Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

The dominant role of semi-arid ecosystems in the trend and variability of the land CO2 sink

Ahlström, Anders LU orcid ; Raupach, Michael R. ; Schurgers, Guy ; Smith, Benjamin LU ; Arneth, Almut ; Jung, Martin ; Reichstein, Markus ; Canadell, Josep G. ; Friedlingstein, Pierre and Jain, Atul K. , et al. (2015) In Science 348(6237). p.895-899
Abstract
The growth rate of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations since industrialization is characterized by large interannual variability, mostly resulting from variability in CO2 uptake by terrestrial ecosystems (typically termed carbon sink). However, the contributions of regional ecosystems to that variability are not well known. Using an ensemble of ecosystem and land-surface models and an empirical observation-based product of global gross primary production, we show that the mean sink, trend, and interannual variability in CO2 uptake by terrestrial ecosystems are dominated by distinct biogeographic regions. Whereas the mean sink is dominated by highly productive lands (mainly tropical forests), the trend and interannual... (More)
The growth rate of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations since industrialization is characterized by large interannual variability, mostly resulting from variability in CO2 uptake by terrestrial ecosystems (typically termed carbon sink). However, the contributions of regional ecosystems to that variability are not well known. Using an ensemble of ecosystem and land-surface models and an empirical observation-based product of global gross primary production, we show that the mean sink, trend, and interannual variability in CO2 uptake by terrestrial ecosystems are dominated by distinct biogeographic regions. Whereas the mean sink is dominated by highly productive lands (mainly tropical forests), the trend and interannual variability of the sink are dominated by semi-arid ecosystems whose carbon balance is strongly associated with circulation-driven variations in both precipitation and temperature. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; and , et al. (More)
; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; and (Less)
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Science
volume
348
issue
6237
pages
895 - 899
publisher
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
external identifiers
  • pmid:25999504
  • wos:000354877900040
  • scopus:84930007972
  • pmid:25999504
ISSN
1095-9203
DOI
10.1126/science.aaa1668
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
6cf009df-2211-419e-8c86-e22ea43fa636 (old id 5432967)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 09:57:56
date last changed
2022-04-27 08:52:15
@article{6cf009df-2211-419e-8c86-e22ea43fa636,
  abstract     = {{The growth rate of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations since industrialization is characterized by large interannual variability, mostly resulting from variability in CO2 uptake by terrestrial ecosystems (typically termed carbon sink). However, the contributions of regional ecosystems to that variability are not well known. Using an ensemble of ecosystem and land-surface models and an empirical observation-based product of global gross primary production, we show that the mean sink, trend, and interannual variability in CO2 uptake by terrestrial ecosystems are dominated by distinct biogeographic regions. Whereas the mean sink is dominated by highly productive lands (mainly tropical forests), the trend and interannual variability of the sink are dominated by semi-arid ecosystems whose carbon balance is strongly associated with circulation-driven variations in both precipitation and temperature.}},
  author       = {{Ahlström, Anders and Raupach, Michael R. and Schurgers, Guy and Smith, Benjamin and Arneth, Almut and Jung, Martin and Reichstein, Markus and Canadell, Josep G. and Friedlingstein, Pierre and Jain, Atul K. and Kato, Etsushi and Poulter, Benjamin and Sitch, Stephen and Stocker, Benjamin D. and Viovy, Nicolas and Wang, Ying Ping and Wiltshire, Andy and Zaehle, Sönke and Zeng, Ning}},
  issn         = {{1095-9203}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{6237}},
  pages        = {{895--899}},
  publisher    = {{American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)}},
  series       = {{Science}},
  title        = {{The dominant role of semi-arid ecosystems in the trend and variability of the land CO2 sink}},
  url          = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/1431313/5434347.pdf}},
  doi          = {{10.1126/science.aaa1668}},
  volume       = {{348}},
  year         = {{2015}},
}