Decadal Variations in Eastern Canada’s Taiga Wood Biomass Production Forced by Ocean-Atmosphere Interactions

Abstract Across Eastern Canada (EC), taiga forests represent an important carbon reservoir, but the extent to which climate variability affects this ecosystem over decades remains uncertain. Here, we analyze an extensive network of black spruce (Picea mariana Mill.) ring width and wood density measu...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Scientific Reports
Main Authors: Etienne Boucher, Antoine Nicault, Dominique Arseneault, Yves Bégin, Mehdi Pasha Karami
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Nature Portfolio 2017
Subjects:
Medicine
R
Science
Q
Canada
North Atlantic
North Atlantic oscillation
Sea ice
taiga
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-02580-9
https://doaj.org/article/55750bfcd5994703b83c332784d8d4aa
Description
Summary:Abstract Across Eastern Canada (EC), taiga forests represent an important carbon reservoir, but the extent to which climate variability affects this ecosystem over decades remains uncertain. Here, we analyze an extensive network of black spruce (Picea mariana Mill.) ring width and wood density measurements and provide new evidence that wood biomass production is influenced by large-scale, internal ocean-atmosphere processes. We show that while black spruce wood biomass production is primarily governed by growing season temperatures, the Atlantic ocean conveys heat from the subtropics and influences the decadal persistence in taiga forests productivity. Indeed, we argue that 20–30 years periodicities in Sea Surface Temperatures (SSTs) as part of the the Atlantic Multi-decadal Oscillation (AMO) directly influence heat transfers to adjacent lands. Winter atmospheric conditions associated with the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) might also impact EC’s taiga forests, albeit indirectly, through its effect on SSTs and sea ice conditions in surrounding seas. Our work emphasizes that taiga forests would benefit from the combined effects of a warmer atmosphere and stronger ocean-to-land heat transfers, whereas a weakening of these transfers could cancel out, for decades or longer, the positive effects of climate change on Eastern Canada’s largest ecosystem.

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