Seasonal divergence in the interannual responses of Northern Hemisphere vegetation activity to variations in diurnal climate
Wu Xiuchen;Liu Hongyan;Li Xiaoyan;Liang Eryuan;Beck Pieters.a.;Huang Yongmei
[Wu, Xiuchen; Li, Xiaoyan; Huang, Yongmei] Beijing Normal Univ, State Key Lab Earth Proc & Resource Ecol, Beijing 100875, Peoples R China.
[Wu, Xiuchen; Li, Xiaoyan] JCGCS, Beijing 100875, Peoples R China.
[Wu, Xiuchen; Li, Xiaoyan; Huang, Yongmei] Beijing Normal Univ, Coll Resources Sci & Technol, Beijing 100875, Peoples R China.
[Liu, Hongyan] Peking Univ, Coll Urban & Environm Sci, Beijing 100871, Peoples R China.
[Liang, Eryuan] Chinese Acad Sci, Inst Tibetan Plateau Res, Key Lab Tibetan Environm Changes & Land Surface P, Beijing 100085, Peoples R China.
[Beck, Pieter S. A.] Commiss European Communities, Joint Res Ctr, Inst Environm & Sustainabil, Forest Resources & Climate Unit, I-21020 Ispra, VA, Italy.
ABSTRACT: Seasonal asymmetry in the interannual variations in the daytime and nighttime climate in the Northern Hemisphere (NH) is well documented, but its consequences for vegetation activity remain poorly understood. Here, we investigate the interannual responses of vegetation activity to variations of seasonal mean daytime and nighttime climate in NH (>30 degrees N) during the past decades using remote sensing retrievals, FLUXNET and tree ring data. Despite a generally significant and positive response of vegetation activity to seasonal mean maximum temperature (T-max) in similar to 22-25% of the boreal (>50 degrees N) NH between spring and autumn, spring-summer progressive water limitations appear to decouple vegetation activity from the mean summer T-max, particularly in climate zones with dry summers. Drought alleviation during autumn results in vegetation recovery from the marked warming-induced drought limitations observed in spring and summer across 24-26% of the temperate NH. Vegetation activity exhibits a pervasively negative correlation with the autumn mean minimum temperature, which is in contrast to the ambiguous patterns observed in spring and summer. Our findings provide new insights into how seasonal asymmetry in the interannual variations in the mean daytime and nighttime climate interacts with water limitations to produce spatiotemporally variable responses of vegetation growth.
Published in SCIENTIFIC REPORTS.2016,6(, DOI: 10.1038/srep19000
