A Process-model perspective on recent changes in the carbon cycle of North America

Authors

• Guillermo Murray-Tortarolo, Instituto de Investigaciones en Ecosistemas y Sustentabilidad
• Benjamin Poulter, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
• Rodrigo Vargas, University of Delaware
• Daniel Hayes, University of Maine
• Anna M. Michalak, Carnegie Institution of Washington
• Christopher A. Williams, Clark UniversityFollow
• Lisamarie Windham-Myers, United States Geological Survey Western Region
• Jonathan A. Wang, University of California, Irvine
• Kimberly P. Wickland, United States Geological Survey
• David Butman, University of Washington
• Hanqin Tian, Boston College
• Stephen Sitch, University of Exeter
• Pierre Friedlingstein, University of Exeter
• Mike O’Sullivan, University of Exeter
• Peter Briggs, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization
• Vivek Arora, Environment and Climate Change Canada
• Danica Lombardozzi, National Center for Atmospheric Research
• Atul K. Jain, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
• Wenping Yuan, Sun Yat-Sen University
• Roland Séférian, Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées
• Julia Nabel, Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry
• Andy Wiltshire, Met Office
• Almut Arneth, Karlsruher Institut für Technologie
• Sebastian Lienert, University of Bern, Institute of Applied Physics
• Sönke Zaehle, Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry
• Vladislav Bastrikov, Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement
• Daniel Goll, Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines
• Nicolas Vuichard, Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement
• Anthony Walker, ORNL Environmental Sciences Division
• Etsushi Kato, The Institute of Applied Energy
• Xu Yue, Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology
• Zhen Zhang, University of Maryland, College Park

Document Type

Article

Abstract

Continental North America has been found to be a carbon (C) sink over recent decades by multiple studies employing a variety of estimation approaches. However, several key questions and uncertainties remain with these assessments. Here we used results from an ensemble of 19 state-of-the-art dynamic global vegetation models from the TRENDYv9 project to improve these estimates and study the drivers of its interannual variability. Our results show that North America has been a C sink with a magnitude of 0.37 ± 0.38 (mean and one standard deviation) PgC year−1 for the period 2000–2019 (0.31 and 0.44 PgC year−1 in each decade); split into 0.18 ± 0.12 PgC year−1 in Canada (0.15 and 0.20), 0.16 ± 0.17 in the United States (0.14 and 0.17), 0.02 ± 0.05 PgC year−1 in Mexico (0.02 and 0.02) and 0.01 ± 0.02 in Central America and the Caribbean (0.01 and 0.01). About 57% of the new C assimilated by terrestrial ecosystems is allocated into vegetation, 30% into soils, and 13% into litter. Losses of C due to fire account for 41% of the interannual variability of the mean net biome productivity for all North America in the model ensemble. Finally, we show that drought years (e.g., 2002) have the potential to shift the region to a small net C source in the simulations (−0.02 ± 0.46 PgC year−1). Our results highlight the importance of identifying the major drivers of the interannual variability of the continental-scale land C cycle along with the spatial distribution of local sink-source dynamics.

Supplementary file of supporting data also available for download.

Publication Title

Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences

Publication Date

2022

Volume

127

Issue

9

ISSN

2169-8953

DOI

10.1029/2022JG006904

Keywords

carbon cycle, drought, magnitude, source-sink dynamics, spatial distribution, vegetation cove

Repository Citation

Murray-Tortarolo, Guillermo; Poulter, Benjamin; Vargas, Rodrigo; Hayes, Daniel; Michalak, Anna M.; Williams, Christopher A.; Windham-Myers, Lisamarie; Wang, Jonathan A.; Wickland, Kimberly P.; Butman, David; Tian, Hanqin; Sitch, Stephen; Friedlingstein, Pierre; O’Sullivan, Mike; Briggs, Peter; Arora, Vivek; Lombardozzi, Danica; Jain, Atul K.; Yuan, Wenping; Séférian, Roland; Nabel, Julia; Wiltshire, Andy; Arneth, Almut; Lienert, Sebastian; Zaehle, Sönke; Bastrikov, Vladislav; Goll, Daniel; Vuichard, Nicolas; Walker, Anthony; Kato, Etsushi; Yue, Xu; and Zhang, Zhen, "A Process-model perspective on recent changes in the carbon cycle of North America" (2022). Geography. 858.
https://commons.clarku.edu/faculty_geography/858

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.

Copyright Conditions

Published source must be acknowledged with citation:
Murray‐Tortarolo, Guillermo, et al. "A Process‐Model Perspective on Recent Changes in the Carbon Cycle of North America." Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences 127.9 (2022): e2022JG006904.

Must link to published article with DOI:
10.1029/2022JG006904