Increased light-use efficiency in northern terrestrial ecosystems indicated by CO 2 and greening observations: INCREASE IN NH LIGHT USE EFFICIENCY
- Science and Solutions for a Changing Planet DTP, Imperial College London, London UK; AXA Chair Programme in Biosphere and Climate Impacts, Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, London UK; Department of Physics, Imperial College London, London UK
- AXA Chair Programme in Biosphere and Climate Impacts, Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, London UK; Grantham Institute: Climate Change and the Environment, Imperial College London, London UK
- Department of Physics, Imperial College London, London UK; Grantham Institute: Climate Change and the Environment, Imperial College London, London UK
- Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement, Saint-Aubin France
- Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena California USA
- School of Forest Resources, University of Maine, Orono Maine USA
- Atmospheric Sciences and Global Change Division, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland Washington USA
- School of Earth Sciences and Environmental Sustainability, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff Arizona USA
- Center for Global Environmental Research, National Institute for Environmental Studies, Tsukuba Japan
- Department of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana Illinois USA
- Climate Change Science Institute and Environmental Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge Tennessee USA
- Department of Global Ecology, Carnegie Institution for Science, Stanford California USA
- Sino-French Institute for Earth System Science, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing China
- Department of Ecology, Montana State University, Bozeman Montana USA
- Woods Hole Research Center, Falmouth Massachusetts USA
- International Center for Climate and Global Change Research, School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences, Auburn University, Auburn Alabama USA
- Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science and Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center, University of Maryland, College Park Maryland USA
Observations show an increasing amplitude in the seasonal cycle of CO2 (ASC) north of 45°N of 56 ± 9.8% over the last 50 years and an increase in vegetation greenness of 7.5–15% in high northern latitudes since the 1980s. However, the causes of these changes remain uncertain. Historical simulations from terrestrial biosphere models in the Multiscale Synthesis and Terrestrial Model Intercomparison Project are compared to the ASC and greenness observations, using the TM3 atmospheric transport model to translate surface fluxes into CO2 concentrations. We find that the modeled change in ASC is too small but the mean greening trend is generally captured. Modeled increases in greenness are primarily driven by warming, whereas ASC changes are primarily driven by increasing CO2. We suggest that increases in ecosystem-scale light use efficiency (LUE) have contributed to the observed ASC increase but are underestimated by current models. We highlight potential mechanisms that could increase modeled LUE.
- Research Organization:
- Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC05-76RL01830
- OSTI ID:
- 1406820
- Report Number(s):
- PNNL-SA-123311; KP1703020
- Journal Information:
- Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 43, Issue 21; ISSN 0094-8276
- Publisher:
- American Geophysical Union
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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