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Title: Global and regional variability and change in terrestrial ecosystems net primary production and NDVI: A model-data comparison

Journal Article · · Remote Sensing
DOI:https://doi.org/10.3390/rs8030177· OSTI ID:1255393
ORCiD logo [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [1]
  1. Pacific Northwest National Lab., College Park, MD (United States)
  2. Univ. of Maryland, College Park, MD (United States); Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Potsdam (Germany)
  3. Univ. of Zurich, Zurich (Switzerland)
  4. Univ. of Maryland, College Park, MD (United States)

The net primary productivity (NPP) is commonly used for understanding the dynamics of terrestrial ecosystems and their role in carbon cycle. We used a combination of the most recent NDVI and model–based NPP estimates (from five models of the TRENDY project) for the period 1982-2012, to study the role of terrestrial ecosystems in carbon cycle under the prevailing climate conditions. We found that 80% and 67% of the global land area showed positive NPP and NDVI values, respectively, for this period. The global NPP was estimated to be about 63 Pg C y-1, with an increase of 0.214 Pg C y-1 y-1. Similarly, the global mean NDVI was estimated to be 0.33, with an increasing trend of 0.00041 y-1. The spatial patterns of NPP and NDVI demonstrated substantial variability, especially at the regional level, for most part of the globe. However, on temporal scale, both global NPP and NDVI showed a corresponding pattern of increase (decrease) for the duration of this study except for few years (e.g. 1990 and 1995-98). Generally, the Northern Hemisphere showed stronger NDVI and NPP increasing trends over time compared to the Southern Hemisphere; however, NDVI showed larger trends in Temperate regions while NPP showed larger trends in Boreal regions. Among the five models, the maximum and minimum NPP were produced by JULES (72.4 Pg C y-1) and LPJ (53.72 Pg C y-1) models, respectively. At latitudinal level, the NDVI and NPP ranges were ~0.035 y-1 to ~-0.016 y-1 and ~0.10 Pg C y-1 y-1 to ~-0.047 Pg C y-1 y-1, respectively. Overall, the results of this study suggest that the modeled NPP generally correspond to the NDVI trends in the temporal dimension. Lastly, the significant variability in spatial patterns of NPP and NDVI trends points to a need for research to understand the causes of these discrepancies between molded and observed ecosystem dynamics, and the carbon cycle.

Research Organization:
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-76RL01830
OSTI ID:
1255393
Report Number(s):
PNNL-SA-115751
Journal Information:
Remote Sensing, Vol. 8, Issue 3; ISSN 2072-4292
Publisher:
MDPICopyright 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 (20)

Weakening Relationship Between Vegetation Growth Over the Tibetan Plateau and Large-Scale Climate Variability journal April 2018
Disentangling Climate and Disturbance Effects on Regional Vegetation Greening Trends journal November 2018
Living off the Sun: chlorophylls, bacteriochlorophylls and rhodopsins journal March 2018
A method for determining vegetation growth process using remote sensing data: A case study in the Three-River Headwaters Region, China journal June 2019
Climate change risk to forests in China associated with warming journal January 2018
Detecting early warning signals of tree mortality in boreal North America using multiscale satellite data journal March 2018
Empirical and model-based estimates of spatial and temporal variations in net primary productivity in semi-arid grasslands of Northern China journal November 2017
Dissolved organic carbon in streams within a subarctic catchment analysed using a GIS/remote sensing approach journal July 2018
Does Land Use Change Affect Green Space Water Use? An Analysis of the Haihe River Basin journal June 2019
Analysis of Spatiotemporal Dynamics of the Chinese Vegetation Net Primary Productivity from the 1960s to the 2000s journal June 2018
Estimation of Vegetation Productivity Using a Landsat 8 Time Series in a Heavily Urbanized Area, Central China journal January 2019
Changes in Forest Net Primary Productivity in the Yangtze River Basin and Its Relationship with Climate Change and Human Activities journal June 2019
Roles of the environment, vegetation and spatial structure in the species composition of the Heteroptera community text January 2020
Combining European Earth Observation products with Dynamic Global Vegetation Models for estimating Essential Biodiversity Variables text January 2019
Combining European Earth Observation products with Dynamic Global Vegetation Models for estimating Essential Biodiversity Variables journal March 2019
Roles of the environment, vegetation and spatial structure in the species composition of the Heteroptera community text January 2020
Roles of the environment, vegetation and spatial structure in the species composition of the Heteroptera community journal April 2020
Empirical and model-based estimates of spatial and temporal variations in net primary productivity in semi-arid grasslands of Northern China preprint January 2017
Combining European Earth Observation products with Dynamic Global Vegetation Models for estimating Essential Biodiversity Variables text January 2019
Understanding spatiotemporal patterns of global forest NPP using a data-driven method based on GEE journal March 2020

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