| 1. |
- López-Blanco, Efrén, et al.
(författare)
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Evaluation of terrestrial pan-Arctic carbon cycling using a data-assimilation system
- 2019
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Ingår i: Earth System Dynamics. - : Copernicus GmbH. - 2190-4979 .- 2190-4987. ; 10:2, s. 233-255
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- There is a significant knowledge gap in the current state of the terrestrial carbon (C) budget. Recent studies have highlighted a poor understanding particularly of C pool transit times and of whether productivity or biomass dominate these biases. The Arctic, accounting for approximately 50 % of the global soil organic C stocks, has an important role in the global C cycle. Here, we use the CARbon DAta MOdel (CARDAMOM) data-assimilation system to produce pan-Arctic terrestrial C cycle analyses for 2000-2015. This approach avoids using traditional plant functional type or steady-state assumptions. We integrate a range of data (soil organic C, leaf area index, biomass, and climate) to determine the most likely state of the high-latitude C cycle at a 1 degrees x 1 degrees resolution and also to provide general guidance about the controlling biases in transit times. On average, CARDAMOM estimates regional mean rates of photosynthesis of 565 g C m(-2) yr (-1) (90 % confidence interval between the 5th and 95th percentiles: 428, 741), autotrophic respiration of 270 g Cm-2 yr(-1) (182, 397) and heterotrophic respiration of 219 g Cm-2 yr(-1) (31, 1458), suggesting a pan-Arctic sink of -67 (-287, 1160) g Cm-2 yr(-1), weaker in tundra and stronger in taiga. However, our confidence intervals remain large (and so the region could be a source of C), reflecting uncertainty assigned to the regional data products. We show a clear spatial and temporal agreement between CARDAMOM analyses and different sources of assimilated and independent data at both pan-Arctic and local scales but also identify consistent biases between CARDAMOM and validation data. The assimilation process requires clearer error quantification for leaf area index (LAI) and biomass products to resolve these biases. Mapping of vegetation C stocks and change over time and soil C ages linked to soil C stocks is required for better analytical constraint. Comparing CARDAMOM analyses to global vegetation models (GVMs) for the same period, we conclude that transit times of vegetation C are inconsistently simulated in GVMs due to a combination of uncertainties from productivity and biomass calculations. Our findings highlight that GVMs need to focus on constraining both current vegetation C stocks and net primary production to improve a process-based understanding of C cycle dynamics in the Arctic.
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| 2. |
- López-Blanco, Efrén, et al.
(författare)
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Exchange of CO2 in Arctic tundra : Impacts of meteorological variations and biological disturbance
- 2017
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Ingår i: Biogeosciences. - : Copernicus GmbH. - 1726-4170 .- 1726-4189. ; 14:19, s. 4467-4483
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- An improvement in our process-based understanding of carbon (C) exchange in the Arctic and its climate sensitivity is critically needed for understanding the response of tundra ecosystems to a changing climate. In this context, we analysed the net ecosystem exchange (NEE) of CO2 in West Greenland tundra (64°N) across eight snow-free periods in 8 consecutive years, and characterized the key processes of net ecosystem exchange and its two main modulating components: gross primary production (GPP) and ecosystem respiration (Reco). Overall, the ecosystem acted as a consistent sink of CO2, accumulating g'30g dagger;Cg'2 on average (range of g'17 to g'41gdagger;Cg'2) during the years 2008-2015, except 2011 (source of 41gdagger;Cg'2), which was associated with a major pest outbreak. The results do not reveal a marked meteorological effect on the net CO2 uptake despite the high interannual variability in the timing of snowmelt and the start and duration of the growing season. The ranges in annual GPP (g'182 to g'316gdagger;Cg'2) and Reco (144 to 279gdagger;Cg'2) were > 5 fold larger than the range in NEE. Gross fluxes were also more variable (coefficients of variation are 3.6 and 4.1% respectively) than for NEE (0.7%). GPP and Reco were sensitive to insolation and temperature, and there was a tendency towards larger GPP and Reco during warmer and wetter years. The relative lack of sensitivity of NEE to meteorology was a result of the correlated response of GPP and Reco. During the snow-free season of the anomalous year of 2011, a biological disturbance related to a larvae outbreak reduced GPP more strongly than Reco. With continued warming temperatures and longer growing seasons, tundra systems will increase rates of C cycling. However, shifts in sink strength will likely be triggered by factors such as biological disturbances, events that will challenge our forecasting of C states.
