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How does the extratropical forest land-atmosphere coupling of energy and water change under elevated CO2 and warming?

Presentation Date
Friday, December 16, 2022 at 2:01pm - Friday, December 16, 2022 at 2:09pm
Location
Online Only
Authors

Author

Abstract

Land and atmosphere are closely coupled to one another through their exchange of energy and water; this coupling modulates soil conditions, vegetation processes, and the near-surface climate. These couplings are also expected to evolve with time in response to changing atmospheric forcings. In this work, we document the present-day condition and future response of the coupled land-atmosphere feedback network based on observations and factorial model experiments using the Energy Exascale Earth System Model (E3SM). We employed a transfer entropy approach and novel network metrics to reveal the patterns and strength of land-atmosphere coupling. We found that the land-atmosphere feedback network has high connectivity over extratropical forest regions. Further climate warming will enhance the whole network coupling by 28% under the high emission scenario. In contrast, CO2 fertilization on vegetation productivity will partially close stomata and dampen the coupling strength of water/energy between land and atmosphere. This work provides new metrics to analyze and benchmark complex system feedbacks in the coupled Earth system.

Category
Global Environmental Change
Funding Program Area(s)
Additional Resources:
NERSC (National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center)