•Differences in forest seasonal productivity cannot be explained by access to water or sunlight.•Equatorial climates benefit species that support high levels of dry-season photosynthesis.•PAR levels ...predicted the degree to which canopy photosynthetic capacity drives GEP.•Converted sites at Central Amazon show the disruption of the productivity cycle.
We investigated the seasonal patterns of Amazonian forest photosynthetic activity, and the effects thereon of variations in climate and land-use, by integrating data from a network of ground-based eddy flux towers in Brazil established as part of the ‘Large-Scale Biosphere Atmosphere Experiment in Amazonia’ project. We found that degree of water limitation, as indicated by the seasonality of the ratio of sensible to latent heat flux (Bowen ratio) predicts seasonal patterns of photosynthesis. In equatorial Amazonian forests (5° N–5° S), water limitation is absent, and photosynthetic fluxes (or gross ecosystem productivity, GEP) exhibit high or increasing levels of photosynthetic activity as the dry season progresses, likely a consequence of allocation to growth of new leaves. In contrast, forests along the southern flank of the Amazon, pastures converted from forest, and mixed forest-grass savanna, exhibit dry-season declines in GEP, consistent with increasing degrees of water limitation. Although previous work showed tropical ecosystem evapotranspiration (ET) is driven by incoming radiation, GEP observations reported here surprisingly show no or negative relationships with photosynthetically active radiation (PAR). Instead, GEP fluxes largely followed the phenology of canopy photosynthetic capacity (Pc), with only deviations from this primary pattern driven by variations in PAR. Estimates of leaf flush at three non-water limited equatorial forest sites peak in the dry season, in correlation with high dry season light levels. The higher photosynthetic capacity that follows persists into the wet season, driving high GEP that is out of phase with sunlight, explaining the negative observed relationship with sunlight. Overall, these patterns suggest that at sites where water is not limiting, light interacts with adaptive mechanisms to determine photosynthetic capacity indirectly through leaf flush and litterfall seasonality. These mechanisms are poorly represented in ecosystem models, and represent an important challenge to efforts to predict tropical forest responses to climatic variations.
Tropical rainforests are an important source of isoprenoid and other volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions to the atmosphere. The seasonal variation of these compounds is however still poorly ...understood. In this study, vertical profiles of mixing ratios of isoprene, total monoterpenes and total sesquiterpenes, were measured within and above the canopy, in a primary rainforest in central Amazonia, using a proton transfer reaction – mass spectrometer (PTR-MS). Fluxes of these compounds from the canopy into the atmosphere were estimated from PTR-MS measurements by using an inverse Lagrangian transport model. Measurements were carried out continuously from September 2010 to January 2011, encompassing the dry and wet seasons. Mixing ratios were higher during the dry (isoprene – 2.68 ± 0.9 ppbv, total monoterpenes – 0.67 ± 0.3 ppbv; total sesquiterpenes – 0.09 ± 0.07 ppbv) than the wet season (isoprene – 1.66 ± 0.9 ppbv, total monoterpenes – 0.47 ± 0.2 ppbv; total sesquiterpenes – 0.03 ± 0.02 ppbv) for all compounds. Ambient air temperature and photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) behaved similarly. Daytime isoprene and total monoterpene mixing ratios were highest within the canopy, rather than near the ground or above the canopy. By comparison, daytime total sesquiterpene mixing ratios were highest near the ground. Daytime fluxes varied significantly between seasons for all compounds. The maximums for isoprene (2.53 ± 0.5 µmol m−2 h−1) and total monoterpenes (1.77 ± 0.05 µmol m−2 h−1) were observed in the late dry season, whereas the maximum for total sesquiterpenes was found during the dry-to-wet transition season (0.77 ± 0.1 µmol m−2 h−1). These flux estimates suggest that the canopy is the main source of isoprenoids emitted into the atmosphere for all seasons. However, uncertainties in turbulence parameterization near the ground could affect estimates of fluxes that come from the ground. Leaf phenology seemed to be an important driver of seasonal variation of isoprenoid emissions. Although remote sensing observations of changes in leaf area index were used to estimate leaf phenology, MEGAN 2.1 did not fully capture the behavior of seasonal emissions observed in this study. This could be a result of very local effects on the observed emissions, but also suggest that other parameters need to be better determined in biogenic volatile organic compound (BVOC) models. Our results support established findings that seasonality of isoprenoids are driven by seasonal changes in light, temperature and leaf phenology. However, they suggest that leaf phenology and its role on isoprenoid production and emission from tropical plant species needs to be better understood in order to develop mechanistic explanations for seasonal variation in emissions. This also may reduce the uncertainties of model estimates associated with the responses to environmental factors. Therefore, this study strongly encourages long-term measurements of isoprenoid emissions, environmental factors and leaf phenology from leaf to ecosystem scale, with the purpose of improving BVOC model approaches that can characterize seasonality of isoprenoid emissions from tropical rainforests.