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| 3. |
- López-Blanco, Efrén, et al.
(författare)
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Multi-year data-model evaluation reveals the importance of nutrient availability over climate in arctic ecosystem C dynamics
- 2020
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Ingår i: Environmental Research Letters. - : IOP Publishing. - 1748-9318 .- 1748-9326. ; 15:9
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Arctic tundra is a globally important store for carbon (C). However, there is a lack of reference sites characterising C exchange dynamics across annual cycles. Based on the Greenland Ecosystem Monitoring (GEM) programme, here we present 9-11 years of flux and ecosystem data across the period 2008-2018 from two wetland sites in Greenland: Zackenberg (74°N) and Kobbefjord (64°N). The Zackenberg fen was a strong C sink despite its higher latitude and shorter growing seasons compared to the Kobbefjord fen. On average the ecosystem in Zackenberg took up ∼-50 g C m-2 yr-1 (range of +21 to-90 g C m-2 yr-1), more than twice that of Kobbefjord (mean ∼-18 g C m-2 yr-1, and range of +41 to-41 g C m-2 yr-1). The larger net carbon sequestration in Zackenberg fen was associated with higher leaf nitrogen (71%), leaf area index (140%), and plant quality (i.e. C:N ratio; 36%). Additional evidence from in-situ measurements includes 3 times higher levels of dissolved organic carbon in soils and 5 times more available plant nutrients, including dissolved organic nitrogen (N) and nitrates, in Zackenberg. Simulations using the soil-plant-atmosphere ecosystem model showed that Zackenberg's stronger CO2 sink could be related to measured differences in plant nutrients, and their effects on photosynthesis and respiration. The model explained 69% of the variability of net ecosystem exchange of CO2, 80% for photosynthesis and 71% for respiration over 11 years at Zackenberg, similar to previous results at Kobbefjord (73%, 73%, and 50%, respectively, over 8 years). We conclude that growing season limitations of plant phenology on net C uptake have been more than counterbalanced by the increased leaf nutrient content at the Zackenberg site.
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| 4. |
- López-Blanco, Efrén, et al.
(författare)
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Plant Traits are Key Determinants in Buffering the Meteorological Sensitivity of Net Carbon Exchanges of Arctic Tundra
- 2018
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Ingår i: Journal of Geophysical Research - Biogeosciences. - 2169-8953.
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The climate sensitivity of carbon (C) cycling in Arctic terrestrial ecosystems is a major unknown in the Earth system. There is a lack of knowledge about the mechanisms that drive the interactions between photosynthesis, respiration, and changes in C stocks across full annual cycles in Arctic tundra. We use a calibrated and validated model (soil-plant-atmosphere; SPA) to estimate net ecosystem exchange (NEE), gross primary production (GPP), ecosystem respiration (Reco), and internal C processing across eight full years. SPA's carbon flux estimates are validated with observational data obtained from the Greenland Ecosystem Monitoring program in West Greenland tundra. Overall, the model explained 73%, 73%, and 50% of the variance in NEE, GPP, and Reco, respectively, and 85% of the plant greenness variation. Flux data highlighted the insensitivity of growing season NEE to interannual meteorological variability, due to compensatory responses of photosynthesis and ecosystem respiration. In this modelling study, we show that this NEE buffering is the case also for full annual cycles. We show through a sensitivity analysis that plant traits related to nitrogen are likely key determinants in the compensatory response, through simulated links to photosynthesis and plant respiration. Interestingly, we found a similar temperature sensitivity of the trait-flux couplings for GPP and Reco, suggesting that plant traits drive the stabilization of NEE. Further, model analysis indicated that wintertime periods decreased the C sink by 60%, mostly driven by litter heterotrophic respiration. This result emphasizes the importance of wintertime periods and allows a more comprehensive understanding of full annual C dynamics.
