Carbon uptake of an urban green space inferred from carbonyl sulfide fluxes

Abstract With several cities worldwide pursuing carbon neutrality in the upcoming decades, there is an increasing interest in quantifying cities’ anthropogenic carbon emissions using atmospheric observations. The challenge with both in-situ and remote sensing methods is, however, that the observatio...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Jesse Soininen, Kukka-Maaria Kohonen, Pekka Rantala, Liisa Kulmala, Hermanni Aaltonen, Leena Järvi
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Nature Portfolio 2025-03-01
Series:npj Climate and Atmospheric Science
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41612-025-00958-5
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1850251724399312896
author Jesse Soininen
Kukka-Maaria Kohonen
Pekka Rantala
Liisa Kulmala
Hermanni Aaltonen
Leena Järvi
author_facet Jesse Soininen
Kukka-Maaria Kohonen
Pekka Rantala
Liisa Kulmala
Hermanni Aaltonen
Leena Järvi
author_sort Jesse Soininen
collection DOAJ
description Abstract With several cities worldwide pursuing carbon neutrality in the upcoming decades, there is an increasing interest in quantifying cities’ anthropogenic carbon emissions using atmospheric observations. The challenge with both in-situ and remote sensing methods is, however, that the observations include both anthropogenic and biogenic signals. To reduce uncertainties in anthropogenic emission estimations, it is critical to partition biogenic fluxes of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the observed data. In this study, we, for the first time, examine the suitability of carbonyl sulfide (COS), a proxy for photosynthesis, on partitioning biogenic CO2 uptake from the ecosystem exchange measured with the eddy covariance (EC) technique over an urban area in Helsinki, Finland. The urban vegetation acts as a clear sink for COS whereas anthropogenic processes show minimal COS emissions within the source area of the measured net carbon flux. We show that two different COS flux-based methods are able to produce the dynamics of photosynthesis by an independent light-response curve-based estimation. Together with commonly used soil and vegetation respiration proxy, we removed biogenic signals from the urban net CO2 exchange and demonstrated that together with CO2 fluxes, COS flux can successfully be used to get realistic estimations of anthropogenic carbon emissions using the EC method.
format Article
id doaj-art-36f8faa010e548e48c993b56a53cbbe9
institution OA Journals
issn 2397-3722
language English
publishDate 2025-03-01
publisher Nature Portfolio
record_format Article
series npj Climate and Atmospheric Science
spelling doaj-art-36f8faa010e548e48c993b56a53cbbe92025-08-20T01:57:51ZengNature Portfolionpj Climate and Atmospheric Science2397-37222025-03-01811910.1038/s41612-025-00958-5Carbon uptake of an urban green space inferred from carbonyl sulfide fluxesJesse Soininen0Kukka-Maaria Kohonen1Pekka Rantala2Liisa Kulmala3Hermanni Aaltonen4Leena Järvi5Institute for Atmospheric and Earth System Research (INAR)/Physics, University of HelsinkiDepartment of Environmental Systems Science, ETH ZürichInstitute for Atmospheric and Earth System Research (INAR)/Physics, University of HelsinkiFinnish Meteorological InstituteFinnish Meteorological InstituteInstitute for Atmospheric and Earth System Research (INAR)/Physics, University of HelsinkiAbstract With several cities worldwide pursuing carbon neutrality in the upcoming decades, there is an increasing interest in quantifying cities’ anthropogenic carbon emissions using atmospheric observations. The challenge with both in-situ and remote sensing methods is, however, that the observations include both anthropogenic and biogenic signals. To reduce uncertainties in anthropogenic emission estimations, it is critical to partition biogenic fluxes of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the observed data. In this study, we, for the first time, examine the suitability of carbonyl sulfide (COS), a proxy for photosynthesis, on partitioning biogenic CO2 uptake from the ecosystem exchange measured with the eddy covariance (EC) technique over an urban area in Helsinki, Finland. The urban vegetation acts as a clear sink for COS whereas anthropogenic processes show minimal COS emissions within the source area of the measured net carbon flux. We show that two different COS flux-based methods are able to produce the dynamics of photosynthesis by an independent light-response curve-based estimation. Together with commonly used soil and vegetation respiration proxy, we removed biogenic signals from the urban net CO2 exchange and demonstrated that together with CO2 fluxes, COS flux can successfully be used to get realistic estimations of anthropogenic carbon emissions using the EC method.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41612-025-00958-5
spellingShingle Jesse Soininen
Kukka-Maaria Kohonen
Pekka Rantala
Liisa Kulmala
Hermanni Aaltonen
Leena Järvi
Carbon uptake of an urban green space inferred from carbonyl sulfide fluxes
npj Climate and Atmospheric Science
title Carbon uptake of an urban green space inferred from carbonyl sulfide fluxes
title_full Carbon uptake of an urban green space inferred from carbonyl sulfide fluxes
title_fullStr Carbon uptake of an urban green space inferred from carbonyl sulfide fluxes
title_full_unstemmed Carbon uptake of an urban green space inferred from carbonyl sulfide fluxes
title_short Carbon uptake of an urban green space inferred from carbonyl sulfide fluxes
title_sort carbon uptake of an urban green space inferred from carbonyl sulfide fluxes
url https://doi.org/10.1038/s41612-025-00958-5
work_keys_str_mv AT jessesoininen carbonuptakeofanurbangreenspaceinferredfromcarbonylsulfidefluxes
AT kukkamaariakohonen carbonuptakeofanurbangreenspaceinferredfromcarbonylsulfidefluxes
AT pekkarantala carbonuptakeofanurbangreenspaceinferredfromcarbonylsulfidefluxes
AT liisakulmala carbonuptakeofanurbangreenspaceinferredfromcarbonylsulfidefluxes
AT hermanniaaltonen carbonuptakeofanurbangreenspaceinferredfromcarbonylsulfidefluxes
AT leenajarvi carbonuptakeofanurbangreenspaceinferredfromcarbonylsulfidefluxes