Biocycle - Neil Suits - Research

Click on the links below for presentations and papers.

Carbon isotope ratios of plant carbon (per vs PDB)

Fig. 4. Mean annual c arbon isotope ratios of plant carbon assimilated during 1982-1991. Calculated using SiB, driven by meteorlogyprovided by the European Center for Medium-Range Forecast (ECMWF) and constrained by Fourier Adjusted Solar Interpolation Reconstruction Normalized Differential Vegietation Index (FASIR NDVI). The largest contrasts in delta values result from the distribution of C3 and C4 plants. Seconday variations result from C3 plants responding to differences in relative humidity and seasonal temperature changes. Units are per mil vs Pee Dee Belemnite (PDB). The lower image is the standard deviation in annual mean carbon isotope values. The bright red area in the NW Amazon basin is the result of a period of drought in ECMWF assimilated meteorlogy that is unlikely to have actually occurred. (Suits et al., 2005)

Work based on use of the Simple Biosphere Model:

Neil S. Suits , Denning, A.S., Berry, J.A., Still, C., Randerson, J.T., Ehleringer, J.R. and Baker, I.T., (2005), Simulated exchange of 13C between the terrestrial ecosystems and the atmosphere, Global Biogeochemical Cycles, Vol. 19, No. 1, GB1017, 10.1029/2003GB002141. PDF File, Copyright 2005 American Geophysical Union. Further reproduction or electronic distribution is not permitted. NOTE: THIS IS A TEMPORARY COPY WHILE I GET A COPY OF THE PUBLISHED MANUSCRIPT. Neil

Neil S. Suits, Denning, A.S. and Miller, J.B., Tropical drought and the carbon cycle: C3/C4 plant fractions, root zone stress and the use of carbon isotopes discrimination to estimate terrestrial CO 2 fluxes. 7 th International Carbon Dioxide Conference, Broomfield, Colorado, September 25-30, 2005. (PDF - 0.6 Mb).

Neil S. Suits, Denning, A.S., Baker, I.T., Thornton, P.E., Miller, J.B., Conner-Gausepohl, S.L. and Gurney, K.S., Sensitivity of ecosystem models of carbon isotope ratios to changes in vegetation properties and meteorology. AGU Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA, December 8-12, 2003. (PDF-0.5Mb)

Neil S. Suits , Denning, A.S., Berry, J.A., Randerson, J.T. Still, C.J., Kaduk, J. and Krebs, T., Carbon isotope discrimination of the terrestrial biosphere on multiple temporal and spatial scales, AGU Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA, December 6-10, 2002. Left Right

Neil S. Suits , Denning, A.S., Berry, J.A., Still, C., Randerson, J.T., Ehleringer, J.R. and Baker, I.T., Simulated exchange of 13C between the terrestrial ecosystems and the atmosphere, NOAA CMDL Presentation. 2001. (PDF 1.4Mb)

NSF Annual Report 2003

NSF Annual Report 2004

NSF Final Report

Work based on the Community Climate System Model (CCSM)

Neil S. Suits, A. Scott Denning, Ian T. Baker and O.G. Leonard. Simulating carbon isotopic exchange in the Community Land Model. 8 th Annual Community Climate System Model Workshop, Breckenridge, Colorado, June 24-26, 2003.

Neil S. Suits, Denning, A.S, Baker, I.T., Bonan, G., Thornton, P.E., Levis, S., Oleson, K. and Vertenstein , M., Why we want carbon isotope in CCSM, Workshop on Isotopes in the Earth System, Boulder, Colorado, January 13-15, 2004. (PDF- 1.1Mb).

Neil S. Suits, A. Scott Denning, Ian T. Baker and Peter E. Thornton. Challenges to simulating carbon isotopic exchange in the Community Land Model. 9 th Annual Community Climate System Model Workshop, Santa Fe, New Mexico, July 7-9, 2004. ( PDF File)

Neil S. Suits, Denning, A.S., Baker, I.T., Thornton, P.E. and Miller, J.B., Forward and inverse modeling of CO 2 and 13CO 2 in CCSM, National Science Foundation, Biocomplexity Awardees Meeting, Washington, D.C., September 14-17, 2004. (PDF - 0.5MB).

Neil S. Suits, A.S. Denning, P.E. Thornton, I.T. Baker and J. Lee, Spatial and temporal variations in terrestrial carbon isotope disequilibria simulated in coupled runs of the Community Climate System Model, AGU Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA, December 12-15, 2005. (PDF - 1.2Mb)

Carbon isotopes in CLM: photosynthetic discrimination, 12C and 13C concentrations and fluxes

Derivation of the 2-step fractionation equation for C3 plant discrimination

Code used to calculate carbon isotope discrimination in CLM

Implicit calculation of prognostic CO 2 in the canopy air space

Additional work using carbon isotopes in the atmosphere:

John B. Miller, White, J.W.C., Tans, P.P., Masarie, K.A., Vaughn, B.W., Conway, T.J., Suits, N.S. and Randerson, J.T., Interannual variability in terrestrial carbon fluxes from 1992 to 2003 determined by atmospheric CO 2 . (in preparation).

John B. Miller, White, J.W.C., Tans, P.P., Masarie, K.A., Vaughn, B.W., Conway, T.J., Suits, N.S. and Randerson, J.T., A decreasing trend in Northern Hemisphere carbon uptake since 1992. (Submitted to Science, in review).

Randerson, J.T., Still, C.J., Balle, J.J., Fung, I.Y., doney, S.C., Tans, P.P., Conway, T.J., White, J.W.C., Vaughn, B, Suits, N., and Denning, A.S., (2002). Carbon isotope discrimination of the arctic and boreal biomes inferred from remote atmospheric measurements and a biosphere-atmosphere model., Global Biogeochemical Cycles, Vol.16, No.3, 1028, 10.1029/2001GB001435. View PDF Copyright 2002 American Geophysical Union. Further reproduction or electronic distribution is not permitted.

Randerson, J.T., Collatz, J.G., Fessenden, J.E., Munoz, A.D., Still, C.J., Berry, J.A., Fung, I.Y., Suits, N., and Denning, A.S., (2002), A possible covariance between terrestrial gross primary production and 13C discrimination: Consequences for the atmospheric 13C budget and its response to ENSO, Global Biogeochemical Cycles, Vol. 16, No. 4, 1136, 10.1092/2001GB001845. View PDF Copyright 2002 American Geophysical Union. Further reproduction or electronic distribution is not permitted.

Miscellaneous collaborations using carbon isotopes:

For the use of carbon isotopes in determining migration patterns of endangered bird species see:

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds:

Using stable isotopes to investigate migratory connectivity of the globally threatened aquatic warbler Acrocephalus paludicola, Oecologia (2004) 138:168-174. (PDF)

Final Report, Debbie Pain

Locations of sampling sites, Debbie Pain

Assorted Model Output (under construction)

SiB (the Simple Biosphere) SiB references

Images: click on thumbnail to get a larger picture

The simulations below use GiMMSg NDVI and NCEP2 Meteorolgy and are run for 1982-2002