Reduced Vegetation Uptake During the Extreme 2023 Drought Turns the Amazon Into a Weak Carbon Source

Abstract In 2023, the biogeographic Amazon experienced temperature anomalies of 1.5°C above the 1991–2020 average from September to November. These conditions were driven by high sea surface temperature in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, together with reduced moisture advection from the Atlantic, causing large vapor pressure and water deficits in the second semester of 2023. Here, we evaluate the response of the Amazon carbon cycle to this extreme event across different spatial scales. We combined atmospheric CO 2 mole fractions and eddy covariance flux data from the Amazon Tall Tower Observatory (ATTO, −2.1441, −58.99), low‐latency simulations by Dynamic Global Vegetation Models (DGVMs), an atmospheric inversion, and remote sensing data. We find that in 2023 the Amazon region was, including fires, a net carbon source of 0.01–0.17 PgC. Fire emissions (0.15 [0.13–0.17] PgC) were within typical variability of the 2003–2023 period, thus we attribute the weak carbon source to reduced vegetation uptake during the dry season (August–October). A stronger‐than‐normal vegetation uptake early in the year (January–April), consistent across data streams and spatial scales, mitigated the total carbon losses by the end of the year. We find a shift from carbon sink to source in May and a peak source in October. Our findings show a reduced vegetation carbon uptake over the Amazon region, leading to a weak carbon source that contributed up to 30% of the net carbon loss in the tropical land in 2023.

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Publication Details

Journal
AGU Advances
Published
2026-02-01
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1029/2025av001658
Citations
2
Primary Topic
Fire effects on ecosystems
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
73.25

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article

Reduced Vegetation Uptake During the Extreme 2023 Drought Turns the Amazon Into a Weak Carbon Source

Ute Weber, Michael O’Sullivan, Hella van Asperen, Shujiro Komiya et al.
2 citations
AGU Advances
Fire effects on ecosystems
73.25
article

Reduced Vegetation Uptake During the Extreme 2023 Drought Turns the Amazon Into a Weak Carbon Source

Ute Weber, Michael O’Sullivan, Hella van Asperen, Shujiro Komiya, Myriam Terristi, Wouter Peters, Ingrid T. Luijkx, Santiago Botía, Gerbrand Koren, C. A. Quesada, S. Zaehle, S. Sitch, E. P. Marques‐Filho, J. P. Wigneron, A. Araujo, C. Q. Dias‐Júnior, J. Gonçalves de Souza, I. M. Cely, W. Li, P. Ciais, R. J. de Kok, D. Walter, F. A. F. D'Oliveira, J. V. Lavric, F. Chevallier, S. P. Jones, A. M. van der Woude, X. Li, S. Trumbore, A. Bastos, B. D. Stocker
article en
2 citations

Abstract

Abstract In 2023, the biogeographic Amazon experienced temperature anomalies of 1.5°C above the 1991–2020 average from September to November. These conditions were driven by high sea surface temperature in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, together with reduced moisture advection from the Atlantic, causing large vapor pressure and water deficits in the second semester of 2023. Here, we evaluate the response of the Amazon carbon cycle to this extreme event across different spatial scales. We combined atmospheric CO 2 mole fractions and eddy covariance flux data from the Amazon Tall Tower Observatory (ATTO, −2.1441, −58.99), low‐latency simulations by Dynamic Global Vegetation Models (DGVMs), an atmospheric inversion, and remote sensing data. We find that in 2023 the Amazon region was, including fires, a net carbon source of 0.01–0.17 PgC. Fire emissions (0.15 [0.13–0.17] PgC) were within typical variability of the 2003–2023 period, thus we attribute the weak carbon source to reduced vegetation uptake during the dry season (August–October). A stronger‐than‐normal vegetation uptake early in the year (January–April), consistent across data streams and spatial scales, mitigated the total carbon losses by the end of the year. We find a shift from carbon sink to source in May and a peak source in October. Our findings show a reduced vegetation carbon uptake over the Amazon region, leading to a weak carbon source that contributed up to 30% of the net carbon loss in the tropical land in 2023.

AGU AdvancesVol. 7(1)
University of Bern (CH), Universidade Federal da Bahia (BR), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR), Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research (CH), University of Groningen (NL), Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia (BR), Utrecht University (NL), Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (FR), University of Exeter (GB), Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies Alternatives (FR), Université Paris-Saclay (FR), Microsoft (Brazil) (BR), Institut National de Recherche pour l'Agriculture, l'Alimentation et l'Environnement (FR), Integrated Carbon Observation System (FI), Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia do Pará (BR), Max Planck Institute for Chemistry (DE), Interaction Sol Plante Atmosphère (FR), Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement (FR), CEA Paris-Saclay (FR), Optima Pharmazeutische (Germany) (DE), Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry (DE), Wageningen University & Research (NL), Leipzig University (DE), Tsinghua University (CN)
Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung
Life below water
Openalex Percentile: Top 0%
Fire effects on ecosystems
73.25
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