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Modelling spatial and temporal dynamics of gross primary production in the Sahel from earth-observation-based photosynthetic capacity and quantum efficiency

Tagesson, Torbern LU ; Ardö, Jonas LU orcid ; Cappelaere, Bernard ; Kergoat, Laurent ; Abdi, Abdulhakim LU orcid ; Horion, Stéphanie and Fensholt, Rasmus (2017) In Biogeosciences 14(5). p.1333-1348
Abstract
It has been shown that vegetation growth in semi-arid regions is important to the global terrestrial CO2 sink, which indicates the strong need for improved understanding and spatially explicit estimates of CO2 uptake (gross primary production; GPP) in semi-arid ecosystems. This study has three aims: (1) to evaluate the MOD17A2H GPP (collection 6) product against GPP based on eddy covariance (EC) for six sites across the Sahel; (2) to characterize relationships between spatial and temporal variability in EC-based photosynthetic capacity (Fopt) and quantum efficiency (α) and vegetation indices based on earth observation (EO) (normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), renormalized difference vegetation index (RDVI), enhanced vegetation... (More)
It has been shown that vegetation growth in semi-arid regions is important to the global terrestrial CO2 sink, which indicates the strong need for improved understanding and spatially explicit estimates of CO2 uptake (gross primary production; GPP) in semi-arid ecosystems. This study has three aims: (1) to evaluate the MOD17A2H GPP (collection 6) product against GPP based on eddy covariance (EC) for six sites across the Sahel; (2) to characterize relationships between spatial and temporal variability in EC-based photosynthetic capacity (Fopt) and quantum efficiency (α) and vegetation indices based on earth observation (EO) (normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), renormalized difference vegetation index (RDVI), enhanced vegetation index (EVI) and shortwave infrared water stress index (SIWSI)); and (3) to study the applicability of EO upscaled Fopt and α for GPP modelling purposes. MOD17A2H GPP (collection 6) drastically underestimated GPP, most likely because maximum light use efficiency is set too low for semi-arid ecosystems in the MODIS algorithm. Intra-annual dynamics in Fopt were closely related to SIWSI being sensitive to equivalent water thickness, whereas α was closely related to RDVI being affected by chlorophyll abundance. Spatial and inter-annual dynamics in Fopt and α were closely coupled to NDVI and RDVI, respectively. Modelled GPP based on Fopt and α upscaled using EO-based indices reproduced in situ GPP well for all except a cropped site that was strongly impacted by anthropogenic land use. Upscaled GPP for the Sahel 2001–2014 was 736 ± 39 g C m−2 yr−1. This study indicates the strong applicability of EO as a tool for spatially explicit estimates of GPP, Fopt and α; incorporating EO-based Fopt and α in dynamic global vegetation models could improve estimates of vegetation production and simulations of ecosystem processes and hydro-biochemical cycles. (Less)
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author
; ; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Gross primary production, Photosynthesis, Sahel, Drylands, Africa, Eddy covariance, Remote sensing, Earth observation
in
Biogeosciences
volume
14
issue
5
pages
1333 - 1348
publisher
Copernicus GmbH
external identifiers
  • scopus:85015793817
  • wos:000398191200001
ISSN
1726-4189
DOI
10.5194/bg-14-1333-2017
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
3afcc8fb-c0f7-4976-9a43-fe03df39e45e
date added to LUP
2017-03-21 13:25:24
date last changed
2023-01-03 21:58:10
@article{3afcc8fb-c0f7-4976-9a43-fe03df39e45e,
  abstract     = {{It has been shown that vegetation growth in semi-arid regions is important to the global terrestrial CO2 sink, which indicates the strong need for improved understanding and spatially explicit estimates of CO2 uptake (gross primary production; GPP) in semi-arid ecosystems. This study has three aims: (1) to evaluate the MOD17A2H GPP (collection 6) product against GPP based on eddy covariance (EC) for six sites across the Sahel; (2) to characterize relationships between spatial and temporal variability in EC-based photosynthetic capacity (Fopt) and quantum efficiency (α) and vegetation indices based on earth observation (EO) (normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), renormalized difference vegetation index (RDVI), enhanced vegetation index (EVI) and shortwave infrared water stress index (SIWSI)); and (3) to study the applicability of EO upscaled Fopt and α for GPP modelling purposes. MOD17A2H GPP (collection 6) drastically underestimated GPP, most likely because maximum light use efficiency is set too low for semi-arid ecosystems in the MODIS algorithm. Intra-annual dynamics in Fopt were closely related to SIWSI being sensitive to equivalent water thickness, whereas α was closely related to RDVI being affected by chlorophyll abundance. Spatial and inter-annual dynamics in Fopt and α were closely coupled to NDVI and RDVI, respectively. Modelled GPP based on Fopt and α upscaled using EO-based indices reproduced in situ GPP well for all except a cropped site that was strongly impacted by anthropogenic land use. Upscaled GPP for the Sahel 2001–2014 was 736 ± 39 g C m−2 yr−1. This study indicates the strong applicability of EO as a tool for spatially explicit estimates of GPP, Fopt and α; incorporating EO-based Fopt and α in dynamic global vegetation models could improve estimates of vegetation production and simulations of ecosystem processes and hydro-biochemical cycles.}},
  author       = {{Tagesson, Torbern and Ardö, Jonas and Cappelaere, Bernard and Kergoat, Laurent and Abdi, Abdulhakim and Horion, Stéphanie and Fensholt, Rasmus}},
  issn         = {{1726-4189}},
  keywords     = {{Gross primary production; Photosynthesis; Sahel; Drylands; Africa; Eddy covariance; Remote sensing; Earth observation}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{03}},
  number       = {{5}},
  pages        = {{1333--1348}},
  publisher    = {{Copernicus GmbH}},
  series       = {{Biogeosciences}},
  title        = {{Modelling spatial and temporal dynamics of gross primary production in the Sahel from earth-observation-based photosynthetic capacity and quantum efficiency}},
  url          = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/22888611/bg_14_1333_2017.pdf}},
  doi          = {{10.5194/bg-14-1333-2017}},
  volume       = {{14}},
  year         = {{2017}},
}