Tundra Browning in the Indigirka Lowlands (North-Eastern Siberia) Explained by Drought, Floods and Small-Scale Vegetation Shifts
Contrary to the general “greening of the Arctic”, the Siberian Indigirka Lowlands show strong “browning” (a decrease in the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index or “NDVI”) in various recent satellite records. Since greening and browning are generally indicative of increases and losses in photosynt...
Published in: | Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
2023
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://research.vu.nl/en/publications/7cf967c4-a85c-484c-bc63-3f2290a2dd1d https://doi.org/10.1029/2022JG007330 https://hdl.handle.net/1871.1/7cf967c4-a85c-484c-bc63-3f2290a2dd1d http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85165871019&partnerID=8YFLogxK http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85165871019&partnerID=8YFLogxK |
id |
ftvuamstcris:oai:research.vu.nl:publications/7cf967c4-a85c-484c-bc63-3f2290a2dd1d |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftvuamstcris:oai:research.vu.nl:publications/7cf967c4-a85c-484c-bc63-3f2290a2dd1d 2024-06-23T07:48:59+00:00 Tundra Browning in the Indigirka Lowlands (North-Eastern Siberia) Explained by Drought, Floods and Small-Scale Vegetation Shifts Magnússon, Rúna Groten, Finn Bartholomeus, Harm van Huissteden, Ko Heijmans, Monique M.P.D. 2023-07 https://research.vu.nl/en/publications/7cf967c4-a85c-484c-bc63-3f2290a2dd1d https://doi.org/10.1029/2022JG007330 https://hdl.handle.net/1871.1/7cf967c4-a85c-484c-bc63-3f2290a2dd1d http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85165871019&partnerID=8YFLogxK http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85165871019&partnerID=8YFLogxK eng eng https://research.vu.nl/en/publications/7cf967c4-a85c-484c-bc63-3f2290a2dd1d info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Magnússon , R , Groten , F , Bartholomeus , H , van Huissteden , K & Heijmans , M M P D 2023 , ' Tundra Browning in the Indigirka Lowlands (North-Eastern Siberia) Explained by Drought, Floods and Small-Scale Vegetation Shifts ' , Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences , vol. 128 , no. 7 , e2022JG007330 , pp. 1-20 . https://doi.org/10.1029/2022JG007330 Arctic tundra greening Landsat NDVI precipitation Siberia article 2023 ftvuamstcris https://doi.org/10.1029/2022JG007330 2024-05-30T00:37:59Z Contrary to the general “greening of the Arctic”, the Siberian Indigirka Lowlands show strong “browning” (a decrease in the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index or “NDVI”) in various recent satellite records. Since greening and browning are generally indicative of increases and losses in photosynthetically active biomass, this browning trend may have implications for the carbon balance and vegetation of this Arctic tundra region. To explore potential mechanisms responsible for this trend break from general Arctic greening, we studied timeseries of Landsat summer maximum NDVI, weather data, and high-resolution maps of vegetation compositional change, topography, geomorphology and hydrology. We find that a significant proportion of browning (lower summer NDVI) is explained by moisture dynamics, with high snow depths and resulting floods as well as summer drought coinciding with low NDVI. Relations between seasonal weather variables and NDVI are spatially heterogeneous, with floodplains, drained thaw lake basins and Yedoma ridges showing different patterns of association with weather variables. Low summer NDVI after high snowfall was particularly evident in floodplains, likely explained by early summer floods. Local small-scale vegetation changes explained only small amounts of variance in browning rates in Landsat NDVI. Local expansion of Sphagnum vegetation in particular may have contributed to recent browning of our study site, but higher resolution NDVI timeseries are necessary to accurately constrain the role of small-scale vegetation shifts. Overall, associations identified in this study suggest that future increases in Arctic precipitation variability and extremes may limit tundra greening, but to different extents even across comparatively small topographical contrasts. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Greening Arctic Tundra Siberia Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU): Research Portal Arctic Browning ENVELOPE(164.050,164.050,-74.617,-74.617) Indigirka ENVELOPE(149.609,149.609,70.929,70.929) Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences 128 7 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU): Research Portal |
op_collection_id |
ftvuamstcris |
language |
English |
topic |
Arctic tundra greening Landsat NDVI precipitation Siberia |
spellingShingle |
