ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING SPRING 2016 COLLOQUIUM SERIES

Friday, April 8, 2016 • 12:15 PM • CAST 212

“Ecophysiological Controls and Precipitation Seasonality in Amazonia”

By

Jung-Eun Lee

Assistant Professor of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences, Brown University

Abstract: It is unclear to what extent seasonal water stress impacts on plant productivity over Amazonia. Using new Greenhouse gases Observing SATellite (GOSAT) satellite measurements of sun-induced chlorophyll fluorescence, we show that midday fluorescence varies with water availability, both of which decrease in the dry season over Amazonian regions with substantial dry season length, suggesting a parallel decrease in gross primary production (GPP). Using additional SeaWinds Scatterometer onboard QuikSCAT satellite measurements of canopy water content, we found a concomitant decrease in daily storage of canopy water content within branches and leaves during the dry season, sup- porting our conclusion. The strong relationship between GOSAT and model fluorescence (r2 = 0.79) was obtained using a fixed leaf area index, indicating that GPP changes are more related to environmental conditions than chlorophyll contents over tropical evergreen forests. We have also incorporated equations coupling SIF to photosynthesis in a land surface model, the National Center for Atmospheric Research Community Land Model version 4 (NCAR CLM4) to use it as a diagnostic tool for evaluating the calculation of photosynthesis.

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