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

Anders Ahlström; Michael R. Raupach; Guy Schurgers; Benjamin Smith; Almut Arneth; Martin Jung; Markus Reichstein; Josep G. Canadell; Pierre Friedlingstein; Atul K. Jain; Etsushi Kato; Benjamin Poulter; Stephen Sitch; Benjamin D. Stocker; Nicolas Viovy; Ying Ping Wang; Andy Wiltshire; Sönke Zaehle; Ning Zeng

doi:10.1126/science.aaa1668

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

Anders Ahlström^*, Michael R. Raupach, Guy Schurgers, Benjamin Smith, Almut Arneth, Martin Jung, Markus Reichstein, Josep G. Canadell, Pierre Friedlingstein, Atul K. Jain, Etsushi Kato, Benjamin Poulter, Stephen Sitch, Benjamin D. Stocker, Nicolas Viovy, Ying Ping Wang, Andy Wiltshire, Sönke Zaehle, Ning Zeng

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

1168 Citations (Scopus)

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 landsurface 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.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	895-899
Number of pages	5
Journal	Science
Volume	348
Issue number	6237
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaa1668
Publication status	Published - 22 May 2015

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Ahlström, A., Raupach, M. R., Schurgers, G., Smith, B., Arneth, A., Jung, M., Reichstein, M., Canadell, J. G., Friedlingstein, P., Jain, A. K., Kato, E., Poulter, B., Sitch, S., Stocker, B. D., Viovy, N., Wang, Y. P., Wiltshire, A., Zaehle, S., & Zeng, N. (2015). The dominant role of semi-arid ecosystems in the trend and variability of the land CO₂ sink. Science, 348(6237), 895-899. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaa1668

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

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 landsurface 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 = "Anders Ahlstr{\"o}m and Raupach, {Michael R.} and Guy Schurgers and Benjamin Smith and Almut Arneth and Martin Jung and Markus Reichstein and Canadell, {Josep G.} and Pierre Friedlingstein and Jain, {Atul K.} and Etsushi Kato and Benjamin Poulter and Stephen Sitch and Stocker, {Benjamin D.} and Nicolas Viovy and Wang, {Ying Ping} and Andy Wiltshire and S{\"o}nke Zaehle and Ning Zeng",

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doi = "10.1126/science.aaa1668",

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Ahlström, A, Raupach, MR, Schurgers, G, Smith, B, Arneth, A, Jung, M, Reichstein, M, Canadell, JG, Friedlingstein, P, Jain, AK, Kato, E, Poulter, B, Sitch, S, Stocker, BD, Viovy, N, Wang, YP, Wiltshire, A, Zaehle, S & Zeng, N 2015, 'The dominant role of semi-arid ecosystems in the trend and variability of the land CO₂ sink', Science, vol. 348, no. 6237, pp. 895-899. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaa1668

TY - JOUR

T1 - The dominant role of semi-arid ecosystems in the trend and variability of the land CO2 sink

AU - Ahlström, Anders

AU - Raupach, Michael R.

AU - Schurgers, Guy

AU - Smith, Benjamin

AU - Arneth, Almut

AU - Jung, Martin

AU - Reichstein, Markus

AU - Canadell, Josep G.

AU - Friedlingstein, Pierre

AU - Jain, Atul K.

AU - Kato, Etsushi

AU - Poulter, Benjamin

AU - Sitch, Stephen

AU - Stocker, Benjamin D.

AU - Viovy, Nicolas

AU - Wang, Ying Ping

AU - Wiltshire, Andy

AU - Zaehle, Sönke

AU - Zeng, Ning

PY - 2015/5/22

Y1 - 2015/5/22

N2 - 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 landsurface 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.

AB - 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 landsurface 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.

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U2 - 10.1126/science.aaa1668

DO - 10.1126/science.aaa1668

M3 - Article

SN - 0036-8075

VL - 348

SP - 895

EP - 899

JO - Science

JF - Science

IS - 6237

ER -

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

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