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Title: Wildfire‐Smoke Aerosols Lead to Increased Light Use Efficiency Among Agricultural and Restored Wetland Land Uses in California's Central Valley

Journal Article · · Journal of Geophysical Research. Biogeosciences
ORCiD logo [1];  [2]; ORCiD logo [2]
  1. Ecosystem Science Division, Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management University of California Berkeley CA USA, Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment Stanford University Stanford CA USA
  2. Ecosystem Science Division, Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management University of California Berkeley CA USA

Abstract There are few observational studies measuring the ecosystem‐scale productivity effects of changes in incident diffuse photosynthetically active radiation (PAR diffuse ), especially related to wildfire smoke. Climate change‐induced increases to the duration and intensity of fire conditions have made smoke a common occurrence across western North America, with largely unquantified ecosystem feedbacks. Under equivalent amounts of radiation, increased atmospheric particulate matter could lead to a boost in productivity as scattering redistributes photons throughout multilayer canopies. In this work, we leverage a meso‐network of eddy covariance measurement sites across a unique array of managed and restored C 3 and C 4 canopy types to understand how recent wildfire smoke affected ecosystem productivity during the summer of 2018, an especially smoky year in the agriculturally productive Central Valley. We find that diffuse PAR diffuse increased by more than a third compared to the previous growing season, while total PAR was only slightly diminished. These conditions caused nearly a doubling of light use efficiency over the range of diffuse fraction observed, with the highest sensitivity to diffuse fraction exhibited by corn and alfalfa crops. We utilized an empirical model to assess the trade‐off between enhanced diffuse fraction and reduced total PAR. Under mean radiation conditions, daily integrated gross ecosystem productivity increased by 1.2–4.2% compared to the previous growing season. Finally, we explore the potential negative effect of heightened ozone, a copollutant often associated with wildfire. In addition to the effects of wildfire smoke, the results of this natural experiment can help validate future predictions of aerosol‐productivity feedbacks.

Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
Grant/Contract Number:
7079856
OSTI ID:
1599916
Journal Information:
Journal of Geophysical Research. Biogeosciences, Journal Name: Journal of Geophysical Research. Biogeosciences Vol. 125 Journal Issue: 2; ISSN 2169-8953
Publisher:
American Geophysical Union (AGU)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 24 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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