10.6084/m9.figshare.7029398.v1 Ana Bastos Ana Bastos Pierre Friedlingstein Pierre Friedlingstein Stephen Sitch Stephen Sitch Chi Chen Chi Chen Arnaud Mialon Arnaud Mialon Jean-Pierre Wigneron Jean-Pierre Wigneron Vivek K. Arora Vivek K. Arora Peter R. Briggs Peter R. Briggs Josep G. Canadell Josep G. Canadell Philippe Ciais Philippe Ciais Frédéric Chevallier Frédéric Chevallier Lei Cheng Lei Cheng Christine Delire Christine Delire Vanessa Haverd Vanessa Haverd Atul K. Jain Atul K. Jain Fortunat Joos Fortunat Joos Etsushi Kato Etsushi Kato Sebastian Lienert Sebastian Lienert Danica Lombardozzi Danica Lombardozzi Joe R. Melton Joe R. Melton Ranga Myneni Ranga Myneni Julia E. M. S. Nabel Julia E. M. S. Nabel Julia Pongratz Julia Pongratz Benjamin Poulter Benjamin Poulter Christian Rödenbeck Christian Rödenbeck Roland Séférian Roland Séférian Hanqin Tian Hanqin Tian Christel van Eck Christel van Eck Nicolas Viovy Nicolas Viovy Nicolas Vuichard Nicolas Vuichard Anthony P. Walker Anthony P. Walker Andy Wiltshire Andy Wiltshire Jia Yang Jia Yang Sönke Zaehle Sönke Zaehle Ning Zeng Ning Zeng Dan Zhu Dan Zhu Supplementary Figures from Impact of the 2015–2016 El Nino on the terrestrial carbon cycle constrained by bottom-up and top-down approaches The Royal Society 2018 carbon cycle El-Niño/Southern Oscillation land-surface models atmospheric inversions 2018-08-30 16:51:47 Dataset https://rs.figshare.com/articles/dataset/Supplementary_Figures_from_Impact_of_the_2015_2016_El_Nino_on_the_terrestrial_carbon_cycle_constrained_by_bottom-up_and_top-down_approaches/7029398 Evaluating the response of the land carbon sink to the anomalies in temperature and drought imposed by El-Niño events provides insights into the present-day carbon cycle and its climate-driven variability. It is also a necessary step to build confidence in terrestrial ecosystems models' response to the warming and drying stresses expected in the future over many continents, and particularly in the tropics. Here we present an in-depth analysis of the response of the terrestrial carbon cycle to the 2015/2016 El-Niño that imposed extreme warming and dry conditions in the tropics and other sensitive regions. First, we provide a synthesis of the spatio-temporal evolution of anomalies in net land-atmosphere CO<sub>2</sub> fluxes estimated by two <i>in situ</i> measurements based on atmospheric inversions and 16 land-surface models (LSMs) from TRENDYv6. Simulated changes in ecosystem productivity, decomposition rates and fire emissions are also investigated. Inversions and LSMs generally agree on the decrease and subsequent recovery of the land sink in response to the onset, peak and demise of El-Niño conditions and point to the decreased strength of the land carbon sink: by 0.4–0.7 PgC yr<sup>−1</sup> (inversions) and by 1.0 PgC yr<sup>−1</sup> (LSMs) during 2015/2016. LSM simulations indicate that a decrease in productivity, rather than increase in respiration, dominated the net biome productivity anomalies in response to ENSO throughout the tropics, mainly associated with prolonged drought conditions.This article is part of a discussion meeting issue ‘The impact of the 2015/2016 El Nino on the terrestrial tropical carbon cycle: patterns, mechanisms and implications’.