Seasonal responses of δ13C and δ18O of atmospheric CO2 over sub-urban
region of India.
Abstract
The seasonal diurnal variability of atmospheric CO2 and driving factors
are studied using its continuous isotopic fractionation (δ13C and δ18O)
over Shadnagar, a sub-urban location of India with high precision
in-situ data from November 2018 to October 2019. The annual averaged
atmospheric CO2 concentrations and 13C-CO2 and 18O-CO2 are 415.03±9.77
ppm, -11.18±1.73 ‰ and 9.1±13.35 ‰. Seasonal amplitudes of atmospheric
CO2 was observed in summer monsoon (17.30 ± 9.29 ppm) and the minimum
was noticed in winter (7.19 ± 0.11 ppm) indicating strong seasonality at
the study site. To characterize the atmospheric CO2 sources/sinks, an
improved model of Miller and Tans was implemented by plotting ΔCO2
against Δ(CO2 × δ13C) respectively during day and night. An averaged
seasonal δ13C source/sink signature (δs) is -32.84 ‰ in the day time and
-26.09‰ in night time representing the source of atmospheric CO2 is
related to combustion and dominance of C3 ecosystem respiration
respectively. The seasonal relationship between δ18O and δ13C is
strongly correlated during pre-monsoon ( ‘r’ = 0.93 to 0.95) than post
monsoon (‘r’ = 0.07 to 0.13), which might be due to high vapour pressure
deficit. A Lagrangian back-trajectory model confirms the influence of
the Indian Summer Monsoon on the variability of atmospheric CO2
concentration during the summer monsoon season.