Ecosystem-atmosphere interactions in the Arctic: using data-model approaches to understand carbon cycle feedbacks

• Main Author: López-Blanco, Efrén
• Other Authors: Williams, Mathew, Christensen, Torben R., Lund, Magnus, Tamstorf, Mikkel P.
• Format: Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: The University of Edinburgh 2018
• Subjects: Greenland; Arctic; carbon cycle; net ecosystem exchange; photosynthesis; respiration; meteorology; biological disturbance; plant traits; observations; modelling; Kobbefjord; Tundra
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1842/33101

The terrestrial CO2 exchange in the Arctic plays an important role in the global carbon (C) cycle. The Arctic ecosystems, containing a large amount of organic carbon (C), are experiencing ongoing warming in recent decades, which is affecting the C cycling and the feedback interactions between its different components. To improve our understanding of the atmosphere-ecosystem interactions, the Greenland Ecosystem Monitoring (GEM) program measures ecosystem CO2 exchange and links it to biogeochemical processes. However, this task remains challenging in northern latitudes due to an insufficient number of measurement sites, particularly covering full annual cycles, but also the frequent gaps in data affected by extreme conditions and remoteness. Combining ecosystem models and field observations we are able to study the underlying processes of Arctic CO2 exchange in changing environments. The overall aim of the research is to use data-model approaches to analyse the patterns of C exchange and their links to biological processes in Arctic ecosystems, studied in detail both from a measurement and a modelling perspective, but also from a local to a pan-arctic scale. In Paper I we found a compensatory response of photosynthesis (GPP) and ecosystem respiration (Reco), both highly sensitive to the meteorological drivers (i.e. temperatures and radiation) in Kobbefjord, West Greenland tundra. This tight relationship led to a relatively insensitive net ecosystem exchange (NEE) to the meteorology, despite the large variability in temperature and precipitations across growing seasons. This tundra ecosystem acted as a consistent sink of C (-30 g C m-2), except in 2011 (41 g C m-2), which was associated with a major pest outbreak. In Paper II we estimated this decrease of C sink strength of 118-144 g C m-2 in the anomalous year (2011), corresponding to 1210-1470 tonnes C at the Kobbefjord catchment scale. We concluded that the meteorological sensitivity of photosynthesis and respiration were similar, and hence compensatory, but we ...