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Weakening temperature control on the interannual variations of spring carbon uptake across northern lands

Piao, Shilong ; Liu, Zhuo ; Wang, Tao LU ; Peng, Shushi ; Ciais, Philippe ; Huang, Mengtian ; Ahlstrom, Anders LU orcid ; Burkhart, John F. ; Chevallier, Frédéric and Janssens, Ivan A. , et al. (2017) In Nature Climate Change 7(5). p.359-363
Abstract

Ongoing spring warming allows the growing season to begin earlier, enhancing carbon uptake in northern ecosystems. Here we use 34 years of atmospheric CO 2 concentration measurements at Barrow, Alaska (BRW, 71° N) to show that the interannual relationship between spring temperature and carbon uptake has recently shifted. We use two indicators: the spring zero-crossing date of atmospheric CO 2 (SZC) and the magnitude of CO 2 drawdown between May and June (SCC). The previously reported strong correlation between SZC, SCC and spring land temperature (ST) was found in the first 17 years of measurements, but disappeared in the last 17 years. As a result, the sensitivity of both SZC and SCC to warming decreased. Simulations with an... (More)

Ongoing spring warming allows the growing season to begin earlier, enhancing carbon uptake in northern ecosystems. Here we use 34 years of atmospheric CO 2 concentration measurements at Barrow, Alaska (BRW, 71° N) to show that the interannual relationship between spring temperature and carbon uptake has recently shifted. We use two indicators: the spring zero-crossing date of atmospheric CO 2 (SZC) and the magnitude of CO 2 drawdown between May and June (SCC). The previously reported strong correlation between SZC, SCC and spring land temperature (ST) was found in the first 17 years of measurements, but disappeared in the last 17 years. As a result, the sensitivity of both SZC and SCC to warming decreased. Simulations with an atmospheric transport model coupled to a terrestrial ecosystem model suggest that the weakened interannual correlation of SZC and SCC with ST in the last 17 years is attributable to the declining temperature response of spring net primary productivity (NPP) rather than to changes in heterotrophic respiration or in atmospheric transport patterns. Reduced chilling during dormancy and emerging light limitation are possible mechanisms that may have contributed to the loss of NPP response to ST. Our results thus challenge the â € warmer spring-bigger sink' mechanism.

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publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Nature Climate Change
volume
7
issue
5
pages
5 pages
publisher
Nature Publishing Group
external identifiers
  • scopus:85018782649
ISSN
1758-678X
DOI
10.1038/nclimate3277
language
English
LU publication?
no
additional info
Publisher Copyright: © 2017 Macmillan Publishers Limited, part of Springer Nature. All rights reserved.
id
35b6b771-d45d-4da5-a32b-80057463d6df
date added to LUP
2023-08-31 16:06:02
date last changed
2023-08-31 17:52:31
@article{35b6b771-d45d-4da5-a32b-80057463d6df,
  abstract     = {{<p>Ongoing spring warming allows the growing season to begin earlier, enhancing carbon uptake in northern ecosystems. Here we use 34 years of atmospheric CO 2 concentration measurements at Barrow, Alaska (BRW, 71° N) to show that the interannual relationship between spring temperature and carbon uptake has recently shifted. We use two indicators: the spring zero-crossing date of atmospheric CO 2 (SZC) and the magnitude of CO 2 drawdown between May and June (SCC). The previously reported strong correlation between SZC, SCC and spring land temperature (ST) was found in the first 17 years of measurements, but disappeared in the last 17 years. As a result, the sensitivity of both SZC and SCC to warming decreased. Simulations with an atmospheric transport model coupled to a terrestrial ecosystem model suggest that the weakened interannual correlation of SZC and SCC with ST in the last 17 years is attributable to the declining temperature response of spring net primary productivity (NPP) rather than to changes in heterotrophic respiration or in atmospheric transport patterns. Reduced chilling during dormancy and emerging light limitation are possible mechanisms that may have contributed to the loss of NPP response to ST. Our results thus challenge the â € warmer spring-bigger sink' mechanism.</p>}},
  author       = {{Piao, Shilong and Liu, Zhuo and Wang, Tao and Peng, Shushi and Ciais, Philippe and Huang, Mengtian and Ahlstrom, Anders and Burkhart, John F. and Chevallier, Frédéric and Janssens, Ivan A. and Jeong, Su Jong and Lin, Xin and Mao, Jiafu and Miller, John and Mohammat, Anwar and Myneni, Ranga B. and Peñuelas, Josep and Shi, Xiaoying and Stohl, Andreas and Yao, Yitong and Zhu, Zaichun and Tans, Pieter P.}},
  issn         = {{1758-678X}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{05}},
  number       = {{5}},
  pages        = {{359--363}},
  publisher    = {{Nature Publishing Group}},
  series       = {{Nature Climate Change}},
  title        = {{Weakening temperature control on the interannual variations of spring carbon uptake across northern lands}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nclimate3277}},
  doi          = {{10.1038/nclimate3277}},
  volume       = {{7}},
  year         = {{2017}},
}