Interannual variability in the atmospheric CO 2 rectification over a boreal forest region

Ecosystem CO 2 exchange with the atmosphere and the planetary boundary layer (PBL) dynamics are correlated diurnally and seasonally. The strength of this kind of covariation is quantified as the rectifier effect, and it affects the vertical gradient of CO 2 and thus the global CO 2 distribution pattern. An 11‐year (1990–1996, 1999–2002), continuous CO 2 record from Fraserdale, Ontario (49°52′29.9″N, 81°34′12.3″W), along with a coupled vertical diffusion scheme (VDS) and ecosystem model named Boreal Ecosystem Productivity Simulator (BEPS), are used to investigate the interannual variability of the rectifier effect over a boreal forest region. The coupled model performed well (r 2 = 0.70 and 0.87, at 40 m at hourly and daily time steps, respectively) in simulating CO 2 vertical diffusion processes. The simulated annual atmospheric rectifier effect varies from 3.99 to 5.52 ppm, while the diurnal rectifying effect accounted for about a quarter of the annual total (22.8∼28.9%).The atmospheric rectification of CO 2 is not simply influenced by terrestrial source and sink strengths, but by seasonal and diurnal variations in the land CO 2 flux and their interaction with PBL dynamics. Air temperature and moisture are found to be the dominant climatic factors controlling the rectifier effect. The annual rectifier effect is highly correlated with annual mean temperature ( r 2 = 0.84), while annual mean air relative humidity can explain 51% of the interannual variation in rectification. Seasonal rectifier effect is also found to be more sensitive to climate variability than diurnal rectifier effect.