Central Amazonia serves as an ideal location to study atmospheric particle formation, since it often represents nearly natural, pre-industrial conditions but can also experience periods of ...anthropogenic influence due to the presence of emissions from large metropolitan areas like Manaus, Brazil. Ultrafine (sub-100 nm diameter) particles are often observed in this region, although new particle formation events seldom occur near the ground despite being readily observed in other forested regions with similar emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). This study focuses on identifying the chemical composition of ultrafine particles as a means of determining the chemical species and mechanisms that may be responsible for new particle formation and growth in the region. These measurements were performed during the wet season as part of the Observations and Modeling of the Green Ocean Amazon (GoAmazon2014/5) field campaign at a site located 70 km southwest of Manaus. A thermal desorption chemical ionization mass spectrometer (TDCIMS) characterized the most abundant compounds detected in ultrafine particles. Two time periods representing distinct influences on aerosol composition, which we label as “anthropogenic” and “background” periods, were studied as part of a larger 10 d period of analysis. Higher particle number concentrations were measured during the anthropogenic period, and modeled back-trajectory frequencies indicate transport of emissions from the Manaus metropolitan area. During the background period there were much lower number concentrations, and back-trajectory frequencies showed that air masses arrived at the site predominantly from the forested regions to the north and northeast. TDCIMS-measured constituents also show distinct differences between the two observational periods. Although bisulfate was detected in particles throughout the 10 d period, the anthropogenic period had higher levels of particulate bisulfate overall. Ammonium and trimethyl ammonium were positively correlated with bisulfate. The background period had distinct diurnal patterns of particulate cyanate and acetate, while oxalate remained relatively constant during the 10 d period. 3-Methylfuran, a thermal decomposition product of a particulate-phase isoprene epoxydiol (IEPOX), was the dominant species measured in the positive-ion mode. Principal component analysis (PCA) was performed on the TDCIMS-measured ion abundance and aerosol mass spectrometer (AMS) mass concentration data. Two different hierarchical clusters representing unique influences arise: one comprising ultrafine particulate acetate, hydrogen oxalate, cyanate, trimethyl ammonium and 3-methylfuran and another made up of ultrafine particulate bisulfate, chloride, ammonium and potassium. A third cluster separated AMS-measured species from the two TDCIMS-derived clusters, indicating different sources or processes in ultrafine aerosol particle formation compared to larger submicron-sized particles.
Resumo A precipitação no norte da Amazônia dos verões e outonos austral, do período de 1988 a 1999, foi simulada utilizando o modelo regional Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF), através de uma ...abordagem em escalas distintas, com domínios aninhados de 45 e 15 km. As condições iniciais e de contorno foram obtidas da Climate Forecast System Reanalysis (CFSR) do National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP). A habilidade do modelo foi testada usando diferentes bases de dados observacionais de precipitação, representativas de escalas espaciais distintas. O viés do modelo mostra dependências sazonal e espacial, com viés positivo no sudoeste da Amazônia brasileira durante o verão e, no noroeste da América do Sul, durante o outono. O refinamento de escala mostrou-se necessário para reproduzir as influências de superfície nos sistemas regionais e locais que afetam a distribuição das chuvas na região. O modelo WRF, em geral, reproduz os principais padrões espaciais observados de precipitação, sem o viés seco, típico dos modelos de circulação geral da atmosfera (MCGA). Os resultados indicam que a técnica de downscaling dinâmico melhora o desempenho do modelo WRF para a previsão climática sazonal na região Amazônica.
Abstract Precipitation over the northern Amazon during the austral summer and autumn seasons of the 1988- 1999 was simulated using the Regional Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model, with downscaling approach with nested domains of 45 and 15 km. The boundary and initial conditions were obtained from the Climate Forecast System Reanalysis (CFSR) of the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP). The model skill was tested using different reanalyzed precipitation datasets that represent different space scales. The bias of the model shows seasonal and spatial dependences, with positive bias in southwestern Brazilian Amazon during summer and in northwestern South America during autumn. The downscaling was needed to reproduce the surface influences on the regional and local systems that affect the rainfall distribution in the region. The WRF model, in general, reproduces the main observed precipitation patterns, without the dry bias, typical of general circulation models (GCM). The results indicate that the dynamic downscaling technique improves the WRF model performance for the seasonal climate forecast in the Amazon region.
