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The Full Annual Carbon Balance of Boreal Forests Is Highly Sensitive to Precipitation

Oquist, M. G. ; Bishop, K. ; Grelle, A. ; Klemedtsson, L. ; Kohler, S. J. ; Laudon, H. ; Lindroth, Anders LU ; Lofvenius, M. Ottosson ; Wallin, M. B. and Nilsson, M. B. (2014) In Environmental Science & Technology Letters 1(7). p.315-319
Abstract
The boreal forest carbon balance is predicted to be particularly sensitive to climate change. Carbon balance estimates of these biomes stem mainly from eddy-covariance measurements of net ecosystem exchange (NEE). However, a full net ecosystem carbon balance (NECB) must include the lateral carbon export (LCE) through discharge. We show that annual LCE at a boreal forest site ranged from 4 to 28%, averaging 11% (standard deviation of 8%), of annual NEE over 13 years. Annual LCE and NEE are strongly anticorrelated; years with weak NEE coincide with high LCE. The decreased NEE in response to increased precipitation is caused by a reduction in the amount of incoming radiation caused by clouds. If our finding is also valid for other sites, it... (More)
The boreal forest carbon balance is predicted to be particularly sensitive to climate change. Carbon balance estimates of these biomes stem mainly from eddy-covariance measurements of net ecosystem exchange (NEE). However, a full net ecosystem carbon balance (NECB) must include the lateral carbon export (LCE) through discharge. We show that annual LCE at a boreal forest site ranged from 4 to 28%, averaging 11% (standard deviation of 8%), of annual NEE over 13 years. Annual LCE and NEE are strongly anticorrelated; years with weak NEE coincide with high LCE. The decreased NEE in response to increased precipitation is caused by a reduction in the amount of incoming radiation caused by clouds. If our finding is also valid for other sites, it implies that increased precipitation at high latitudes may shift forest NECB in large areas of the boreal biome. Our results call for future analysis of this dual effect of precipitation on NEE and LCE. (Less)
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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Environmental Science & Technology Letters
volume
1
issue
7
pages
315 - 319
publisher
The American Chemical Society (ACS)
external identifiers
  • wos:000350831300005
  • scopus:84969138526
ISSN
2328-8930
DOI
10.1021/ez500169j
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
ecbacd46-db27-48dc-8878-6799a36aa35d (old id 5300326)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 13:24:03
date last changed
2022-04-21 21:30:43
@article{ecbacd46-db27-48dc-8878-6799a36aa35d,
  abstract     = {{The boreal forest carbon balance is predicted to be particularly sensitive to climate change. Carbon balance estimates of these biomes stem mainly from eddy-covariance measurements of net ecosystem exchange (NEE). However, a full net ecosystem carbon balance (NECB) must include the lateral carbon export (LCE) through discharge. We show that annual LCE at a boreal forest site ranged from 4 to 28%, averaging 11% (standard deviation of 8%), of annual NEE over 13 years. Annual LCE and NEE are strongly anticorrelated; years with weak NEE coincide with high LCE. The decreased NEE in response to increased precipitation is caused by a reduction in the amount of incoming radiation caused by clouds. If our finding is also valid for other sites, it implies that increased precipitation at high latitudes may shift forest NECB in large areas of the boreal biome. Our results call for future analysis of this dual effect of precipitation on NEE and LCE.}},
  author       = {{Oquist, M. G. and Bishop, K. and Grelle, A. and Klemedtsson, L. and Kohler, S. J. and Laudon, H. and Lindroth, Anders and Lofvenius, M. Ottosson and Wallin, M. B. and Nilsson, M. B.}},
  issn         = {{2328-8930}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{7}},
  pages        = {{315--319}},
  publisher    = {{The American Chemical Society (ACS)}},
  series       = {{Environmental Science & Technology Letters}},
  title        = {{The Full Annual Carbon Balance of Boreal Forests Is Highly Sensitive to Precipitation}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/ez500169j}},
  doi          = {{10.1021/ez500169j}},
  volume       = {{1}},
  year         = {{2014}},
}