Soil Moisture Dominates the Forest Productivity Decline During the 2022 China Compound Drought-Heatwave Event

Compound drought-heatwave (CDHW) events threaten ecosystem productivity and are often characterized by low soil moisture (SM) and high vapor pressure deficit (VPD). However, the relative roles of SM and VPD in constraining forest productivity during CDHWs remain controversial. In the summer of 2022, China experienced a record-breaking CDHW event (DH2022). Here, we applied satellite remote-sensing data and meteorological data, and machine-learning techniques to quantify the individual contributions of SM and VPD to forest productivity variations and investigate their interactions during the development of DH2022. The results reveal that SM, rather than VPD, dominates the forest productivity decline during DH2022. We identified a possible critical tipping point of SM below which forest productivity would quickly decline with the decreasing SM. Furthermore, we illuminated the evolution of SM, VPD, evapotranspiration, forest productivity, and their interactions throughout DH2022. Our findings broaden the understanding of forest response to extreme CDHWs at the ecosystem scale. Low soil moisture (SM) and high vapor pressure deficit (VPD) are widely recognized as the dominant drivers of forest productivity decline during compound drought-heatwave (CDHW) events. In the summer of 2022, a record-breaking CDHW (DH2022) struck China. In this study, we decoupled the respective impacts of SM and VPD in determining forest productivity decline during DH2022. We found that during DH2022, SM, rather than VPD, is the dominant driver of forest productivity decline, and once SM decreases below a certain threshold, forest productivity would decline sharply. We illuminated the evolution of SM, VPD, evapotranspiration, forest productivity, and their interactions throughout DH2022. Our findings promote the understanding of forest response to extreme CDHWs at the ecosystem scale and thus potentially improve terrestrial ecosystem models' ability to evaluate and predict the impacts of CDHWs. Soil moisture (SM), rather than vapor pressure deficit, dominates the forest productivity decline in the 2022 China compound drought-heatwave eventForest productivity would decline sharply once SM drops below a certain threshold during extreme compound drought-heatwave eventsEvolution of the 2022 China compound drought-heatwave event and its impacts on forests were illuminated

Automated summary

In the summer of 2022, a record-breaking compound drought-heatwave event (DH2022) occurred in China. Results show that soil moisture (SM) dominates the decline in forest productivity during DH2022, rather than vapor pressure deficit (VPD). Once SM drops below a certain threshold, forest productivity would decline sharply. The study provides insights into the forest response to extreme compound drought-heatwave events at the ecosystem scale.