Carbon response of tundra ecosystems to advancing greenup and snowmelt in Alaska

JiHyun Kim, Yeonjoo Kim (), Donatella Zona, Walter Oechel, Sang-Jong Park, Bang-Yong Lee, Yonghong Yi, Angela Erb and Crystal L. Schaaf
Additional contact information
JiHyun Kim: Yonsei University
Yeonjoo Kim: Yonsei University
Donatella Zona: San Diego State University
Walter Oechel: San Diego State University
Sang-Jong Park: Division of Atmospheric Sciences, KOPRI
Bang-Yong Lee: Division of Atmospheric Sciences, KOPRI
Yonghong Yi: Joint Institute for Regional Earth System Science and Engineering, University of California
Angela Erb: School for the Environment, University of Massachusetts Boston
Crystal L. Schaaf: School for the Environment, University of Massachusetts Boston

Nature Communications, 2021, vol. 12, issue 1, 1-10

Abstract: Abstract The ongoing disproportionate increases in temperature and precipitation over the Arctic region may greatly alter the latitudinal gradients in greenup and snowmelt timings as well as associated carbon dynamics of tundra ecosystems. Here we use remotely-sensed and ground-based datasets and model results embedding snowmelt timing in phenology at seven tundra flux tower sites in Alaska during 2001–2018, showing that the carbon response to early greenup or delayed snowmelt varies greatly depending upon local climatic limits. Increases in net ecosystem productivity (NEP) due to early greenup were amplified at the higher latitudes where temperature and water strongly colimit vegetation growth, while NEP decreases due to delayed snowmelt were alleviated by a relief of water stress. Given the high likelihood of more frequent delayed snowmelt at higher latitudes, this study highlights the importance of understanding the role of snowmelt timing in vegetation growth and terrestrial carbon cycles across warming Arctic ecosystems.

Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-26876-7 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:12:y:2021:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-021-26876-7

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-26876-7

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().