The climate induced variation of the continental biosphere: A model simulation of the last glacial maximum

• Published in: Geophysical Research Letters
• Main Authors: Friedlingstein, P., Delire, C., Müler, J. F., Gérard, Jean-Claude
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: American Geophysical Union 1992
• Subjects: Atmospheric Composition and Structure: Biosphere/atmosphere interactions; Information Related to Geologic Time: Cenozoic; Meteorology and Atmospheric Dynamics: Paleoclimatology; Physical; chemical; mathematical & earth Sciences; Space science; astronomy & astrophysics; Physique; chimie; mathématiques & sciences de la terre; Aérospatiale; astronomie & astrophysique; Tundra
• Online Access: https://orbi.uliege.be/handle/2268/27402; https://orbi.uliege.be/bitstream/2268/27402/1/Friedlingstein_et_al-1992-Geophysical_Research_Letters.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1029/92GL00546

peer reviewed A simplified three-dimensional global climate model was used to simulate the surface temperature and precipitation distributions for the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), 18000 years ago. These fields were applied to a bioclimatic scheme which parameterizes the distribution of eight vegetation types as a function of biotemperature and annual precipitation. The model predicts a decrease, for LGM compared to present, in forested area balanced by an increase in desert and tundra extent, in agreement with a reconstruction of the distribution of vegetation based on paleodata. However, the estimated biospheric carbon content (phytomass and soil carbon) at LGM is less reduced than in the reconstructed one. Possible reasons for this discrepancy are discussed.