Dataset Information

TROPOMI reveals dry-season increase of solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence in the Amazon forest.

ABSTRACT: Photosynthesis of the Amazon rainforest plays an important role in the regional and global carbon cycles, but, despite considerable in situ and space-based observations, it has been intensely debated whether there is a dry-season increase in greenness and photosynthesis of the moist tropical Amazonian forests. Solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF), which is emitted by chlorophyll, has a strong positive linear relationship with photosynthesis at the canopy scale. Recent advancements have allowed us to observe SIF globally with Earth observation satellites. Here we show that forest SIF did not decrease in the early dry season and increased substantially in the late dry season and early part of wet season, using SIF data from the Tropospheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI), which has unprecedented spatial resolution and near-daily global coverage. Using in situ CO2 eddy flux data, we also show that cloud cover rarely affects photosynthesis at TROPOMI's midday overpass, a time when the forest canopy is most often light-saturated. The observed dry-season increases of forest SIF are not strongly affected by sun-sensor geometry, which was attributed as creating a pseudo dry-season green-up in the surface reflectance data. Our results provide strong evidence that greenness, SIF, and photosynthesis of the tropical Amazonian forest increase during the dry season.

SUBMITTER: Doughty R

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6825294 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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TROPOMI reveals dry-season increase of solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence in the Amazon forest.

Doughty Russell R Köhler Philipp P Frankenberg Christian C Magney Troy S TS Xiao Xiangming X Qin Yuanwei Y Wu Xiaocui X Moore Berrien B

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 20191014 44

Photosynthesis of the Amazon rainforest plays an important role in the regional and global carbon cycles, but, despite considerable in situ and space-based observations, it has been intensely debated whether there is a dry-season increase in greenness and photosynthesis of the moist tropical Amazonian forests. Solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF), which is emitted by chlorophyll, has a strong positive linear relationship with photosynthesis at the canopy scale. Recent advancements have a ...[more]

PMID: 31611384

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Project description:In recent years, solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF) retrieved from space borne spectrometers has been extensively used as a proxy for terrestrial photosynthesis at relatively sparse temporal and spatial scales. The near-infrared band of the recently launched TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) features the required spectral resolution and signal-to-noise ratio to retrieve SIF in a spectral range devoid of atmospheric absorption features. We find that initial TROPOMI spectra meet high expectations for a substantially improved spatio-temporal resolution (up to 7 km × 3.5 km pixels with daily revisit), representing a step change in SIF remote sensing capabilities. However, interpretation requires caution, as the broad range of viewing-illumination geometries covered by TROPOMI's 2600 km wide swath needs to be taken into account. A first inter-sensor comparison with OCO-2 (Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2) SIF shows excellent agreement, underscoring the high quality of TROPOMI's SIF retrievals and the notable radiometric performance of the instrument.Plain language summaryPhotosynthesis is the most essential process for life on Earth, but gradually changing environmental conditions such as increasing concentrations of atmospheric trace gases, rising temperatures or reduced water availability could adversely affect the photosynthetic productivity. The recently launched TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) is designed to monitor atmospheric trace gases and air pollutants with an unprecedented resolution in space and time, while its radiometric performance also permits us to see a weak electromagnetic signal emitted by photosynthetically active vegetation - solar induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF). Mounting evidence suggests that SIF observations from satellite instruments augment our abilities to track the photosynthetic performance and carbon uptake of terrestrial vegetation. In this study, we present the first TROPOMI SIF retrievals, largely outperforming previous and existing capabilities for a spatial continuous monitoring of SIF from space.

Project description:Terrestrial vertebrate frugivores constitute one of the major guilds in tropical forests. Previous studies show that the meso-scale distribution of this group is only weakly explained by variables such as altitude and tree basal area in lowland Amazon forests. For the first time we test whether seasonally limiting resources (water and fallen fruit) affect the dry season distribution in 25 species of terrestrial vertebrates. To examine the effects of the spatial availability of fruit and water on terrestrial vertebrates we used a standardized, regularly spaced arrangement of camera-traps within 25km2 of lowland Amazon forest. Generalized linear models (GLMs) were then used to examine the influence of four variables (altitude, distance to large rivers, distance to nearest water, and presence vs absence of fruits) on the number of photos on five functional groups (all frugivores, small, medium, large and very large frugivores) and on seven of the most abundant frugivore species (Cuniculus paca, Dasyprocta leporina, Mazama americana, Mazama nemorivaga, Myoprocta acouchy, Pecari tajacu and Psophia crepitans). A total of 279 independent photos of 25 species were obtained from 900 camera-trap days. For most species and three functional groups, the variation in the number of photos per camera was significantly but weakly explained by the GLMs (deviance explained ranging from 6.2 to 48.8%). Generally, we found that the presence of water availability was more important than the presence of fallen fruit for the groups and species studied. Medium frugivores, large-bodied frugivores, and two of the more abundant species (C. paca and P. crepitans) were recorded more frequently closer to water bodies; while none of the functional groups nor the most abundant species showed any significant relationship with the presence of fallen fruit. Two functional groups and two of the seven most common frugivore species assessed in the GLMs showed significant results with species-specific responses to altitude. Our findings provide a more detailed understanding of how frugivorous vertebrates cope with periods of water and fruit scarcity in lowland Amazon forests.

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TROPOMI reveals dry-season increase of solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence in the Amazon forest.

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TROPOMI reveals dry-season increase of solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence in the Amazon forest.

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