University of Oklahoma Researchers Give the World a Look Into the Amazon
A study led by the University of Oklahoma shows strong evidence that photosynthesis of the tropical Amazonian forest increases during the dry season. Because the size of the Amazon makes it impossible to ground-sample the entire forest, this innovative study used a satellite-based monitor to track the data from space.
Changes in carbon emissions from and to the atmosphere in the Amazon play an important role. Those changes can determine the Earth’s atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration. Field data indicated that gross primary productivity increased during the dry season due to loss of old-age leaves and the flushing of new leaves. This satellite study, using the TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument on board the Copernicus Sentinel-5 Precursor satellite, indicates the processes are occurring at larger spatial and temporal scales.
If researchers wish to confidently forecast how changes in climate and land use in the Amazon may impact global atmospheric carbon concentrations in the future, then it is necessary to understand the dynamics of Amazonian photosynthesis.
Plants emit a low amount of energy when photosynthesizing, which is called solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence. Technological advancements now allow us to observe the emission of SIF by plants from space using satellites. The report’s results provide additional confidence in understanding the seasonality of photosynthesis in the Amazon, and the methods developed in this study are an important step forward in the application of satellite-based SIF data.
The OU-led study, “TROPOMI reveals dry-season increase of solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence in the Amazon forest,” was published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States journal.
Article Published: Thursday, November 7, 2019