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Dr. Renato Braghiere @renatobrgh.bsky.social · 21d

🌎 Our recent work on CO₂ vs climate impacts on the global carbon sink, led by Eren Bilir, was selected for an Editor’s Highlight in Eos! A huge thank you to Dr. Sharon Billings and the editorial team at AGU Advances.

eos.org/editor-highl...

Rising CO2 and Climate Change Reorganize Global Terrestrial Carbon Cycling - Eos

Rising CO2 and climate change are redistributing terrestrial carbon fluxes and reservoirs across latitudes and reducing carbon residence times globally.

eos.org

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Dr. Renato Braghiere @renatobrgh.bsky.social · 26d

Had the honor of closing the #ACCESSCommunity25 Workshop as the last keynote speaker in Australia!
Great discussions and plenty of food for thought. Excited to see where this community takes these ideas next!
Grateful to the organizers and participants for the engagement!

ACCESS-NRI, Australia's Climate Simulator @access-nri.bsky.social · 26d

The last Keynote speaker of the #ACCESSCommunity25 Workshop @renatobrgh.bsky.social form @caltech.edu presented on the challenges of Minding the Carbon Gap: Bridging Observations and Process-Based Understanding for Earth System Modeling Innovation. Lots of food for thought + a great intro to #CliMA

Renato Braghiere presenting at the ACCESS Community Workshop 2025 on Earth system models

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Reposted by Dr. Renato Braghiere

ACCESS-NRI, Australia's Climate Simulator @access-nri.bsky.social · Sep 2

We are thrilled to announce our three keynote speakers for the 🌏#ACCESSCommunity25 Workshop next week in Melbourne! We have a program full of exciting talks, lunchtime discussions training sessions and opportunities to collaborate.
👩‍🏫 Program: bit.ly/4lH8UA6
👨‍💻 Training Day program: bit.ly/4kYZG0O

Images of the keynote speakers for the 2025 ACCESS Community Workshop and a background image of the Australian coast.

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Dr. Renato Braghiere @renatobrgh.bsky.social · Sep 4

Grateful to work with colleagues across @nasajpl.bsky.social, @caltech.edu , @stanforduniversity.bsky.social and partners worldwide.

Dr. Renato Braghiere @renatobrgh.bsky.social · Sep 4

Why it matters: CO₂ fertilization still props up land uptake, but climate-driven soil losses and accelerated turnover challenge the robustness of the sink. We need sustained monitoring + process-aware, observation-constrained models.

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Dr. Renato Braghiere @renatobrgh.bsky.social · Sep 4

How we did it: Bayesian fusion of multi-mission Earth observations (OCO-2, GRACE/GRACE-FO, LAI, biomass, fires, runoff, etc.) to build an observation-informed terrestrial reanalysis.

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Dr. Renato Braghiere @renatobrgh.bsky.social · Sep 4

Turnover matters: both CO₂ and climate shorten residence times (−2.6% and −1.3%, respectively) → a larger but faster-cycling sink with implications for resilience.

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Dr. Renato Braghiere @renatobrgh.bsky.social · Sep 4

Where it went: gains accrue mostly to live biomass (+31.2 PgC). Climate pressures drive dead-organic (soil) losses (−8.8 PgC) and shift dead C from higher latitudes toward the tropics.

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Dr. Renato Braghiere @renatobrgh.bsky.social · Sep 4

CO₂ rise added +39.4 PgC to land; climate trends removed −10.5 PgC → net +29.7 PgC over 2001–2021.

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Dr. Renato Braghiere @renatobrgh.bsky.social · Sep 4

We used the CARDAMOM model–data fusion framework to separate impacts of rising CO₂ from contemporary climate trends (2001–2021), tracking not just fluxes but where carbon sits (live biomass vs dead organic C) and how long it stays.

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Dr. Renato Braghiere @renatobrgh.bsky.social · Sep 4

New paper led by T. Eren Bilir in AGU Advances—proud to be a coauthor: Satellite-Constrained Reanalysis of the Global Land Carbon Sink. doi.org/10.1029/2025...

Satellite‐Constrained Reanalysis Reveals CO2 Versus Climate Process Compensation Across the Global Land Carbon Sink

CO2 ${\text{CO}}_{2}$-driven terrestrial C gains are ∼4 times greater than climate-driven losses during 2001–2021 and are mainly in live biomass reservoirs In the global sum, CO2 ${\text{CO}}_{2}...

doi.org

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Dr. Renato Braghiere @renatobrgh.bsky.social · Aug 26

CARDAMOM fuses satellites, field data, and models to better understand & predict ecosystem change. 🚀

#CarbonCycle #EcosystemModeling #DataAssimilation

Dr. Renato Braghiere @renatobrgh.bsky.social · Aug 26

🌍 New paper alert! Our review, led by Matthew Worden, is out in Global Change Biology: “Combining Observations and Models: A Review of the CARDAMOM Framework”
👉 doi.org/10.1111/gcb....

Combining Observations and Models: A Review of the CARDAMOM Framework for Data‐Constrained Terrestrial Ecosystem Modeling

The rapid increase in the volume and variety of terrestrial biosphere observations offers a unique opportunity to derive ecological insights, refine process-based models, and improve forecasting for ...

doi.org

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Reposted by Dr. Renato Braghiere

Copernicus ECMWF @copernicusecmwf.bsky.social · Aug 19

#Wildfires in Spain have reached record emissions in just one week according to our #CopernicusAtmosphere data. Heatwaves & drought are fueling fires, forcing evacuations & worsening air quality hundreds of km away. 🔥 Read the article for details
atmosphere.copernicus.eu/spain-below-...

