Large and seasonally varying biospheric CO 2 fluxes in the Los Angeles megacity revealed by atmospheric radiocarbon

• Published in: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS Vol. 117; no. 43; pp. 26681 - 26687
• Main Authors: Miller, John B, Lehman, Scott J, Verhulst, Kristal R, Miller, Charles E, Duren, Riley M, Yadav, Vineet, Newman, Sally, Sloop, Christopher D
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 27.10.2020
• Subjects: Carbon Cycle; Carbon Dioxide - analysis; Carbon Isotopes - analysis; Environmental Monitoring - methods; Fossil Fuels; Humans; Los Angeles; Seasons; Vehicle Emissions; Los Angeles; urban; carbon dioxide; radiocarbon
• ISSN: 0027-8424; 1091-6490
• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2005253117

Measurements of Δ C and CO can cleanly separate biogenic and fossil contributions to CO enhancements above background. Our measurements of these tracers in air around Los Angeles in 2015 reveal high values of fossil CO and a significant and seasonally varying contribution of CO from the urban biosphere. The biogenic CO is composed of sources such as biofuel combustion and human metabolism and an urban biospheric component likely originating from urban vegetation, including turf and trees. The urban biospheric component is a source in winter and a sink in summer, with an estimated amplitude of 4.3 parts per million (ppm), equivalent to 33% of the observed annual mean fossil fuel contribution of 13 ppm. While the timing of the net carbon sink is out of phase with wintertime rainfall and the sink seasonality of Southern California Mediterranean ecosystems (which show maximum uptake in spring), it is in phase with the seasonal cycle of urban water usage, suggesting that irrigated urban vegetation drives the biospheric signal we observe. Although 2015 was very dry, the biospheric seasonality we observe is similar to the 2006-2015 mean derived from an independent Δ C record in the Los Angeles area, indicating that 2015 biospheric exchange was not highly anomalous. The presence of a large and seasonally varying biospheric signal even in the relatively dry climate of Los Angeles implies that atmospheric estimates of fossil fuel-CO emissions in other, potentially wetter, urban areas will be biased in the absence of reliable methods to separate fossil and biogenic CO .