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| 5. |
- Oehri, Jacqueline, et al.
(författare)
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Vegetation type is an important predictor of the arctic summer land surface energy budget
- 2022
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Ingår i: Nature Communications. - : Springer Nature. - 2041-1723. ; 13
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Despite the importance of high-latitude surface energy budgets (SEBs) for land-climate interactions in the rapidly changing Arctic, uncertainties in their prediction persist. Here, we harmonize SEB observations across a network of vegetated and glaciated sites at circumpolar scale (1994–2021). Our variance-partitioning analysis identifies vegetation type as an important predictor for SEB-components during Arctic summer (June-August), compared to other SEB-drivers including climate, latitude and permafrost characteristics. Differences among vegetation types can be of similar magnitude as between vegetation and glacier surfaces and are especially high for summer sensible and latent heat fluxes. The timing of SEB-flux summer-regimes (when daily mean values exceed 0 Wm−2) relative to snow-free and -onset dates varies substantially depending on vegetation type, implying vegetation controls on snow-cover and SEB-flux seasonality. Our results indicate complex shifts in surface energy fluxes with land-cover transitions and a lengthening summer season, and highlight the potential for improving future Earth system models via a refined representation of Arctic vegetation types.
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| 6. |
- Pirk, Norbert, et al.
(författare)
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Toward a statistical description of methane emissions from arctic wetlands
- 2017
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Ingår i: Ambio: a Journal of Human Environment. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0044-7447. ; 46, s. 70-80
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Methane (CH4) emissions from arctic tundra typically follow relations with soil temperature and water table depth, but these process-based descriptions can be difficult to apply to areas where no measurements exist. We formulated a description of the broader temporal flux pattern in the growing season based on two distinct CH4 source components from slow and fast-turnover carbon. We used automatic closed chamber flux measurements from NE Greenland (74°N), W Greenland (64°N), and Svalbard (78°N) to identify and discuss these components. The temporal separation was well-suited in NE Greenland, where the hypothesized slow-turnover carbon peaked at a time significantly related to the timing of snowmelt. The temporally wider component from fast-turnover carbon dominated the emissions in W Greenland and Svalbard. Altogether, we found no dependence of the total seasonal CH4 budget to the timing of snowmelt, and warmer sites and years tended to yield higher CH4 emissions.
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| 7. |
- Ramage, Justine, 1988-, et al.
(författare)
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The Net GHG Balance and Budget of the Permafrost Region (2000–2020) From Ecosystem Flux Upscaling
- 2024
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Ingår i: Global Biogeochemical Cycles. - 0886-6236 .- 1944-9224. ; 38:4
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The northern permafrost region has been projected to shift from a net sink to a net source of carbon under global warming. However, estimates of the contemporary net greenhouse gas (GHG) balance and budgets of the permafrost region remain highly uncertain. Here, we construct the first comprehensive bottom-up budgets of CO2, CH4, and N2O across the terrestrial permafrost region using databases of more than 1000 in situ flux measurements and a land cover-based ecosystem flux upscaling approach for the period 2000–2020. Estimates indicate that the permafrost region emitted a mean annual flux of 12 (−606, 661) Tg CO2–C yr−1, 38 (22, 53) Tg CH4–C yr−1, and 0.67 (0.07, 1.3) Tg N2O–N yr−1 to the atmosphere throughout the period. Thus, the region was a net source of CH4 and N2O, while the CO2 balance was near neutral within its large uncertainties. Undisturbed terrestrial ecosystems had a CO2 sink of −340 (−836, 156) Tg CO2–C yr−1. Vertical emissions from fire disturbances and inland waters largely offset the sink in vegetated ecosystems. When including lateral fluxes for a complete GHG budget, the permafrost region was a net source of C and N, releasing 144 (−506, 826) Tg C yr−1 and 3 (2, 5) Tg N yr−1. Large uncertainty ranges in these estimates point to a need for further expansion of monitoring networks, continued data synthesis efforts, and better integration of field observations, remote sensing data, and ecosystem models to constrain the contemporary net GHG budgets of the permafrost region and track their future trajectory.
