Synoptic Meteorology Explains Temperate Forest Carbon Uptake

Abstract

While substantial attention has been paid to the effects of both global climate oscillations and local meteorological conditions on the interannual variability of ecosystem carbon exchange, the relationship between the interannual variability of synoptic meteorology and ecosystem carbon exchange has not been well studied. Here we use a clustering algorithm to identify a summertime cyclonic precipitation system northwest of the Great Lakes to determine (a) the association at a daily scale between the occurrence of this system and the local meteorology and net ecosystem exchange at three Great Lakes region forested eddy covariance sites and (b) the association between the seasonal prevalence of this system and the summertime net ecosystem exchange of these sites. We find that temperature, in addition to precipitation and cloud cover, is an important explanatory factor for the suppression of net ecosystem productivity that occurs during these cyclonic events in this region. In addition, the prevalence of this cyclonic system can explain a significant proportion of the interannual variability in summertime forest ecosystem exchange in this region. This explanatory power is not due to a simple accumulation of low‐productivity days that cooccur with this meteorological event, but rather a broader association between the frequency of these events and several aspects of prevailing seasonal conditions. This work demonstrates the usefulness of conceptualizing meteorology in terms of synoptic systems for explaining the interannual variability of regional carbon fluxes.

Reviews and syntheses: Ongoing and emerging opportunities to improve environmental science using observations from the Advanced Baseline Imager on the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites

“…C. Stoy et al, 2014), and shifts in the phenology of carbon uptake and plant growing season in response to changing climate have important implications for ecosystems (Bradley et al, 1999;Xu et al, 2020). These shifts often occur on timescales that cause uncertainty from polar-orbiting satellites, especially when cloudy conditions are present during spring in the temperate zone (Richardson et al, 2013) and dry-to-wet (and wet-to-dry) seasonal transitions in tropical forests (Ganguly et al, 2010). Research on land surface phenology to date has used a combination of satellite remote sensing and near-surface remote sensing via webcams to detect seasonal transitions in vegetation greenness and photosynthesis, such as the start, peak, and end of the growing season (Dannenberg et al, 2020;Gamon et al, 2016;Seyednasrollah et al, 2019;Wong et al, 2019;Zhang et al, 2003).…”

Reviews and syntheses: Ongoing and emerging opportunities to improve environmental science using observations from the Advanced Baseline Imager on the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites

“…Precipitation events and the resulting short-term changes in meteorological conditions on the order of days result in local anomalies in canopy photosynthesis and respiration that influence seasonal ecosystem exchange (Randazzo et al, 2020).…”

The Diurnal Dynamics of Gross Primary Productivity Using Observations From the Advanced Baseline Imager on the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite‐R Series at an Oak Savanna Ecosystem

“…Remotely sensed observations of the Earth have provided critical inputs for global carbon cycle studies, provided observation‐based GPP estimates for comparisons with Earth System Models and terrestrial carbon cycle models, and have revolutionized our understanding of the carbon cycle (Anav et al., 2015; Chen et al., 2017; Cramer et al., 1999; Field et al., 1995; Jung et al., 2020; Keenan et al., 2012; O’Sullivan et al., 2020; Prince & Goward, 1995; Ruimy et al., 1996; Running et al., 2004; Xiao et al., 2019; Zhang et al., 2016; Zscheischler et al., 2014). The diurnal to interannual variability of GPP is determined by limiting resources, climate, weather conditions, disturbance, phenology, and extreme events (Beer et al., 2010; Gu et al., 2002; Kannenberg et al., 2020; Randazzo et al., 2020; Roby et al., 2020; Stoy et al., 2005; Zscheischler et al., 2014). However, with existing polar‐orbiting satellites we have been largely limited to studying the multiday to interannual variability of GPP rather than its dynamic response to environmental variability across the course of a day.…”