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Updated: Aug 21, 2026

Measuring Carbon-based Contaminant Mineralization Using Combined CO2 Flux and Radiocarbon Analyses
Published on: October 21, 2016
Low latency global carbon budget reveals land sink decline during 2023 to 2024 El Niño
Piyu Ke1,2,3, Philippe Ciais1, Yitong Yao4
1Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement, LSCE/IPSL, CEA-CNRS-UVSQ, Université Paris-Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette 91191, France.
Abstract:
El Niño droughts can weaken tropical land carbon uptake and accelerate atmospheric CO2 growth. We updated the low-latency global CO2 budget through June 2024 using near-real-time fossil emissions, four dynamic global vegetation models (DGVMs), ocean carbon emulators, and three OCO-2 atmospheric inversions. From July 2023 to June 2024, atmospheric CO2 grew by 3.66 ± 0.09 ppm yr-1, the highest July-to-July rate since 1979; after detrending, the anomaly was 1.1 ppm yr-1, comparable to previous major El Niño events. The anomaly was mainly driven by a 2.24 GtC yr-1 weakening of the net land sink, partly offset by 0.38 GtC yr-1 stronger ocean uptake. The tropics accounted for 97.5% of the land anomaly, led by the Amazon, central Africa, and Southeast Asia. This update shows how recent El Niño droughts drove the high CO2 growth rate through mid-2024 and how low-latency budgets can track carbon cycle extremes.
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