We analyzed the vertical wind profile measured at six experimental tower sites in dense forest in the Amazon Basin and examined how well two simple models can reproduce these observations. In ...general, the vertical wind profile below the canopy is strongly affected by the forest structure. From the forest floor to 0.65h (where h = 35 m is the average height of the forest canopy for sites considered), the wind profile is approximately constant with height with speeds less than 1 ms−1. Above 0.65 to 2.25h, the wind speed increases with height. Testing these data with the Yi and Souza models showed that each was able to reproduce satisfactorily the vertical wind profile for different experimental sites in the Amazon. Using the Souza Model, it was possible to use fewer input variables necessary to simulate the profile.
Isoprene dominates global non-methane volatile organic compound emissions, and impacts tropospheric chemistry by influencing oxidants and aerosols. Isoprene emission rates vary over several orders of ...magnitude for different plants, and characterizing this immense biological chemodiversity is a challenge for estimating isoprene emission from tropical forests. Here we present the isoprene emission estimates from aircraft eddy covariance measurements over the Amazonian forest. We report isoprene emission rates that are three times higher than satellite top-down estimates and 35% higher than model predictions. The results reveal strong correlations between observed isoprene emission rates and terrain elevations, which are confirmed by similar correlations between satellite-derived isoprene emissions and terrain elevations. We propose that the elevational gradient in the Amazonian forest isoprene emission capacity is determined by plant species distributions and can substantially explain isoprene emission variability in tropical forests, and use a model to demonstrate the resulting impacts on regional air quality.
The Large Scale Biosphere‐Atmosphere Experiment in Amazonia (LBA) project has been using the eddy covariance technique since 1998 to monitor energy, water, and carbon surface fluxes over Amazonia. ...The results obtained up‐to‐date indicate high level of uncertainties, especially regarding the role of the Amazonian ecosystem to the global carbon budget. Besides the problems related to the eddy covariance measuring system (systematic error and nighttime stable conditions), an extremely important factor is associated with the averaging time scale or “time window” used by the scientific community to determine the surface fluxes. This work presents initial efforts to determine the turbulence time scale for long‐term carbon and energy surface fluxes over the Amazon rain forest. A total of 198 nights and 218 days during 2006 were analyzed. The multiresolution decomposition technique was applied to project the signal into several time scales and determine when the spectral and cospectral gap occurred. This technique permitted evaluating and separating the real contribution from turbulent and mesoscale fluxes to the total surface fluxes at both diurnal and nocturnal periods. The average turbulence time scale was below 200 and 1200 s for all scalars at nighttime and daytime, respectively. In all cases, there is seasonal dependence. This result shows that the time scale commonly used to calculate nocturnal surface fluxes (30 min) includes a good portion of mesoscale flux in the estimates. The role of these mesoscale fluxes, in terms of seasonal dependence and the uncertainties they add to the estimates, is then analyzed.
Biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs) are important components of the atmosphere due to their contribution to atmospheric chemistry and biogeochemical cycles. Tropical forests are the largest ...source of the dominant BVOC emissions (e.g. isoprene and monoterpenes). In this study, we report isoprene and total monoterpene flux measurements with a proton transfer reaction time-of-flight mass spectrometer (PTR-TOF-MS) using the eddy covariance (EC) method at the Tapajós National Forest (2.857∘ S, 54.959∘ W), a primary rainforest in eastern Amazonia. Measurements were carried out from 1 to 16 June 2014, during the wet-to-dry transition season. During the measurement period, the measured daytime (06:00–18:00 LT) average isoprene mixing ratios and fluxes were 1.15±0.60 ppb and 0.55±0.71 mg C m−2 h−1, respectively, whereas the measured daytime average total monoterpene mixing ratios and fluxes were 0.14±0.10 ppb and 0.20±0.25 mg C m−2 h−1, respectively. Midday (10:00–14:00 LT) average isoprene and total monoterpene mixing ratios were 1.70±0.49 and 0.24±0.05 ppb, respectively, whereas midday average isoprene and monoterpene fluxes were 1.24±0.68 and 0.46±0.22 mg C m−2 h−1, respectively. Isoprene and total monoterpene emissions in Tapajós were correlated with ambient temperature and solar radiation. Significant correlation with sensible heat flux, SHF (r2=0.77), was also observed. Measured isoprene and monoterpene fluxes were strongly correlated with each other (r2=0.93). The MEGAN2.1 (Model of Emissions of Gases and Aerosols from Nature version 2.1) model could simulate most of the observed diurnal variations (r2=0.7 to 0.8) but declined a little later in the evening for both isoprene and total monoterpene fluxes. The results also demonstrate the importance of site-specific vegetation emission factors (EFs) for accurately simulating BVOC fluxes in regional and global BVOC emission models.
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