Drivers of Organic Molecular Signatures in the Amazon River

As climate-driven El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events are projected to increase in frequency and severity, much attention has focused on impacts regarding ecosystem productivity and carbon balance in Amazonian rainforests, with comparatively little attention given to carbon dynamics in fluvial ecosystems. In this study, we compared the wet 2012 La Nina period to the following normal hydrologic period in the Amazon River. Elevated water flux during the La Nina period was accompanied by dilution of inorganic ion concentrations. Furthermore, the La Nina period exported 2.77 Tg C yr(-1) more dissolved organic carbon (DOC) than the normal period, an increase greater than the annual amount of DOC exported by the Mississippi River. Using ultra-high-resolution mass spectrometry, we detected both intra- and interannual differences in dissolved organic matter (DOM) composition, revealing that DOM exported during the dry season and the normal period was more aliphatic, whereas compounds in the wet season and following the La Nina event were more aromatic, with ramifications for its environmental role. Furthermore, as this study has the highest temporal resolution DOM compositional data for the Amazon River to-date we showed that compounds were highly correlated to a 6-month lag in Pacific temperature and pressure anomalies, suggesting that ENSO events could impact DOM composition exported to the Atlantic Ocean. Therefore, as ENSO events increase in frequency and severity into the future it seems likely that there will be downstream consequences for the fate of Amazon Basin-derived DOM concurrent with lag periods as described here.

Automated summary

The study shows that during the La Nina period, the Amazon River exported 2.77 Tg C yr(-1) more dissolved organic carbon (DOC) than the normal period, which is greater than the annual amount exported by the Mississippi River. Additionally, the composition of dissolved organic matter (DOM) in the Amazon River was found to be more aromatic during the wet season and following the La Nina event, indicating potential implications for its environmental role.