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Dynamics of atmospheric carbon dioxide over different land cover types in India

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Abstract

This study presents an analysis of high-resolution space borne retrievals of the column-averaged dry-air mole fraction of carbon dioxide \( \left({X}_{CO_2}\right) \) and the role of vegetation in controlling atmospheric CO2 dynamics over the Indian region. Nadir and glint mode \( {X}_{CO_2} \) retrievals from the Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) spectrometer for the period September 2014–July 2017 are studied with satellite-derived normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and rainfall over different land cover types. The atmospheric \( {X}_{CO_2} \) variability shows a strong negative correlation with satellite-derived NDVI. Higher rainfall favours the vegetative growth and photosynthetic activity, thus lowers atmospheric \( {X}_{CO_2} \) concentration. The mean monthly \( {X}_{CO_2} \) over terrestrial region of India is observed as 400.18 ± 3.85 ppm with seasonal variations over different land cover types. The correlation of \( {X}_{CO_2} \) with NDVI over mixed forest and deciduous broadleaf forest types was estimated as − 0.86, − 0.76 (p < 0.01), respectively. The study could also highlight strong seasonal \( {X}_{CO_2} \) variability at higher latitudinal zones of India. It is significant to note that space-based observations indicate that atmospheric carbon dioxide levels have surpassed a significant milestone of 400 ppm in recent times. The study provides significant inputs towards improving our understanding of terrestrial biogeochemical carbon cycle over India.

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Acknowledgements

This research work is carried out as a part of ‘Energy and Mass Exchange in Vegetative Systems’ project of ISRO GBP. Authors express sincere thanks to Director SAC, Dr. Rajkumar, Dr. Prakash Chauhan and Dr. B.K. Bhattacharya, Senior Scientists, ISRO for providing an opportunity and guidance to undertake this study. We sincerely acknowledge data support from NASA OCO-2 project team. These data were produced by the OCO-2 project at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, and obtained from the ACOS/OCO-2 data archive maintained at the NASA Goddard Earth Science Data and Information Services Center. We are also thankful to Meteorological & Oceanographic Satellite Data Archival Centre, SAC, ISRO and NASA’s MODIS data processing team for data support. Authors wish to sincerely thank anonymous reviewers for their thoughtful comments towards improving the manuscript.

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  1. Space Applications Centre, Indian Space Research Organisation, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, 380 015, India

    Abha Chhabra

  2. Government Arts and Science College, Patdi, Surendranagar, Patdi, Gujarat, India

    Ankit Gohel

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  1. Abha Chhabra
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  2. Ankit Gohel
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Correspondence to Abha Chhabra.

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Chhabra, A., Gohel, A. Dynamics of atmospheric carbon dioxide over different land cover types in India. Environ Monit Assess 191 (Suppl 3), 799 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-019-7681-z

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