Arctic tundra greening Landsat NDVI precipitation Siberia Magnússon, Rúna Groten, Finn Bartholomeus, Harm van Huissteden, Ko Heijmans, Monique M.P.D. Tundra Browning in the Indigirka Lowlands (North-Eastern Siberia) Explained by Drought, Floods and Small-Scale Vegetation Shifts |
topic_facet |
Arctic tundra greening Landsat NDVI precipitation Siberia |
description |
Contrary to the general “greening of the Arctic”, the Siberian Indigirka Lowlands show strong “browning” (a decrease in the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index or “NDVI”) in various recent satellite records. Since greening and browning are generally indicative of increases and losses in photosynthetically active biomass, this browning trend may have implications for the carbon balance and vegetation of this Arctic tundra region. To explore potential mechanisms responsible for this trend break from general Arctic greening, we studied timeseries of Landsat summer maximum NDVI, weather data, and high-resolution maps of vegetation compositional change, topography, geomorphology and hydrology. We find that a significant proportion of browning (lower summer NDVI) is explained by moisture dynamics, with high snow depths and resulting floods as well as summer drought coinciding with low NDVI. Relations between seasonal weather variables and NDVI are spatially heterogeneous, with floodplains, drained thaw lake basins and Yedoma ridges showing different patterns of association with weather variables. Low summer NDVI after high snowfall was particularly evident in floodplains, likely explained by early summer floods. Local small-scale vegetation changes explained only small amounts of variance in browning rates in Landsat NDVI. Local expansion of Sphagnum vegetation in particular may have contributed to recent browning of our study site, but higher resolution NDVI timeseries are necessary to accurately constrain the role of small-scale vegetation shifts. Overall, associations identified in this study suggest that future increases in Arctic precipitation variability and extremes may limit tundra greening, but to different extents even across comparatively small topographical contrasts. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Magnússon, Rúna Groten, Finn Bartholomeus, Harm van Huissteden, Ko Heijmans, Monique M.P.D. |
author_facet |
Magnússon, Rúna Groten, Finn Bartholomeus, Harm van Huissteden, Ko Heijmans, Monique M.P.D. |
author_sort |
Magnússon, Rúna |
title |
Tundra Browning in the Indigirka Lowlands (North-Eastern Siberia) Explained by Drought, Floods and Small-Scale Vegetation Shifts |
title_short |
Tundra Browning in the Indigirka Lowlands (North-Eastern Siberia) Explained by Drought, Floods and Small-Scale Vegetation Shifts |
title_full |
Tundra Browning in the Indigirka Lowlands (North-Eastern Siberia) Explained by Drought, Floods and Small-Scale Vegetation Shifts |
title_fullStr |
Tundra Browning in the Indigirka Lowlands (North-Eastern Siberia) Explained by Drought, Floods and Small-Scale Vegetation Shifts |
title_full_unstemmed |
Tundra Browning in the Indigirka Lowlands (North-Eastern Siberia) Explained by Drought, Floods and Small-Scale Vegetation Shifts |
title_sort |
tundra browning in the indigirka lowlands (north-eastern siberia) explained by drought, floods and small-scale vegetation shifts |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
https://research.vu.nl/en/publications/7cf967c4-a85c-484c-bc63-3f2290a2dd1d https://doi.org/10.1029/2022JG007330 https://hdl.handle.net/1871.1/7cf967c4-a85c-484c-bc63-3f2290a2dd1d http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85165871019&partnerID=8YFLogxK http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85165871019&partnerID=8YFLogxK |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(164.050,164.050,-74.617,-74.617) ENVELOPE(149.609,149.609,70.929,70.929) |
geographic |
Arctic Browning Indigirka |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Browning Indigirka |
genre |
Arctic Greening Arctic Tundra Siberia |
genre_facet |
Arctic Greening Arctic Tundra Siberia |
op_source |
Magnússon , R , Groten , F , Bartholomeus , H , van Huissteden , K & Heijmans , M M P D 2023 , ' Tundra Browning in the Indigirka Lowlands (North-Eastern Siberia) Explained by Drought, Floods and Small-Scale Vegetation Shifts ' , Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences , vol. 128 , no. 7 , e2022JG007330 , pp. 1-20 . https://doi.org/10.1029/2022JG007330 |
op_relation |
https://research.vu.nl/en/publications/7cf967c4-a85c-484c-bc63-3f2290a2dd1d |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1029/2022JG007330 |
container_title |
Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences |
container_volume |
128 |
container_issue |
7 |
_version_ |
1802639282588876800 |