For the past decade, observations of carbonyl sulfide (OCS or COS) have been investigated as a proxy for carbon uptake by plants. OCS is destroyed by enzymes that interact with CO₂ during photosynthesis, namely carbonic anhydrase (CA) and RuBisCO, where CA is the more important one. The majority of sources of OCS to the atmosphere are geographically separated from this large plant sink, whereas the sources and sinks of CO₂ are co-located in ecosystems. The drawdown of OCS can therefore be related to the uptake of CO₂ without the added complication of co-located emissions comparable in magnitude. Here we review the state of our understanding of the global OCS cycle and its applications to ecosystem carbon cycle science. OCS uptake is correlated well to plant carbon uptake, especially at the regional scale. OCS can be used in conjunction with other independent measures of ecosystem function, like solar-induced fluorescence and carbon and water isotope studies. More work needs to be done to generate global coverage for OCS observations and to link this powerful atmospheric tracer to systems where fundamental questions concerning the carbon and water cycle remain.

A large array of proxy records suggests that the “4.2 ka event” marks an approximately 300-year long period (∼3.9 to 4.2 ka) of major climate change across the globe. However, the climatic manifestation of this event, including its onset, duration, and termination, remains less clear in the Indian summer monsoon (ISM) domain. Here, we present new oxygen isotope (δ¹⁸O) data from a pair of speleothems (ML.1 and ML.2) from Mawmluh Cave, Meghalaya, India, that provide a high-resolution record of ISM variability during a period (∼3.78 and 4.44 ka) that fully encompasses the 4.2 ka event. The sub-annually to annually resolved ML.1 δ¹⁸O record is constrained by 18 ²³⁰Th dates with an average dating error of ±13 years (2σ) and a resolution of ∼40 years, which allows us to characterize the ISM variability with unprecedented detail. The inferred pattern of ISM variability during the period contemporaneous with the 4.2 ka event shares broad similarities and key differences with the previous reconstructions of ISM from the Mawmluh Cave and other proxy records from the region. Our data suggest that the ISM intensity, in the context of the length of our record, abruptly decreased at ∼4.0 ka ($\sim \pm \mathrm{13}$ years), marking the onset of a multi-centennial period of relatively reduced ISM, which was punctuated by at least two multi-decadal droughts between ∼3.9 and 4.0 ka. The latter stands out in contrast with some previous proxy reconstructions of the ISM, in which the 4.2 ka event has been depicted as a singular multi-centennial drought.

Climate change played an important causal role in the expansion and collapse of the Neo-Assyrian Empire.

Understanding the processes that control the terrestrial exchange of carbon is critical for assessing atmospheric CO₂ budgets. Carbonyl sulfide (COS) is taken up by vegetation during photosynthesis following a pathway that mirrors CO₂ but has a small or nonexistent emission component, providing a possible tracer for gross primary production. Field measurements of COS and CO₂ mixing ratios were made in forest, senescent grassland, and riparian ecosystems using a laser absorption spectrometer installed in a mobile trailer. Measurements of leaf fluxes with a branch‐bag gas‐exchange system were made across species from 10 genera of trees, and soil fluxes were measured with a flow‐through chamber. These data show (1) the existence of a narrow normalized daytime uptake ratio of COS to CO₂ across vascular plant species of 1.7, providing critical information for the application of COS to estimate photosynthetic CO₂ fluxes and (2) a temperature‐dependent normalized uptake ratio of COS to CO₂ from soils. Significant nighttime uptake of COS was observed in broad‐leafed species and revealed active stomatal opening prior to sunrise. Continuous high‐resolution joint measurements of COS and CO₂ concentrations in the boundary layer are used here alongside the flux measurements to partition the influence that leaf and soil fluxes and entrainment of air from above have on the surface carbon budget. The results provide a number of critical constraints on the processes that control surface COS exchange, which can be used to diagnose the robustness of global models that are beginning to use COS to constrain terrestrial carbon exchange.

The oxidation of carbonyl sulfide (OCS) is the primary, continuous source of stratospheric sulfate aerosol particles, which can scatter shortwave radiation and catalyze heterogeneous reactions in the stratosphere. While it has been estimated that the oxidation of dimethyl sulfide (DMS), emitted from the surface ocean accounts for 8%–20% of the global OCS source, there is no existing DMS oxidation mechanism relevant to the marine atmosphere that is consistent with an OCS source of this magnitude. We describe new laboratory measurements and theoretical analyses of DMS oxidation that provide a mechanistic description for OCS production from hydroperoxymethyl thioformate, a ubiquitous, soluble DMS oxidation product. We incorporate this chemical mechanism into a global chemical transport model, showing that OCS production from DMS is a factor of 3 smaller than current estimates, displays a maximum in the tropics consistent with field observations and is sensitive to multiphase cloud chemistry.

The transpiration (T) fraction of total terrestrial evapotranspiration (ET), T/ET, can vary across ecosystems between 20–95% with a global average of ∼60%. The wide range may either reflect true heterogeneity between ecosystems and/or uncertainties in the techniques used to derive this property. Here we compared independent approaches to estimate T/ET at two needleleaf forested sites with a factor of 3 difference in leaf area index (LAI). The first method utilized water vapor isotope profiles and the second derived transpiration through its functional relationship with gross primary production. We found strong agreement between T/ET values from these two independent approaches although we noted a discrepancy at low vapor pressure deficits (VPD). We hypothesize that this divergence arises because stomatal conductance is independent of humidity at low VPD. Overall, we document significant synoptic‐scale T/ET variability but minimal growing season‐scale variability. This result indicates a high sensitivity of T/ET to passing weather but convergence toward a stable mean state, which is set by LAI. While changes in T/ET could emerge from a myriad of processes, including aboveground (LAI) or belowground (rooting depth) changes, there was only minimal interannual variability and no secular trend in our analysis of T/ET from the 15 year eddy covariance time series at Niwot Ridge. If the lack of trend observed here is apparent elsewhere, it suggests that the processes controlling the T and E fluxes are coupled in a way to maintain a stable ratio.