Amazonian Atmospheric Carbon Isotope Measurements from Forest and Aircraft

March 1999 to March 2004 data reports carbon and oxygen stable isotope ratios of atmospheric carbon dioxide collected across the Brazilian Amazon. Measurements were taken at ten forest and pasture canopy sites and during aircraft flights in the troposphere over five days in May 2003. This data set from ORNL_CLOUD provides indicators for studying large-scale CO2 exchange and the effects of forest-pasture conversion.

Use Cases

• Analyzing seasonal and interannual changes in ecosystem isotopic discrimination using delta r (respiration) values.
• Modeling large-scale CO2 exchange on land by examining stable carbon and oxygen isotope ratios across multiple spatial scales.
• Investigating the impact of forest-pasture conversion on atmospheric carbon dioxide signatures at ten different canopy sites.
• Studying vertical profiles of atmospheric CO2 isotopes from data collected during aircraft flights ranging from low altitude to above the boundary layer.
• Correlating daytime and nighttime profile samples with environmental conditions across the states of Amazonas, Para, and Rondonia.

Strengths

• Provides a multi-year temporal coverage from 1999 to 2004 across ten distinct measurement sites.
• Includes vertically resolved data from aircraft flights capturing conditions from the surface to above the diurnal tropospheric boundary layer.
• Focuses on a critical region for global carbon cycling, the Brazilian Amazon, with specific data on forest-pasture conversion.

Limitations

• Conflicting last updated dates exist between sources: one reports 2004-03-31, while others report 2026-03-13, casting doubt on data maintenance.
• Specific column names, row counts, and file sizes are not provided by any platform, limiting detailed assessment of data structure and volume.
• Data collection for the aircraft component is limited to a short, five-day wet season campaign in May 2003.

Provenance

Source

ORNL_CLOUD

Collection Method

Samples collected at forest/pasture canopy sites and during aircraft flights, followed by laboratory analysis of carbon and oxygen isotopes.

Time Range

1999-03 to 2004-03

Freshness

2026-03-13 01:05:30.799008

Geography

Brazilian Amazon, specifically sites across the states of Amazonas, Para, and Rondonia, and flight paths over the Amazon/Tapajos Rivers and FLONA Tapajos.