Research article - Peer-reviewed, 2021
Reconciling the Carbon Balance of Northern Sweden Through Integration of Observations and Modelling
Sathyanadh, Anusha; Monteil, Guillaume; Scholze, Marko; Klosterhalfen, Anne; Laudon, Hjalmar; Wu, Zhendong; Gerbig, Christoph; Peters, Wouter; Bastrikov, Vladislav; Nilsson, Mats B.; Peichl, MatthiasAbstract
The boreal biome plays an important role in the global carbon cycle. However, current estimates of its sink-source strength and responses to changes in climate are primarily derived from models and thus remain uncertain. A major challenge is the validation of these models at a regional scale since empirical flux estimates are typically confined to ecosystem or continental scales. The Integrated Carbon Observation System (ICOS)-Svartberget atmospheric station (SVB) provides observations including tall tower eddy covariance (EC) and atmospheric concentration measurements that can contribute to such validation in Northern Sweden. Thus, the overall aim of this study was to quantify the carbon balance in Northern Sweden region by integrating land-atmosphere fluxes and atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations. There were three specific objectives. First, to compare flux estimates from four models (VPRM, LPJ-GUESS, ORCHIDEE, and SiBCASA) to tall tower EC measurements at SVB during the years 2016-2018. Second to assess the fluxes' impact on atmospheric CO2 concentrations using a regional transport model. Third, to assess the impact of the drought in 2018. The comparison of estimated concentrations with ICOS observations helped the evaluation of the models' regional scale performance. Both the simulations and observations indicate there were similar reductions in the net CO2 uptake during drought. All the models (except for SiBCASA) and observations indicated the region was a net carbon sink during the 3-year study period. Our study highlights a need to improve vegetation models through comparisons with empirical data and demonstrate the ICOS network's potential utility for constraining CO2 fluxes in the region.Keywords
boreal biome; net ecosystem exchange; tall tower eddy covariance; vegetation model; atmospheric transport model; FLEXPARTPublished in
Journal Of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres2021, volume: 126, number: 23, article number: e2021JD035185
Publisher: AMER GEOPHYSICAL UNION
Authors' information
Sathyanadh, Anusha
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Forest Ecology and Management
Monteil, Guillaume
Lund University
Scholze, Marko
Lund University
Klosterhalfen, Anne
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Forest Ecology and Management
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Forest Ecology and Management
Wu, Zhendong
Lund University
Gerbig, Christoph
Max Planck Society
Peters, Wouter
Wageningen University and Research
Bastrikov, Vladislav
Universite Paris Saclay
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Forest Ecology and Management
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Forest Ecology and Management
UKÄ Subject classification
Meteorology and Atmospheric Sciences
Publication Identifiers
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1029/2021JD035185
URI (permanent link to this page)
https://res.slu.se/id/publ/115412