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Title: Unusual characteristics of the carbon cycle during the 2015–2016 El Niño

Abstract

Abstract The 2015−2016 El Niño was one of the strongest on record, but its influence on the carbon balance is less clear. Using Northern Hemisphere atmospheric CO 2 observations, we found both detrended atmospheric CO 2 growth rate (CGR) and CO 2 seasonal‐cycle amplitude (SCA) of 2015−2016 were much higher than that of other El Niño events. The simultaneous high CGR and SCA were unusual, because our analysis of long‐term CO 2 observations at Mauna Loa revealed a significantly negative correlation between CGR and SCA. Atmospheric inversions and terrestrial ecosystem models indicate strong northern land carbon uptake during spring but substantially reduced carbon uptake (or high emissions) during early autumn, which amplified SCA but also resulted in a small anomaly in annual carbon uptake of northern ecosystems in 2015−2016. This negative ecosystem carbon uptake anomaly in early autumn was primarily due to soil water deficits and more litter decomposition caused by enhanced spring productivity. Our study demonstrates a decoupling between seasonality and annual carbon cycle balance in northern ecosystems over 2015−2016, which is unprecedented in the past five decades of El Niño events.

Authors:
ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [2];  [3]; ORCiD logo [4];  [4]; ORCiD logo [5]; ORCiD logo [6];  [3];  [7];  [8];  [9]; ORCiD logo [10]
  1. Peking Univ., Beijing (China)
  2. Peking Univ., Beijing (China); Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing (China)
  3. Lab. des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement, Gif‐sur‐Yvette (France)
  4. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
  5. UK Center for Ecology and Hydrology, Wallingford (United Kingdom)
  6. Max Planck Inst. for Biogeochemistry, Jena (Germany)
  7. Peking Univ. Beijing (China)
  8. Univ. of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA (United States)
  9. Princeton Univ., NJ (United States)
  10. Colorado State Univ., Fort Collins, CO (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE
OSTI Identifier:
1818664
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1784772
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC05-00OR22725; DE‐AC05‐00OR22725
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Global Change Biology
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 27; Journal Issue: 16; Journal ID: ISSN 1354-1013
Publisher:
Wiley
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES

Citation Formats

Wang, Kai, Wang, Xuhui, Piao, Shilong, Chevallier, Frédéric, Mao, Jiafu, Shi, Xiaoying, Huntingford, Chris, Bastos, Ana, Ciais, Philippe, Xu, Hao, Keeling, Ralph F., Pacala, Stephen W., and Chen, Anping. Unusual characteristics of the carbon cycle during the 2015–2016 El Niño. United States: N. p., 2021. Web. doi:10.1111/gcb.15669.
Wang, Kai, Wang, Xuhui, Piao, Shilong, Chevallier, Frédéric, Mao, Jiafu, Shi, Xiaoying, Huntingford, Chris, Bastos, Ana, Ciais, Philippe, Xu, Hao, Keeling, Ralph F., Pacala, Stephen W., & Chen, Anping. Unusual characteristics of the carbon cycle during the 2015–2016 El Niño. United States. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.15669
Wang, Kai, Wang, Xuhui, Piao, Shilong, Chevallier, Frédéric, Mao, Jiafu, Shi, Xiaoying, Huntingford, Chris, Bastos, Ana, Ciais, Philippe, Xu, Hao, Keeling, Ralph F., Pacala, Stephen W., and Chen, Anping. Tue . "Unusual characteristics of the carbon cycle during the 2015–2016 El Niño". United States. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.15669. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1818664.
@article{osti_1818664,
title = {Unusual characteristics of the carbon cycle during the 2015–2016 El Niño},
author = {Wang, Kai and Wang, Xuhui and Piao, Shilong and Chevallier, Frédéric and Mao, Jiafu and Shi, Xiaoying and Huntingford, Chris and Bastos, Ana and Ciais, Philippe and Xu, Hao and Keeling, Ralph F. and Pacala, Stephen W. and Chen, Anping},
abstractNote = {Abstract The 2015−2016 El Niño was one of the strongest on record, but its influence on the carbon balance is less clear. Using Northern Hemisphere atmospheric CO 2 observations, we found both detrended atmospheric CO 2 growth rate (CGR) and CO 2 seasonal‐cycle amplitude (SCA) of 2015−2016 were much higher than that of other El Niño events. The simultaneous high CGR and SCA were unusual, because our analysis of long‐term CO 2 observations at Mauna Loa revealed a significantly negative correlation between CGR and SCA. Atmospheric inversions and terrestrial ecosystem models indicate strong northern land carbon uptake during spring but substantially reduced carbon uptake (or high emissions) during early autumn, which amplified SCA but also resulted in a small anomaly in annual carbon uptake of northern ecosystems in 2015−2016. This negative ecosystem carbon uptake anomaly in early autumn was primarily due to soil water deficits and more litter decomposition caused by enhanced spring productivity. Our study demonstrates a decoupling between seasonality and annual carbon cycle balance in northern ecosystems over 2015−2016, which is unprecedented in the past five decades of El Niño events.},
doi = {10.1111/gcb.15669},
journal = {Global Change Biology},
number = 16,
volume = 27,
place = {United States},
year = {Tue May 25 00:00:00 EDT 2021},
month = {Tue May 25 00:00:00 EDT 2021}
}

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