Satellite-observed pantropical carbon dynamics

Lei Fan; Jean Pierre Wigneron; Philippe Ciais; Jérôme Chave; Martin Brandt; Rasmus Fensholt; Sassan S. Saatchi; Ana Bastos; Amen Al-Yaari; Koen Hufkens; Yuanwei Qin; Xiangming Xiao; Chi Chen; Ranga B. Myneni; Roberto Fernandez-Moran; Arnaud Mialon; N. J. Rodriguez-Fernandez; Yann Kerr; Feng Tian; Josep Peñuelas

doi:10.1038/s41477-019-0478-9

Satellite-observed pantropical carbon dynamics

Lei Fan, Jean Pierre Wigneron, Philippe Ciais, Jérôme Chave, Martin Brandt, Rasmus Fensholt, Sassan S. Saatchi, Ana Bastos, Amen Al-Yaari, Koen Hufkens, Yuanwei Qin, Xiangming Xiao, Chi Chen, Ranga B. Myneni, Roberto Fernandez-Moran, Arnaud Mialon, N. J. Rodriguez-Fernandez, Yann Kerr, Feng Tian, Josep Peñuelas

Research output: Contribution to journal › Letter › peer-review

174 Scopus citations

Abstract

Changes in terrestrial tropical carbon stocks have an important role in the global carbon budget. However, current observational tools do not allow accurate and large-scale monitoring of the spatial distribution and dynamics of carbon stocks¹. Here, we used low-frequency L-band passive microwave observations to compute a direct and spatially explicit quantification of annual aboveground carbon (AGC) fluxes and show that the tropical net AGC budget was approximately in balance during 2010 to 2017, the net budget being composed of gross losses of −2.86 PgC yr⁻¹ offset by gross gains of −2.97 PgC yr⁻¹ between continents. Large interannual and spatial fluctuations of tropical AGC were quantified during the wet 2011 La Niña year and throughout the extreme dry and warm 2015–2016 El Niño episode. These interannual fluctuations, controlled predominantly by semiarid biomes, were shown to be closely related to independent global atmospheric CO₂ growth-rate anomalies (Pearson’s r = 0.86), highlighting the pivotal role of tropical AGC in the global carbon budget.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	944-951
Number of pages	8
Journal	Nature Plants
Volume	5
Issue number	9
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-019-0478-9
State	Published - Sep 1 2019
Externally published	Yes

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

Plant Science

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10.1038/s41477-019-0478-9

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Fan, L., Wigneron, J. P., Ciais, P., Chave, J., Brandt, M., Fensholt, R., Saatchi, S. S., Bastos, A., Al-Yaari, A., Hufkens, K., Qin, Y., Xiao, X., Chen, C., Myneni, R. B., Fernandez-Moran, R., Mialon, A., Rodriguez-Fernandez, N. J., Kerr, Y., Tian, F., & Peñuelas, J. (2019). Satellite-observed pantropical carbon dynamics. Nature Plants, 5(9), 944-951. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-019-0478-9

@article{bd818f9373be446c8ec0d07a3f03354c,

title = "Satellite-observed pantropical carbon dynamics",

abstract = "Changes in terrestrial tropical carbon stocks have an important role in the global carbon budget. However, current observational tools do not allow accurate and large-scale monitoring of the spatial distribution and dynamics of carbon stocks1. Here, we used low-frequency L-band passive microwave observations to compute a direct and spatially explicit quantification of annual aboveground carbon (AGC) fluxes and show that the tropical net AGC budget was approximately in balance during 2010 to 2017, the net budget being composed of gross losses of −2.86 PgC yr−1 offset by gross gains of −2.97 PgC yr−1 between continents. Large interannual and spatial fluctuations of tropical AGC were quantified during the wet 2011 La Ni{\~n}a year and throughout the extreme dry and warm 2015–2016 El Ni{\~n}o episode. These interannual fluctuations, controlled predominantly by semiarid biomes, were shown to be closely related to independent global atmospheric CO2 growth-rate anomalies (Pearson{\textquoteright}s r = 0.86), highlighting the pivotal role of tropical AGC in the global carbon budget.",

