Sun-induced fluorescence; Tropical terrestrial carbon cycle}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{11}},
  number       = {{1760}},
  publisher    = {{Royal Society Publishing}},
  series       = {{Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences}},
  title        = {{Widespread reduction in sun-induced fluorescence from the Amazon during the 2015/2016 El Niño}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2017.0408}},
  doi          = {{10.1098/rstb.2017.0408}},
  volume       = {{373}},
  year         = {{2018}},
}