https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-2019-387 Preprint. Discussion started: 26 September 2019 c Author(s) 2019. CC BY 4.0 License. A double peak in the seasonality of California’s photosynthesis as observed from space Alexander J. Turner1,2,3, Philipp Köhler4, Troy S. Magney3,4,5, Christian Frankenberg3,4, Inez Fung1, and Ronald C. Cohen1,2 1Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA. 2College of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA. 3Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, 91109, USA. 4Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, 91226, USA. 5Department of Plant Sciences, University of California, Davis, CA, 95616, USA. Correspondence: Alexander J. Turner (
[email protected]) 1 Abstract. Solar-Induced chlorophyll Fluorescence (SIF) has been shown to be a powerful proxy for photosynthesis and gross 2 primary productivity (GPP). The recently launched TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) features the required 3 spectral resolution and signal-to-noise ratio to retrieve SIF from space. Here we present an oversampling and downscaling 4 method to obtain 500-m spatial resolution SIF over California. We report daily values based on a 14-day window. TROPOMI 5 SIF data show a strong correspondence with daily GPP estimates at AmeriFlux sites across multiple ecosystems in California. 6 We find a linear relationship between SIF and GPP that is largely invariant across ecosystems with an intercept that is not 7 significantly different from zero. Measurements of SIF from TROPOMI agree with MODIS vegetation indices (NDVI, EVI, 8 and NIRv) at annual timescales but indicate different temporal dynamics at monthly and daily timescales.