Linking solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence to biogenic volatile organic compound emissions in low Arctic tundra: A field spectroscopy approach

The warming Arctic is experiencing one of the largest annual Biogenic Volatile Organic Compounds (BVOC) emissions increases globally relative to the baseline of the previous decades. In particular isoprenoids are known to be driven by photosynthetic processes. Therefore, their emissions could be linked to proxies of photosynthetic activity that can be sensed remotely. In this study, we propose to explore the link between Solar-Induced Chlorophyll Fluorescence (SIF) in the O 2 -A absorption band and BVOC emission rates in a field spectroscopy framework, so as to further investigate the relationship between the reflectance properties of vegetation and emitted BVOC rates. The vegetation under examination consists of typical species found in low Arctic tundra. The workflow of analysis includes wavelength selection, feature ranking importance, and construction of Structural Equation Models in order to verify the links between the remotely sensed variables and the emission rates of various BVOC groups. The results show that SIF can be treated as an important proxy for isoprene emissions, while other spectral indices such as PRI and EVI can similarly be deployed for sesquiterpene and monoterpene emissions, respectively.