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UP: Fachverband Umweltphysik

UP 7: Greenhouse Gases: Remote Sensing

UP 7.2: Talk

Thursday, March 23, 2023, 11:30–11:45, MOL/0213

Seasonal and Interannual Variability of Australian Carbon Fluxes Seen by GOSAT — •Andre Butz¹, Eva-Marie Metz¹, Sanam Vardag¹, Sourish Basu², Martin Jung³, and Stephen Sitch⁴ — ¹Institut für Umwetlphysik, Universität Heidelberg, Germany — ²NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, University of Maryland, USA — ³Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Jena, Germany — ⁴University of Exeter, Exeter, UK

The semi-arid Australian continent significantly influences the interannual variability of the global terrestrial carbon sink. The sparsity of in-situ CO2 and flux measurements, however, leads to large uncertainties in estimated carbon fluxes for the continent. Satellite measurements of CO2 offer an independent and spatially extensive source of information about the Australian carbon cycle. Here, we examine the decadal data set (2009-2018) of atmospheric CO2 mole fractions delivered by the Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite (GOSAT). We find previously undected CO2 pulses at the end of the dry season that we attribute to the quick onset of respiration after the dry period. These pulses dominate the seasonal and the year-to-year variability of Australia's carbon balance.