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Reposted by Dr. Renato Braghiere

Keck Institute for Space Studies @kiss-caltech.bsky.social · Jul 15

Next Tuesday 7/22 we will hear from @cfranken.bsky.social as he discusses the proposed Carbon-I mission.

To attend this lecture, register here: bit.ly/Carbon-I

Location: Sharp Lecture Hall, Caltech
Time: 4:30PM Refreshments , 5:00PM Lecture

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Dr. Renato Braghiere @renatobrgh.bsky.social · Jul 8

Most models still use broad “tropical tree” or “grass” categories with fixed optics.

But real leaves vary in chlorophyll, thickness, & water content — and it matters. A lot.

Trait-based optics = better realism, better predictions.
#EarthSystem #CliMA #LeafTraits

Full paper:

Impacts of leaf traits on vegetation optical properties in Earth system modeling - Nature Communications

Earth system models often categorize plants to just a few functional types, and plant characteristics are defined per type, neglecting their diversity. The authors show how the use of plant traits can...

www.nature.com

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Dr. Renato Braghiere @renatobrgh.bsky.social · Jul 8

New CliMA post about our study out in Nature Comms! We show that replacing fixed plant types with real leaf traits in climate models changes everything — from surface albedo to rainfall. Darker Amazon, brighter Siberia. Climate shifts follow.

#climate #remotesensing

Rethinking Vegetation Optics in Climate Models

By Renato Braghiere Vegetation plays a critical role in regulating Earth’s climate by absorbing sunlight, exchanging moisture with the atmosphere, and sequestering carbon. Yet, how vegetation is re…

clima.caltech.edu

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Reposted by Dr. Renato Braghiere

Zack Labe @zacklabe.com · Jul 7

I'd like to introduce a new page on my website: U.S. climate indicator visuals (zacklabe.com/united-state...).

I only have a few basic variables so far, but I will be expanding this summer to add a range of metrics (e.g., ecological). I welcome suggestions! Hope this is useful, especially nowadays.

Screenshot showing a variability of different climate-related graphics for different United States climate change indicators

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Reposted by Dr. Renato Braghiere

Keck Institute for Space Studies @kiss-caltech.bsky.social · Jun 27

Carbon-I 🌎🛰️ is one of four candidate missions selected by NASA for one-year Phase A concept studies.

Join us on 7/22 for a talk from PI Prof. Christian Frankenberg as he outlines the mission concepts and paths forward.

Register here: bit.ly/Carbon-I

Read more: kiss.caltech.edu/lectures/202...

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Reposted by Dr. Renato Braghiere

Ben Bond-Lamberty @benbondlamberty.bsky.social · Jun 11

Now online: "Permafrost, Peatland, and Cropland Regions Are Key to Reconciling North American Carbon Sink Estimates" by Kelsey Foster et al., including @avnimalh0tra.bsky.social w/ Stanford, PNNL, NAU, and NRC colleagues agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/...

Permafrost, Peatland, and Cropland Regions Are Key to Reconciling North American Carbon Sink Estimates

Additional sink inferred by inversions in just 16% of North America accounts for the discrepancy between top-down and bottom-up estimates Statistically significant differences between top-down an...

agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

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Dr. Renato Braghiere @renatobrgh.bsky.social · Jun 5

NASA’s PACE mission just released its first year of data—capturing seasonal shifts in chlorophyll & other traits.

In our new paper, we show how trait data can shift climate model predictions of energy & carbon fluxes.

doi.org/10.1038/s414...

PACE shows what’s happening. We ask: what does it mean?

Leaf Year: Seeing Plants in Hyperspectral Color

YouTube video by NASA Goddard

youtu.be

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Dr. Renato Braghiere @renatobrgh.bsky.social · Jun 3

🌿 Feeling proud and grateful! Our recent @natcomms.nature.com paper was just featured in Scienmag! 💡

It’s rewarding to see this kind of attention highlighting the importance of linking traits to how we model the Earth system.

👉 scienmag.com/how-leaf-tra...

How Leaf Traits Shape Vegetation Optical Properties

In the ever-evolving quest to understand Earth's complex climate system, researchers have continually sought to improve the precision of Earth system models (ESMs) by integrating more detailed

scienmag.com

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Reposted by Dr. Renato Braghiere

Nature Communications @natcomms.nature.com · Jun 2

New study by Wang, Braghiere (@renatobrgh.bsky.social‬‬) et al. shows how the use of #plant traits can improve modeling of global #carbon, #water, and #energy fluxes, and consequently lead to improved #climate projections. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Impacts of leaf traits on vegetation optical properties in Earth system modeling - Nature Communications

Earth system models often categorize plants to just a few functional types, and plant characteristics are defined per type, neglecting their diversity. The authors show how the use of plant traits can...

www.nature.com

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Dr. Renato Braghiere @renatobrgh.bsky.social · May 29

🌱 New in Nature Communications!
We show that replacing plant functional types with trait-based leaf optics into CESM & CliMA improves surface reflectance, shifts albedo >5 W/m², and alters regional climate projections.
📖 Read: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

#Climate #LandModeling #LeafTraits

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Reposted by Dr. Renato Braghiere

esaclimate @esaclimate.bsky.social · May 5

Non-living carbon pools are key in carbon storage! ESA Climate Change Initiative's RECCAP study shows soil, sediments, and wetlands as major sinks, challenging the belief in forests' dominance. These findings offer crucial insights for future climate modelling. 🌿💧 climate.esa.int/en/news-even...

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