Anders Lindroth
Professor
Terrestrial Gross Carbon Dioxide Uptake: Global Distribution and Covariation with Climate
Author
Summary, in English
Terrestrial gross primary production (GPP) is the largest global CO2 flux driving several ecosystem functions. We provide an observation-based estimate of this flux at 123 +/- 8 petagrams of carbon per year (Pg C year(-1)) using eddy covariance flux data and various diagnostic models. Tropical forests and savannahs account for 60%. GPP over 40% of the vegetated land is associated with precipitation. State-of-the-art process-oriented biosphere models used for climate predictions exhibit a large between-model variation of GPP's latitudinal patterns and show higher spatial correlations between GPP and precipitation, suggesting the existence of missing processes or feedback mechanisms which attenuate the vegetation response to climate. Our estimates of spatially distributed GPP and its covariation with climate can help improve coupled climate-carbon cycle process models.
Department/s
- Dept of Physical Geography and Ecosystem Science
- eSSENCE: The e-Science Collaboration
- BECC: Biodiversity and Ecosystem services in a Changing Climate
Publishing year
2010
Language
English
Pages
834-838
Publication/Series
Science
Volume
329
Issue
5993
Document type
Journal article
Publisher
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Topic
- Physical Geography
Status
Published
ISBN/ISSN/Other
- ISSN: 1095-9203