RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Photosynthetic Control of Atmospheric Carbonyl Sulfide During the Growing Season
JF Science
JO Science
FD American Association for the Advancement of Science
SP 1085
OP 1088
DO 10.1126/science.1164015
VO 322
IS 5904
A1 Campbell, J. E.
A1 Carmichael, G. R.
A1 Chai, T.
A1 Mena-Carrasco, M.
A1 Tang, Y.
A1 Blake, D. R.
A1 Blake, N. J.
A1 Vay, S. A.
A1 Collatz, G. J.
A1 Baker, I.
A1 Berry, J. A.
A1 Montzka, S. A.
A1 Sweeney, C.
A1 Schnoor, J. L.
A1 Stanier, C. O.
YR 2008
UL http://science.sciencemag.org/content/322/5904/1085.abstract
AB Climate models incorporate photosynthesis-climate feedbacks, yet we lack robust tools for large-scale assessments of these processes. Recent work suggests that carbonyl sulfide (COS), a trace gas consumed by plants, could provide a valuable constraint on photosynthesis. Here we analyze airborne observations of COS and carbon dioxide concentrations during the growing season over North America with a three-dimensional atmospheric transport model. We successfully modeled the persistent vertical drawdown of atmospheric COS using the quantitative relation between COS and photosynthesis that has been measured in plant chamber experiments. Furthermore, this drawdown is driven by plant uptake rather than other continental and oceanic fluxes in the model. These results provide quantitative evidence that COS gradients in the continental growing season may have broad use as a measurement-based photosynthesis tracer.