Impact of Drought on Isoprene Fluxes Assessed Using Field Data, Satellite-Based GLEAM Soil Moisture and HCHO Observations from OMI

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  • Beata Opacka
  • Jean-François Müller
  • Trissevgeni Stavrakou
  • Diego G. Miralles
  • Akash Koppa
  • Brianna Rita Pagán
  • Mark J. Potosnak
  • Seco, Roger
  • Isabelle De Smedt
  • Alex B. Guenther

Biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs), primarily emitted by terrestrial vegetation, are highly reactive and have large effects on the oxidizing potential of the troposphere, air quality and climate. In terms of global emissions, isoprene is the most important BVOC. Droughts bring about changes in the surface emission of biogenic hydrocarbons mainly because plants suffer water stress. Past studies report that the current parameterization in the state-of-the-art Model of Emissions of Gases and Aerosols from Nature (MEGAN) v2.1, which is a function of the soil water content and the permanent wilting point, fails at representing the strong reduction in isoprene emissions observed in field measurements conducted during a severe drought. Since the current algorithm was originally developed based on potted plants, in this study, we update the parameterization in the light of recent ecosystem-scale measurements of isoprene conducted during natural droughts in the central U.S. at the Missouri Ozarks AmeriFlux (MOFLUX) site. The updated parameterization results in stronger reductions in isoprene emissions. Evaluation using satellite formaldehyde (HCHO), a proxy for BVOC emissions, and a chemical-transport model, shows that the adjusted parameterization provides a better agreement between the modelled and observed HCHO temporal variability at local and regional scales in 2011–2012, even if it worsens the model agreement in a global, long-term evaluation. We discuss the limitations of the current parameterization, a function of highly uncertain soil properties such as porosity.

Original languageEnglish
Article number2021
JournalRemote Sensing
Volume14
Issue number9
Number of pages23
ISSN2072-4292
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2022
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This research was supported by the Belgian Science Policy Office (BELSPO) through the STEREO III project ALBERI (Assessing Links between Biogenic Emissions and Remotely sensed photosynthesis Indicators, contract no. SR/00/373, 2019-2021) and through the BRAIN-be 2.0 project EQUATOR (Emission Quantification of Atmospheric tracers in the Tropics using ObseRvations from satellites, contract no. B2/202/P1/EQUATOR, 2021-2025). A.B.G. was also supported by NASA ACMAP 80NSSC19K0986. R.S. was supported by grants RYC2020-029216-I and CEX2018-000794-S funded by the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovaci?n (MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033) and by the European Social Fund (ESF) through ?ESF Investing in your future?.provided us with valuable information about soil properties used in this study.

Funding Information:
Funding: This research was supported by the Belgian Science Policy Office (BELSPO) through the STEREO III project ALBERI (Assessing Links between Biogenic Emissions and Remotely sensed photosynthesis Indicators, contract no. SR/00/373, 2019-2021) and through the BRAIN-be 2.0 project EQUATOR (Emission Quantification of Atmospheric tracers in the Tropics using ObseRvations from satellites, contract no. B2/202/P1/EQUATOR, 2021-2025). A.B.G. was also supported by NASA ACMAP 80NSSC19K0986. R.S. was supported by grants RYC2020-029216-I and CEX2018-000794-S funded by the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033) and by the European Social Fund (ESF) through “ESF Investing in your future”.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

    Research areas

  • BVOCs, drought, formaldehyde, GLEAM, isoprene, MEGAN, Missouri, OMI, Ozarks

ID: 306600839