Combined CO<sub>2</sub> measurement record indicates Amazon forest carbon uptake is offset by savanna carbon release

Botía, Santiago; Munassar, Saqr; Koch, Thomas; Custodio, Danilo; Basso, Luana S.; Komiya, Shujiro; Lavric, Jost V.; Walter, David; Gloor, Manuel; Martins, Giordane; Naus, Stijn; Koren, Gerbrand; Luijkx, Ingrid T.; Hantson, Stijn; Miller, John B.; Peters, Wouter; Rödenbeck, Christian; Gerbig, Christoph

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-6219-2025

Articles | Volume 25, issue 12

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-6219-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-6219-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 25, issue 12

Research article

|

25 Jun 2025

Research article |

| 25 Jun 2025

Combined CO₂ measurement record indicates Amazon forest carbon uptake is offset by savanna carbon release

Santiago Botía, Saqr Munassar, Thomas Koch, Danilo Custodio, Luana S. Basso, Shujiro Komiya, Jost V. Lavric, David Walter, Manuel Gloor, Giordane Martins, Stijn Naus, Gerbrand Koren, Ingrid T. Luijkx, Stijn Hantson, John B. Miller, Wouter Peters, Christian Rödenbeck, and Christoph Gerbig

Data sets

Water-vapor based bias correction for CO2 airborne vertical profiles Santiago Botía et al. https://doi.org/10.17617/3.M60T6G

Regional and global mask used for flux integrals in Botía et al., 2025 Santiago Botía https://doi.org/10.17617/3.VFC252

CO2 Vertical Profiles on Four Sites over Amazon from 2010 to 2018 Luciana V. Gatti et al. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.926834

Global Fire Emissions Database (GFED5) Burned Area (0.1) Yang Chen et al. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7668424

ATTO – Mole fractions of CO, CO2, CH4 measured at ATTO Instant Tower J. V. Lavric https://www.attodata.org/ddm/data/Showdata/39

ATTO – Mole fractions of CO, CO2, CH4 measured at ATTO Instant Tower J. V. Lavric https://www.attodata.org/ddm/data/Showdata/64

ATTO – Mole fractions of CO, CO2, CH4 measured at ATTO Instant Tower J. V. Lavric https://www.attodata.org/ddm/data/Showdata/65

ATTO – Mole fractions of CO, CO2, CH4 measured at ATTO Instant Tower J. V. Lavric https://www.attodata.org/ddm/data/Showdata/66

ATTO – Mole fractions of CO, CO2, CH4 measured at ATTO Instant Tower J. V. Lavric https://www.attodata.org/ddm/data/Showdata/67

ATTO – Mole fractions of CO, CO2, CH4 measured at ATTO Instant Tower J. V. Lavric https://www.attodata.org/ddm/data/Showdata/68

ATTO – Mole fractions of CO, CO2, CH4 measured at ATTO Instant Tower J. V. Lavric https://www.attodata.org/ddm/data/Showdata/69

Short summary

This study uses dry CO₂ mole fractions from the Amazon Tall Tower Observatory together with airborne profiles to estimate net carbon exchange in tropical South America. We found that the biogeographic Amazon is a net carbon sink, while the Cerrado and Caatinga biomes are net carbon sources, resulting in an overall neutral balance. Finally, to further reduce the uncertainty in our estimates we call for an expansion of the monitoring capacity, especially in the Amazon–Andes foothills.

Combined CO2 measurement record indicates Amazon forest carbon uptake is offset by savanna carbon release

Data sets

Combined CO₂ measurement record indicates Amazon forest carbon uptake is offset by savanna carbon release