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| 8. |
- Virkkala, Anna Maria, et al.
(författare)
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Statistical upscaling of ecosystem CO2 fluxes across the terrestrial tundra and boreal domain : Regional patterns and uncertainties
- 2021
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Ingår i: Global Change Biology. - : Wiley. - 1354-1013 .- 1365-2486. ; 27:17, s. 4040-4059
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The regional variability in tundra and boreal carbon dioxide (CO2) fluxes can be high, complicating efforts to quantify sink-source patterns across the entire region. Statistical models are increasingly used to predict (i.e., upscale) CO2 fluxes across large spatial domains, but the reliability of different modeling techniques, each with different specifications and assumptions, has not been assessed in detail. Here, we compile eddy covariance and chamber measurements of annual and growing season CO2 fluxes of gross primary productivity (GPP), ecosystem respiration (ER), and net ecosystem exchange (NEE) during 1990–2015 from 148 terrestrial high-latitude (i.e., tundra and boreal) sites to analyze the spatial patterns and drivers of CO2 fluxes and test the accuracy and uncertainty of different statistical models. CO2 fluxes were upscaled at relatively high spatial resolution (1 km2) across the high-latitude region using five commonly used statistical models and their ensemble, that is, the median of all five models, using climatic, vegetation, and soil predictors. We found the performance of machine learning and ensemble predictions to outperform traditional regression methods. We also found the predictive performance of NEE-focused models to be low, relative to models predicting GPP and ER. Our data compilation and ensemble predictions showed that CO2 sink strength was larger in the boreal biome (observed and predicted average annual NEE −46 and −29 g C m−2 yr−1, respectively) compared to tundra (average annual NEE +10 and −2 g C m−2 yr−1). This pattern was associated with large spatial variability, reflecting local heterogeneity in soil organic carbon stocks, climate, and vegetation productivity. The terrestrial ecosystem CO2 budget, estimated using the annual NEE ensemble prediction, suggests the high-latitude region was on average an annual CO2 sink during 1990–2015, although uncertainty remains high.
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| 9. |
- Zona, Donatella, et al.
(författare)
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Earlier snowmelt may lead to late season declines in plant productivity and carbon sequestration in Arctic tundra ecosystems
- 2022
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Ingår i: Scientific Reports. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2045-2322. ; 12:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Arctic warming is affecting snow cover and soil hydrology, with consequences for carbon sequestration in tundra ecosystems. The scarcity of observations in the Arctic has limited our understanding of the impact of covarying environmental drivers on the carbon balance of tundra ecosystems. In this study, we address some of these uncertainties through a novel record of 119 site-years of summer data from eddy covariance towers representing dominant tundra vegetation types located on continuous permafrost in the Arctic. Here we found that earlier snowmelt was associated with more tundra net CO2 sequestration and higher gross primary productivity (GPP) only in June and July, but with lower net carbon sequestration and lower GPP in August. Although higher evapotranspiration (ET) can result in soil drying with the progression of the summer, we did not find significantly lower soil moisture with earlier snowmelt, nor evidence that water stress affected GPP in the late growing season. Our results suggest that the expected increased CO2 sequestration arising from Arctic warming and the associated increase in growing season length may not materialize if tundra ecosystems are not able to continue sequestering CO2 later in the season.
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