author = "Lei Fan and Wigneron, {Jean Pierre} and Philippe Ciais and J{\'e}r{\^o}me Chave and Martin Brandt and Rasmus Fensholt and Saatchi, {Sassan S.} and Ana Bastos and Amen Al-Yaari and Koen Hufkens and Yuanwei Qin and Xiangming Xiao and Chi Chen and Myneni, {Ranga B.} and Roberto Fernandez-Moran and Arnaud Mialon and Rodriguez-Fernandez, {N. J.} and Yann Kerr and Feng Tian and Josep Pe{\~n}uelas",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2019, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.",

year = "2019",

month = sep,

day = "1",

doi = "10.1038/s41477-019-0478-9",

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Fan, L, Wigneron, JP, Ciais, P, Chave, J, Brandt, M, Fensholt, R, Saatchi, SS, Bastos, A, Al-Yaari, A, Hufkens, K, Qin, Y, Xiao, X, Chen, C, Myneni, RB, Fernandez-Moran, R, Mialon, A, Rodriguez-Fernandez, NJ, Kerr, Y, Tian, F & Peñuelas, J 2019, 'Satellite-observed pantropical carbon dynamics', Nature Plants, vol. 5, no. 9, pp. 944-951. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-019-0478-9

TY - JOUR

T1 - Satellite-observed pantropical carbon dynamics

AU - Fan, Lei

AU - Wigneron, Jean Pierre

AU - Ciais, Philippe

AU - Chave, Jérôme

AU - Brandt, Martin

AU - Fensholt, Rasmus

AU - Saatchi, Sassan S.

AU - Bastos, Ana

AU - Al-Yaari, Amen

AU - Hufkens, Koen

AU - Qin, Yuanwei

AU - Xiao, Xiangming

AU - Chen, Chi

AU - Myneni, Ranga B.

AU - Fernandez-Moran, Roberto

AU - Mialon, Arnaud

AU - Rodriguez-Fernandez, N. J.

AU - Kerr, Yann

AU - Tian, Feng

AU - Peñuelas, Josep

PY - 2019/9/1

Y1 - 2019/9/1

N2 - Changes in terrestrial tropical carbon stocks have an important role in the global carbon budget. However, current observational tools do not allow accurate and large-scale monitoring of the spatial distribution and dynamics of carbon stocks1. Here, we used low-frequency L-band passive microwave observations to compute a direct and spatially explicit quantification of annual aboveground carbon (AGC) fluxes and show that the tropical net AGC budget was approximately in balance during 2010 to 2017, the net budget being composed of gross losses of −2.86 PgC yr−1 offset by gross gains of −2.97 PgC yr−1 between continents. Large interannual and spatial fluctuations of tropical AGC were quantified during the wet 2011 La Niña year and throughout the extreme dry and warm 2015–2016 El Niño episode. These interannual fluctuations, controlled predominantly by semiarid biomes, were shown to be closely related to independent global atmospheric CO2 growth-rate anomalies (Pearson’s r = 0.86), highlighting the pivotal role of tropical AGC in the global carbon budget.

AB - Changes in terrestrial tropical carbon stocks have an important role in the global carbon budget. However, current observational tools do not allow accurate and large-scale monitoring of the spatial distribution and dynamics of carbon stocks1. Here, we used low-frequency L-band passive microwave observations to compute a direct and spatially explicit quantification of annual aboveground carbon (AGC) fluxes and show that the tropical net AGC budget was approximately in balance during 2010 to 2017, the net budget being composed of gross losses of −2.86 PgC yr−1 offset by gross gains of −2.97 PgC yr−1 between continents. Large interannual and spatial fluctuations of tropical AGC were quantified during the wet 2011 La Niña year and throughout the extreme dry and warm 2015–2016 El Niño episode. These interannual fluctuations, controlled predominantly by semiarid biomes, were shown to be closely related to independent global atmospheric CO2 growth-rate anomalies (Pearson’s r = 0.86), highlighting the pivotal role of tropical AGC in the global carbon budget.

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U2 - 10.1038/s41477-019-0478-9

DO - 10.1038/s41477-019-0478-9

M3 - Letter

C2 - 31358958

AN - SCOPUS:85069928672

SN - 2055-026X

VL - 5

SP - 944

EP - 951

JO - Nature Plants

JF - Nature Plants

IS - 9

ER -

Satellite-observed pantropical carbon dynamics

Abstract

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