Small global effect on terrestrial net primary production due to increased fossil fuel aerosol emissions from East Asia since the turn of the century

O'Sullivan, M.; Rap, A.; Reddington, C. L.; Spracklen, D. V.; Gloor, M.; Buermann, W.

doi:10.1002/2016GL068965

Title: Small global effect on terrestrial net primary production due to increased fossil fuel aerosol emissions from East Asia since the turn of the century

Journal Article · Sun Aug 14 00:00:00 EDT 2016 · Geophysical Research Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GL068965· OSTI ID:1322426

O'Sullivan, M. ^[1]; Rap, A. ^[1]; Reddington, C. L. ^[1]; Spracklen, D. V. ^[1]; Gloor, M. ^[2]; Buermann, W. ^[1]

Institute for Climate and Atmospheric Science, School of Earth and Environment University of Leeds Leeds UK
School of Geography University of Leeds Leeds UK

Abstract The global terrestrial carbon sink has increased since the start of this century at a time of growing carbon emissions from fossil fuel burning. Here we test the hypothesis that increases in atmospheric aerosols from fossil fuel burning enhanced the diffuse light fraction and the efficiency of plant carbon uptake. Using a combination of models, we estimate that at global scale changes in light regimes from fossil fuel aerosol emissions had only a small negative effect on the increase in terrestrial net primary production over the period 1998–2010. Hereby, the substantial increases in fossil fuel aerosol emissions and plant carbon uptake over East Asia were effectively canceled by opposing trends across Europe and North America. This suggests that if the recent increase in the land carbon sink would be causally linked to fossil fuel emissions, it is unlikely via the effect of aerosols but due to other factors such as nitrogen deposition or nitrogen‐carbon interactions.

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Research Organization:: University of Leeds (United Kingdom)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER); European Commission (EC); Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) (United Kingdom)

Grant/Contract Number:: SC0006708; FG02-04ER63917; FG02-04ER63911; CIG PCIG14-GA-2013-631812; NE/J004723/1; NE/J009822/1

OSTI ID:: 1322426

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1322427; OSTI ID: 1438188

Journal Information:: Geophysical Research Letters, Journal Name: Geophysical Research Letters Vol. 43 Journal Issue: 15; ISSN 0094-8276

Publisher:: American Geophysical Union (AGU)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 19 works

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Title: Small global effect on terrestrial net primary production due to increased fossil fuel aerosol emissions from East Asia since the turn of the century

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