Dissertation title: 

Constraining the exchange of carbon dioxide over the Amazon. New insights from stable isotopes, remote sensing and inverse modeling

Group: Meteorology and Air Quality, Wageningen University
Promotor: prof. dr W Peters and prof. dr T Röckmann
Co-promotor: dr IT Luijkx

Abstract:

We studied the exchange of CO₂ between the biosphere and the atmosphere using stable isotopes, remote sensing products and data assimilation methods. In Chapter 2 we explore the large-scale variations of Δ¹⁷O in atmospheric CO₂, a potential tracer for photosynthesis, using the global transport model TM5. In Chapter 3 we study Δ¹⁷O in CO₂ at the ecosystem level for the mid-latitude pine forest Loobos, based on air samples collected during a 24-hour campaign and simulations with the MXL and TM5 models. In Chapter 4 we shift our focus to the Amazon region, and quantify the impact of the 2015/2016 El Niño drought on photosynthesis using remotely sensed SIF. Finally, in Chapter 5, we use inverse model CarbonTracker to estimate the net exchange of CO₂ in the Amazon and find large CO₂ emissions for 2016, as constrained by CO₂ measurements of samples collected with aircraft and satellite-observed CO₂ columns.

Extra information:

• Route description and buildings Wageningen
• The full text of this dissertation will become available in Wageningen Dissertation Abstracts after the PhD defense.