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Title: Causes of spring vegetation growth trends in the northern mid–high latitudes from 1982 to 2004

Journal Article · · Environmental Research Letters
 [1];  [1];  [1];  [2];  [2]
  1. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
  2. Peking Univ., Beijing (China)
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The Community Land Model version 4 (CLM4) is applied to explore the spatial–temporal patterns of spring (April–May) vegetation growth trends over the northern mid–high latitudes (NMH) (>25°N) between 1982 and 2004. During the spring season through the 23 yr period, both the satellite-derived and simulated normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) anomalies show a statistically significant correlation and an overall greening trend within the study area. Consistently with the observed NDVI–temperature relation, the CLM4 NDVI shows a significant positive association with the spring temperature anomaly for the NMH, North America and Eurasia. Large study areas experience temperature discontinuity associated with contrasting NDVI trends. Before and after the turning point (TP) of the temperature trends, climatic variability plays a dominant role, while the other environmental factors exert minor effects on the NDVI tendencies. Simulated vegetation growth is broadly stimulated by the increasing atmospheric CO2. Trends show that nitrogen deposition increases NDVI mostly in southeastern China, and decreases NDVI mainly in western Russia after the temperature TP. Furthermore, land use-induced NDVI trends vary roughly with the respective changes in land management practices (crop areas and forest coverage). Furthermore, our results highlight how non-climatic factors mitigate or exacerbate the impact of temperature on spring vegetation growth, particularly across regions with intensive human activity.

Research Organization:
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility (OLCF); UT-Battelle LLC/ORNL, Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-00OR22725
OSTI ID:
1564880
Journal Information:
Environmental Research Letters, Vol. 7, Issue 1; ISSN 1748-9326
Publisher:
IOP PublishingCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 48 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (12)

Detection and attribution of vegetation greening trend in China over the last 30 years journal January 2015
Codominant water control on global interannual variability and trends in land surface phenology and greenness journal June 2015
Earlier-Season Vegetation Has Greater Temperature Sensitivity of Spring Phenology in Northern Hemisphere journal February 2014
Contributions of natural and human factors to increases in vegetation productivity in China journal November 2015
Drought-Induced Reduction in Net Primary Productivity across Mainland China from 1982 to 2015 journal September 2018
Global Data Sets of Vegetation Leaf Area Index (LAI)3g and Fraction of Photosynthetically Active Radiation (FPAR)3g Derived from Global Inventory Modeling and Mapping Studies (GIMMS) Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI3g) for the Period 1981 to 2011 journal February 2013
Global Latitudinal-Asymmetric Vegetation Growth Trends and Their Driving Mechanisms: 1982–2009 journal March 2013
The carbon budget of terrestrial ecosystems in East Asia over the last two decades journal January 2012
The carbon budget of terrestrial ecosystems in East Asia over the last two decades journal January 2012
Attributing regional trends of evapotranspiration and gross primary productivity with remote sensing: a case study in the North China Plain journal January 2017
Attributing Regional Trends of Evapotranspiration and Gross Primary Productivity with Remote Sensing: A case study in the North China Plain journal September 2016
Vegetation response to precipitation anomalies under different climatic and biogeographical conditions in China journal January 2020

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