Journal
NATURE
Volume 541, Issue 7638, Pages 516-520Publisher
NATURE PORTFOLIO
DOI: 10.1038/nature20780
Keywords
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Categories
Funding
- European Union (EU) [283080]
- EU [640176, 603542]
- European Space Agency
- European Research Council (ERC) under the EU [647204]
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) [NNX12AK12G, NNX12AP74G, NNX10AG01A, NNX11AO08A]
- ERC [ERC-2013-SyG-610028 IMBALANCE-P]
- Ministry of the Environment of Japan [2-1401]
- Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) [NE/J010057/1]
- NERC CEH National Capability fund
- Royal Physiographic Society in Lund (Birgit and Hellmuth Hertz' Foundation)
- Swedish Research Council [637-2014-6895]
- EU under ERC [SEDAL-647423]
- NERC [NE/I006702/1, NE/F005997/1, ceh020001, NE/H000224/1, NE/J010154/1] Funding Source: UKRI
- Directorate For Geosciences
- Div Atmospheric & Geospace Sciences [1243071] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
- European Research Council (ERC) [647204] Funding Source: European Research Council (ERC)
- Natural Environment Research Council [NE/I006702/1, NE/H000224/1, NE/J010154/1, ceh020001, NE/F005997/1] Funding Source: researchfish
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Large interannual variations in the measured growth rate of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) originate primarily from fluctuations in carbon uptake by land ecosystems(1-3). It remains uncertain, however, to what extent temperature and water availability control the carbon balance of land ecosystems across spatial and temporal scales(3-14). Here we use empirical models based on eddy covariance data(15) and process-based models(16,17) to investigate the effect of changes in temperature and water availability on gross primary productivity (GPP), terrestrial ecosystem respiration (TER) and net ecosystem exchange (NEE) at local and global scales. We find that water availability is the dominant driver of the local interannual variability in GPP and TER. To a lesser extent this is true also for NEE at the local scale, but when integrated globally, temporal NEE variability is mostly driven by temperature fluctuations. We suggest that this apparent paradox can be explained by two compensatory water effects. Temporal water-driven GPP and TER variations compensate locally, dampening water-driven NEE variability. Spatial water availability anomalies also compensate, leaving a dominant temperature signal in the year-to-year fluctuations of the land carbon sink. These findings help to reconcile seemingly contradictory reports regarding the importance of temperature and water in controlling the interannual variability of the terrestrial carbon balance(3-6,9,11,12,14). Our study indicates that spatial climate covariation drives the global carbon cycle response.
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