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Airborne observations reveal elevational gradient in tropical forest isoprene emissions

Author

Listed:
  • Dasa Gu

    (University of California
    Pacific Northwest National Laboratory)

  • Alex B. Guenther

    (University of California
    Pacific Northwest National Laboratory)

  • John E. Shilling

    (Pacific Northwest National Laboratory)

  • Haofei Yu

    (Pacific Northwest National Laboratory)

  • Maoyi Huang

    (Pacific Northwest National Laboratory)

  • Chun Zhao

    (Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
    Present address: School of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026, China)

  • Qing Yang

    (Pacific Northwest National Laboratory)

  • Scot T. Martin

    (School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University)

  • Paulo Artaxo

    (Instituto de Fisica, Universidade de São Paulo)

  • Saewung Kim

    (University of California)

  • Roger Seco

    (University of California)

  • Trissevgeni Stavrakou

    (Royal Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy)

  • Karla M. Longo

    (Earth System Science Center, National Institute for Space Research, São José dos Campos, 12227-010 São Paulo, Brazil)

  • Julio Tóta

    (Instituto de Engenharia e Geociencias, Universidade Federal do Oeste do Pará)

  • Rodrigo Augusto Ferreira de Souza

    (Escola Superior de Tecnologia, Universidade do Estado do Amazonas)

  • Oscar Vega

    (Centro de Química e Meio Ambiente, Instituto de Pesquisas Energéticas e Nucleares)

  • Ying Liu

    (Pacific Northwest National Laboratory)

  • Manish Shrivastava

    (Pacific Northwest National Laboratory)

  • Eliane G. Alves

    (National Institute for Amazonian Research)

  • Fernando C. Santos

    (Earth System Science Center, National Institute for Space Research, São José dos Campos, 12227-010 São Paulo, Brazil)

  • Guoyong Leng

    (Pacific Northwest National Laboratory)

  • Zhiyuan Hu

    (Pacific Northwest National Laboratory)

Abstract

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.

Suggested Citation

  • Dasa Gu & Alex B. Guenther & John E. Shilling & Haofei Yu & Maoyi Huang & Chun Zhao & Qing Yang & Scot T. Martin & Paulo Artaxo & Saewung Kim & Roger Seco & Trissevgeni Stavrakou & Karla M. Longo & Ju, 2017. "Airborne observations reveal elevational gradient in tropical forest isoprene emissions," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 8(1), pages 1-7, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:8:y:2017:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms15541
    DOI: 10.1038/ncomms15541
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