Amazon River CO2 Flux Estimates from Satellite and Field Data

Monthly carbon dioxide flux estimates for the Amazon mainstem rivers, tributary stream networks, and their floodplains (varzeas). The data integrates satellite-derived surface water area from JERS-1 radar mosaics with over 1,800 field samples of partial pressure of CO2 (pCO2) collected during 13 CAMREX expeditions. It was produced by the ORNL_CLOUD organization and includes five data files.

Use Cases

• Modeling regional carbon budgets by analyzing monthly CO2 flux aggregated by river basin or reach.
• Studying floodplain-river interactions using classified flooded/non-flooded areas from satellite mosaics.
• Analyzing seasonal patterns in greenhouse gas emissions with mean monthly discharge data for 11 mainstem rivers.
• Calibrating remote sensing water extent products with in-situ pCO2 concentration data from field expeditions.

Strengths

• Derived from a substantial field campaign, utilizing over 1,800 pCO2 samples from 13 expeditions.
• Spatial detail is enhanced by satellite radar data (JERS-1) used to classify flooded areas over a 2,000 km river reach.
• Provides multiple aggregation levels for analysis, including flux calculations for defined river basins and individual reaches.

Limitations

• Key metadata conflicts exist: the last updated date is reported as both 1996-06-30 and 2026-03-13 across sources.
• Specific column names, row counts, and exact file sizes are not provided by any platform.
• The 'other-license-specified' license requires users to locate and review the exact terms.

Provenance

Source

Carbon in the Amazon River Experiment (CAMREX) expeditions and Japanese Earth Resources Satellite-1 (JERS-1) data.

Collection Method

Flux calculated from satellite-estimated monthly surface water area, mean daily pCO2 concentrations for mainstem rivers, and calculated mean pCO2 for floodplain waters.

Time Range

Data covers periods of high and low water, with field samples collected over multiple expeditions (specific years not detailed).

Freshness

2026-03-13 01:17:34.682041

Geography

Amazon/Solimoes River mainstem from 70 degrees W to 54 degrees W, including tributaries and floodplains.