Intra-seasonal variability of atmospheric CO2 concentrations over India during summer monsoons

In a study based on a data assimilation product of the terrestrial biospheric fluxes of CO2 over India, the subcontinent was hypothesized to be an anomalous source (sink) of CO2 during the active (break) spells of rain in the summer monsoon from June to September (Valsala et al., 2013). We test this hypothesis here by investigating intraseasonal variability in the atmospheric CO2 concentrations over India by utilizing a combination of ground-based and satellite observations and model outputs. The results show that the atmospheric CO2 concentration also varies in synchrony with the active and break spells of rainfall with amplitude of ±2 ppm which is above the instrumental uncertainty of the present day techniques of atmospheric CO2 measurements. The result is also consistent with the signs of the Net Ecosystem Exchange (NEE) flux anomalies estimated in our earlier work. The study thus offers the first observational affirmation of the above hypothesis although the data gap in the satellite measurements during monsoon season and the limited ground-based stations over India still leaves some uncertainty in the robust assertion of the hypothesis. The study highlights the need to capture these subtle variabilities and their responses to climate variability and change since it has implications for inverse estimates of terrestrial CO2 fluxes.