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The carbon cycle of southeast Australia during 2019/2020: Drought, fires and subsequent recovery
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  • Brendan Byrne,
  • Junjie Liu,
  • Meemong Lee,
  • Yi Yin,
  • Kevin W. Bowman,
  • Kazuyuki Miyazaki,
  • Dave Pollard,
  • David Griffith,
  • Voltaire Velazco,
  • Nicholas Deutscher,
  • Nicholas Jones,
  • Clare Paton-Walsh
Brendan Byrne
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology

Corresponding Author:brendan.k.byrne@jpl.nasa.gov

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Junjie Liu
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology
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Meemong Lee
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology
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Yi Yin
California Institute of Technology
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Kevin W. Bowman
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology
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Kazuyuki Miyazaki
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology
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Dave Pollard
National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research
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David Griffith
University of Wollongong
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Voltaire Velazco
University of Wollongong
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Nicholas Deutscher
University of Wollongong
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Nicholas Jones
University of Wollongong
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Clare Paton-Walsh
University of Wollongong
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Abstract

2019 was both the hottest and driest year on record for Australia, leading to large forest fires in the southeast from November 2019 to January 2020. However, in early 2020, the fires and hot-dry conditions dissipated with above average rainfall and below average temperatures along Australia’s southeast coast. In this study, we utilize space-based measurements of trace gases (TROPOMI XCO, OCO-2 XCO2) and vegetation function (OCO-2 SIF, MODIS NDVI) to quantify the carbon cycle anomalies resulting from drought and fire in southeast Australia during the 2019/2020 growing season. During the austral spring, we find anomalous reductions in primary productivity and large biomass burning emissions in excess of bottom-up estimates from GFAS. This is then followed by a remarkable recovery and greening during early 2020, coincident with cooler and wetter conditions. We will further discuss different behaviors of recovery over fire-devasted and non-fire regions. This study showcases the capability of combining observations from multiple satellites to monitor the carbon and ecosystem anomalies resulting from extreme events. Finally, we will discuss the remaining challenges in monitoring the carbon cycle from space.
Dec 2021Published in AGU Advances volume 2 issue 4. 10.1029/2021AV000469