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Title: Weakening temperature control on the interannual variations of spring carbon uptake across northern lands

Journal Article · · Nature Climate Change
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate3277· OSTI ID:1376651
 [1];  [2];  [3]; ORCiD logo [2];  [4];  [2]; ORCiD logo [5];  [6];  [4];  [7];  [8];  [4]; ORCiD logo [9];  [10];  [3];  [11]; ORCiD logo [12]; ORCiD logo [9];  [13];  [2] more »;  [2];  [14] « less
  1. Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing (China); Peking Univ., Beijing (China)
  2. Peking Univ., Beijing (China)
  3. Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing (China)
  4. Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA), Gif-sur-Yvette (France)
  5. Stanford Univ., CA (United States)
  6. Univ. of Oslo (Norway)
  7. Univ. of Antwerp, Wilrijk (Belgium)
  8. South Univ. of Science and Technology of China, Shenzhen (China)
  9. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
  10. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Earth Systems Research Lab., Boulder, CO (United States); Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States)
  11. Boston Univ., MA (United States)
  12. Centre for Ecological Research and Forestry Applications (CREAF), Barcelona (Spain)
  13. Norwegian Institute for Air Research (NILU), Kjeller (Norway)
  14. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Earth Systems Research Lab., Boulder, CO (United States)
+ Show Author Affiliations

Ongoing spring warming allows the growing season to begin earlier, enhancing carbon uptake in northern ecosystems. We use 34 years of atmospheric CO2 concentration measurements at Barrow, Alaska (BRW, 71° N) to show that the interannual relationship between spring temperature and carbon uptake has recently shifted. Here, we use two indicators: the spring zero-crossing date of atmospheric CO2 (SZC) and the magnitude of CO2 drawdown between May and June (SCC). The previously reported strong correlation between SZC, SCC and spring land temperature (ST) was found in the first 17 years of measurements, but disappeared in the last 17 years. As a result, the sensitivity of both SZC and SCC to warming decreased. Simulations with an atmospheric transport model coupled to a terrestrial ecosystem model suggest that the weakened interannual correlation of SZC and SCC with ST in the last 17 years is attributable to the declining temperature response of spring net primary productivity (NPP) rather than to changes in heterotrophic respiration or in atmospheric transport patterns. Reduced chilling during dormancy and emerging light limitation are possible mechanisms that may have contributed to the loss of NPP response to ST. These results thus challenge the ‘warmer spring–bigger sink’ mechanism.

Research Organization:
Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)
DOE Contract Number:
AC05-00OR22725
OSTI ID:
1376651
Journal Information:
Nature Climate Change, Vol. 7, Issue 5; ISSN 1758-678X
Publisher:
Nature Publishing Group
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
biogeochemistry
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