Terrestrial gross carbon dioxide uptake: Global distribution and covariation with climate

Christian Beer (1) , Markus Reichstein (1) , Enrico Tomelleri (1) , Philippe Ciais (2, 3) , Martin Jung (1) , Nuno Carvalhais (1, 4) , Christian Rödenbeck (5) , M. Altaf Arain (6) , Dennis Baldocchi (7) , Gordon B. Bonan (8) , Alberte Bondeau (9) , Alessandro Cescatti (10) , Gitta Lasslop (1) , Anders Lindroth (11) , Mark Lomas (12) , Sebastiaan Luyssaert (13) , Hank Margolis (14) , Keith W. Oleson (8) , Olivier Roupsard (15, 16) , Elmar Veenendaal (17) , Nicolas Viovy (2, 18) , Christopher Williams (19) , F. Ian Woodward (12) , Dario Papale (20)

1 Department of Biogeochemical Integration [Jena]
2 LSCE - Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement [Gif-sur-Yvette]
3 ICOS-ATC - ICOS-ATC
4 FCT NOVA - Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia = School of Science & Technology
5 MPI-BGC - Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry
6 McMaster University [Hamilton, Ontario]
7 ESPM - Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management [Berkeley]
8 NCAR - National Center for Atmospheric Research [Boulder]
9 PIK - Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research
10 Climate Change Unit [Ispra]
11 Department of Earth and Ecosystem Sciences [Lund]
12 Department of Animal and Plant Sciences [Sheffield]
13 Universiteit Antwerpen = University of Antwerpen [Antwerpen]
14 Faculté de foresterie, de géographie et de géomatique - Centre d'Etude de la Forêt
15 Cirad-PERSYST - Département Performances des systèmes de production et de transformation tropicaux
16 CATIE - Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza - Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center
17 Nature Conservation and Plant Ecology Group
18 MOSAIC - Modélisation des Surfaces et Interfaces Continentales
19 Graduate School of Geography
20 DIBAF, University of Tuscia, Via S.C. de Lellis, 01100 Viterbo, Italy

Terrestrial gross primary production (GPP) is the largest global CO$_2$ flux driving several ecosystem functions. We provide an observation-based estimate of this flux at 123$\pm$8 petagrams of carbon per year (Pg C year$^{−1}$) using eddy covariance flux data and various diagnostic models. Tropical forests and savannahs account for 60%. GPP over 40% of the vegetated land is associated with precipitation. State-of-the-art process-oriented biosphere models used for climate predictions exhibit a large between-model variation of GPP’s latitudinal patterns and show higher spatial correlations between GPP and precipitation, suggesting the existence of missing processes or feedback mechanisms which attenuate the vegetation response to climate. Our estimates of spatially distributed GPP and its covariation with climate can help improve coupled climate–carbon cycle process models.

Domains: Environmental Sciences

Christian Beer, Markus Reichstein, Enrico Tomelleri, Philippe Ciais, Martin Jung, et al.. Terrestrial gross carbon dioxide uptake: Global distribution and covariation with climate. Science, 2010, 329 (5993), pp.834. ⟨10.1126/science.1184984⟩. ⟨cea-00819125⟩