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Compensatory water effects link yearly global land CO 2 sink changes to temperature

Jung, Martin ; Reichstein, Markus ; Schwalm, Christopher R. ; Huntingford, Chris ; Sitch, Stephen LU ; Ahlström, Anders LU orcid ; Arneth, Almut LU ; Camps-Valls, Gustau ; Ciais, Philippe and Friedlingstein, Pierre , et al. (2017) In Nature 541(7638). p.516-520
Abstract

Large interannual variations in the measured growth rate of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO 2) originate primarily from fluctuations in carbon uptake by land ecosystems. It remains uncertain, however, to what extent temperature and water availability control the carbon balance of land ecosystems across spatial and temporal scales. Here we use empirical models based on eddy covariance data and process-based models to investigate the effect of changes in temperature and water availability on gross primary productivity (GPP), terrestrial ecosystem respiration (TER) and net ecosystem exchange (NEE) at local and global scales. We find that water availability is the dominant driver of the local interannual variability in GPP and TER. To a... (More)

Large interannual variations in the measured growth rate of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO 2) originate primarily from fluctuations in carbon uptake by land ecosystems. It remains uncertain, however, to what extent temperature and water availability control the carbon balance of land ecosystems across spatial and temporal scales. Here we use empirical models based on eddy covariance data and process-based models to investigate the effect of changes in temperature and water availability on gross primary productivity (GPP), terrestrial ecosystem respiration (TER) and net ecosystem exchange (NEE) at local and global scales. We find that water availability is the dominant driver of the local interannual variability in GPP and TER. To a lesser extent this is true also for NEE at the local scale, but when integrated globally, temporal NEE variability is mostly driven by temperature fluctuations. We suggest that this apparent paradox can be explained by two compensatory water effects. Temporal water-driven GPP and TER variations compensate locally, dampening water-driven NEE variability. Spatial water availability anomalies also compensate, leaving a dominant temperature signal in the year-to-year fluctuations of the land carbon sink. These findings help to reconcile seemingly contradictory reports regarding the importance of temperature and water in controlling the interannual variability of the terrestrial carbon balance. Our study indicates that spatial climate covariation drives the global carbon cycle response.

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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Nature
volume
541
issue
7638
pages
5 pages
publisher
Nature Publishing Group
external identifiers
  • pmid:28092919
  • wos:000396116600047
  • scopus:85016165383
ISSN
0028-0836
DOI
10.1038/nature20780
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
1eab9877-a796-4c7f-9cbc-a4f1a2b68c4d
date added to LUP
2017-04-24 12:49:47
date last changed
2024-04-14 09:17:40
@article{1eab9877-a796-4c7f-9cbc-a4f1a2b68c4d,
  abstract     = {{<p>Large interannual variations in the measured growth rate of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO 2) originate primarily from fluctuations in carbon uptake by land ecosystems. It remains uncertain, however, to what extent temperature and water availability control the carbon balance of land ecosystems across spatial and temporal scales. Here we use empirical models based on eddy covariance data and process-based models to investigate the effect of changes in temperature and water availability on gross primary productivity (GPP), terrestrial ecosystem respiration (TER) and net ecosystem exchange (NEE) at local and global scales. We find that water availability is the dominant driver of the local interannual variability in GPP and TER. To a lesser extent this is true also for NEE at the local scale, but when integrated globally, temporal NEE variability is mostly driven by temperature fluctuations. We suggest that this apparent paradox can be explained by two compensatory water effects. Temporal water-driven GPP and TER variations compensate locally, dampening water-driven NEE variability. Spatial water availability anomalies also compensate, leaving a dominant temperature signal in the year-to-year fluctuations of the land carbon sink. These findings help to reconcile seemingly contradictory reports regarding the importance of temperature and water in controlling the interannual variability of the terrestrial carbon balance. Our study indicates that spatial climate covariation drives the global carbon cycle response.</p>}},
  author       = {{Jung, Martin and Reichstein, Markus and Schwalm, Christopher R. and Huntingford, Chris and Sitch, Stephen and Ahlström, Anders and Arneth, Almut and Camps-Valls, Gustau and Ciais, Philippe and Friedlingstein, Pierre and Gans, Fabian and Ichii, Kazuhito and Jain, Atul K. and Kato, Etsushi and Papale, Dario and Poulter, Ben and Raduly, Botond and Rödenbeck, Christian and Tramontana, Gianluca and Viovy, Nicolas and Wang, Ying-Ping and Weber, Ulrich and Zaehle, Sönke and Zeng, Ning}},
  issn         = {{0028-0836}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{01}},
  number       = {{7638}},
  pages        = {{516--520}},
  publisher    = {{Nature Publishing Group}},
  series       = {{Nature}},
  title        = {{Compensatory water effects link yearly global land CO 2 sink changes to temperature}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature20780}},
  doi          = {{10.1038/nature20780}},
  volume       = {{541}},
  year         = {{2017}},
}