The browser you are using is not supported by this website. All versions of Internet Explorer are no longer supported, either by us or Microsoft (read more here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/windows/end-of-ie-support).

Please use a modern browser to fully experience our website, such as the newest versions of Edge, Chrome, Firefox or Safari etc.

Default user image.

Wenxin Zhang

Researcher

Default user image.

Non-symmetric responses of leaf onset date to natural warming and cooling in northern ecosystems

Author

  • Lei He
  • Jian Wang
  • Philippe Ciais
  • Ashley Ballantyne
  • Kailiang Yu
  • Wenxin Zhang
  • Jingfeng Xiao
  • François Ritter
  • Zhihua Liu
  • Xufeng Wang
  • Xiaojun Li
  • Shouzhang Peng
  • Changhui Ma
  • Chenghu Zhou
  • Zhao Liang Li
  • Yaowen Xie
  • Jian Sheng Ye
Show all

Summary, in English

The northern hemisphere has experienced regional cooling, especially during the global warming hiatus (1998-2012) due to ocean energy redistribution. However, the lack of studies about the natural cooling effects hampers our understanding of vegetation responses to climate change. Using 15,125 ground phenological time series at 3,620 sites since the 1950s and 31-year satellite greenness observations (1982-2012) covering the warming hiatus period, we show a stronger response of leaf onset date (LOD) to natural cooling than to warming, i.e. the delay of LOD caused by 1°C cooling is larger than the advance of LOD with 1°C warming. This might be because cooling leads to larger chilling accumulation and heating requirements for leaf onset, but this non-symmetric LOD response is partially offset by warming-related drying. Moreover, spring greening magnitude, in terms of satellite-based greenness and productivity, is more sensitive to LOD changes in the warming area than in the cooling. These results highlight the importance of considering non-symmetric responses of spring greening to warming and cooling when predicting vegetation-climate feedbacks.

Department/s

  • BECC: Biodiversity and Ecosystem services in a Changing Climate
  • Dept of Physical Geography and Ecosystem Science
  • MERGE: ModElling the Regional and Global Earth system

Publishing year

2023-09-01

Language

English

Publication/Series

PNAS Nexus

Volume

2

Issue

9

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

Oxford University Press

Topic

  • Climate Research

Status

Published

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 2752-6542