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Self-Amplifying Feedbacks Accelerate Greening and Warming of the Arctic

Zhang, Wenxin LU orcid ; Miller, Paul LU ; Jansson, Christer ; Samuelsson, Patrik LU ; Mao, Jiafu and Smith, Benjamin LU (2018) In Geophysical Research Letters 45. p.7102-7111
Abstract
Increased greening, higher vegetation productivity, and shrubification have been observed in Arctic tundra in response to recent warming. Such changes have affected the near‐surface climate through opposing biogeophysical feedbacks (BF) associated with changes to albedo and evapotranspiration. However, the likely spatiotemporal variations of BF to future climate change and the consequences for Arctic vegetation and ecology have not been robustly quantified. We apply a regional Earth system model (RCA‐GUESS) interactively coupling atmospheric dynamics to land vegetation response in three potential 21st‐century radiative forcing simulations for the Arctic. We find that BF, dominated by albedo‐mediated warming in early spring and... (More)
Increased greening, higher vegetation productivity, and shrubification have been observed in Arctic tundra in response to recent warming. Such changes have affected the near‐surface climate through opposing biogeophysical feedbacks (BF) associated with changes to albedo and evapotranspiration. However, the likely spatiotemporal variations of BF to future climate change and the consequences for Arctic vegetation and ecology have not been robustly quantified. We apply a regional Earth system model (RCA‐GUESS) interactively coupling atmospheric dynamics to land vegetation response in three potential 21st‐century radiative forcing simulations for the Arctic. We find that BF, dominated by albedo‐mediated warming in early spring and evapotranspiration‐mediated cooling in summer, have the potential to amplify or modulate local warming and enhance summer precipitation over land. The magnitude of these effects depends on radiative forcing and subsequent ecosystem responses. Thus, it is important to account for BF when assessing future Arctic climate change and its ecosystem impacts. (Less)
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author
; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Geophysical Research Letters
volume
45
pages
7102 - 7111
publisher
American Geophysical Union (AGU)
external identifiers
  • scopus:85050859558
ISSN
1944-8007
DOI
10.1029/2018GL077830
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
0981d4dc-725f-45f1-b1e0-bf10827207bf
date added to LUP
2018-09-22 19:21:10
date last changed
2022-04-25 17:21:52
@article{0981d4dc-725f-45f1-b1e0-bf10827207bf,
  abstract     = {{Increased greening, higher vegetation productivity, and shrubification have been observed in Arctic tundra in response to recent warming. Such changes have affected the near‐surface climate through opposing biogeophysical feedbacks (BF) associated with changes to albedo and evapotranspiration. However, the likely spatiotemporal variations of BF to future climate change and the consequences for Arctic vegetation and ecology have not been robustly quantified. We apply a regional Earth system model (RCA‐GUESS) interactively coupling atmospheric dynamics to land vegetation response in three potential 21st‐century radiative forcing simulations for the Arctic. We find that BF, dominated by albedo‐mediated warming in early spring and evapotranspiration‐mediated cooling in summer, have the potential to amplify or modulate local warming and enhance summer precipitation over land. The magnitude of these effects depends on radiative forcing and subsequent ecosystem responses. Thus, it is important to account for BF when assessing future Arctic climate change and its ecosystem impacts.}},
  author       = {{Zhang, Wenxin and Miller, Paul and Jansson, Christer and Samuelsson, Patrik and Mao, Jiafu and Smith, Benjamin}},
  issn         = {{1944-8007}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{07}},
  pages        = {{7102--7111}},
  publisher    = {{American Geophysical Union (AGU)}},
  series       = {{Geophysical Research Letters}},
  title        = {{Self-Amplifying Feedbacks Accelerate Greening and Warming of the Arctic}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2018GL077830}},
  doi          = {{10.1029/2018GL077830}},
  volume       = {{45}},
  year         = {{2018}},
}