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Title: Reduced North American terrestrial primary productivity linked to anomalous Arctic warming

Journal Article · · Nature Geoscience
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2986· OSTI ID:1394479
ORCiD logo [1];  [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [5];  [6];  [7]
  1. Pohang Univ. of Science and Technology (POSTECH) (Korea, Republic of)
  2. South Univ. of Science and Technology of China, Shenzhen (China)
  3. Northern Arizona Univ., Flagstaff, AZ (United States)
  4. Carnegie Inst. of Science, Stanford, CA (United States)
  5. Woods Hole Research Center, Falmouth, MA (United States); Northern Arizona Univ., Flagstaff, AZ (United States)
  6. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
  7. Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States)
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Warming temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere have enhanced terrestrial productivity. Despite the warming trend, North America has experienced more frequent and more intense cold weather events during winters and springs. These events have been linked to anomalous Arctic warming since 1990, and may affect terrestrial processes. Here we analyse many observation data sets and numerical model simulations to evaluate links between Arctic temperatures and primary productivity in North America. We find that positive springtime temperature anomalies in the Arctic have led to negative anomalies in gross primary productivity over most of North America during the last three decades, which amount to a net productivity decline of 0.31 PgC yr-1 across the continent. This decline is mainly explained by two factors: severe cold conditions in northern North America and lower precipitation in the South Central United States. In addition, United States crop-yield data reveal that during years experiencing anomalous warming in the Arctic, yields declined by approximately 1 to 4% on average, with individual states experiencing declines of up to 20%. We conclude that the strengthening of Arctic warming anomalies in the past decades has remotely reduced productivity over North America.

Research Organization:
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-00OR22725
OSTI ID:
1394479
Journal Information:
Nature Geoscience, Vol. 10, Issue 8; ISSN 1752-0894
Publisher:
Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 47 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (11)

Resolving Future Arctic/Midlatitude Weather Connections journal August 2018
Minimal influence of reduced Arctic sea ice on coincident cold winters in mid-latitudes journal August 2019
Consistency and discrepancy in the atmospheric response to Arctic sea-ice loss across climate models journal February 2018
High cloud coverage over melted areas dominates the impact of clouds on the albedo feedback in the Arctic journal July 2019
Atmospheric teleconnection influence on North American land surface phenology journal March 2018
Cold waves are getting milder in the northern midlatitudes journal October 2019
Bundle sheath chloroplast volume can house sufficient Rubisco to avoid limiting C4 photosynthesis during chilling journal November 2018
Regime shifts of Mediterranean forest carbon uptake and reduced resilience driven by multidecadal ocean surface temperatures journal May 2019
Phytoplankton decline in the eastern North Pacific transition zone associated with atmospheric blocking journal July 2019
Water scaling of ecosystem carbon cycle feedback to climate warming journal August 2019
Water scaling of ecosystem carbon cycle feedback to climate warming text January 2019

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