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Seasonal dynamics and impact factors of atmospheric CO 2 concentration over subtropical forest canopies: observation from eddy covariance tower and OCO-2 satellite in Northwest Himalaya, India.
- Source :
-
Environmental monitoring and assessment [Environ Monit Assess] 2021 Feb 02; Vol. 193 (2), pp. 106. Date of Electronic Publication: 2021 Feb 02. - Publication Year :
- 2021
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Abstract
- Carbon dioxide (CO <subscript>2</subscript> ) is the key atmospheric gas that controls the earth's greenhouse effect, and forests play a major role in abating the atmospheric CO <subscript>2</subscript> by storing carbon as biomass. Therefore, it is vital to understand the role of different forests in regulating the spatiotemporal dynamics of atmospheric CO <subscript>2</subscript> concentration. In this study, we have used eddy covariance (EC) tower-based atmospheric CO <subscript>2</subscript> concentration measurements and satellite-retrieved column average CO <subscript>2</subscript> concentration of 2018 to understand the diurnal and seasonal dynamics of atmospheric CO <subscript>2</subscript> concentration over the sub-tropical forest in the foothills of northwest Himalaya, Uttarakhand, India. EC study revealed that the CO <subscript>2</subscript> concentration over the forest canopy peaks during mid-night to early morning and drop to a minimum during the afternoon. On a monthly scale, peak atmospheric CO <subscript>2</subscript> concentration was observed during July in both the sites, which was a result of more release of CO <subscript>2</subscript> by the forest ecosystem through ecosystem respiration and microbial decomposition. Enhanced photosynthetic activities during the late monsoon and post-monsoon resulted in the decrease of atmospheric CO <subscript>2</subscript> concentration over the forest ecosystem. Among the meteorological variables, rainfall was found to have the highest control over the seasonal variability of the atmospheric CO <subscript>2</subscript> concentration. Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) satellite-retrieved column average CO <subscript>2</subscript> (XCO <subscript>2</subscript> ) was also examined to comprehend its reliability on an ecosystem scale. The OCO-2 retrieved XCO <subscript>2</subscript> value was higher than the EC carbon flux tower-measured atmospheric CO <subscript>2</subscript> concentration, which might be due to differences in the vertical resolution of the CO <subscript>2</subscript> column and scale difference. However, the monthly atmospheric XCO <subscript>2</subscript> retrieved from OCO-2 strongly adheres with the ground-measured monthly pattern. Our study highlights that forests with varying functional traits within the same climatic conditions show variability in the regulation of atmospheric CO <subscript>2</subscript> concentration.
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 1573-2959
- Volume :
- 193
- Issue :
- 2
- Database :
- MEDLINE
- Journal :
- Environmental monitoring and assessment
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 33532942
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-021-08896-4