June 1, 2017
Journal Article

Global land carbon sink response to temperature and precipitation varies with ENSO phase

Abstract

Climate variability associated with the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and its consequent impacts on land carbon sink interannual variability have been used as a basis for investigating carbon cycle responses to climate variability more broadly, and to inform the sensitivity of the tropical carbon budget to climate change. Past studies have presented opposing views about whether temperature or precipitation is the primary factor driving the response of the land carbon sink to ENSO. Here, we show that the dominant driver varies with ENSO phase. Whereas tropical temperature explains sink dynamics following El Niño conditions (rTG,P¼0.59, p

Revised: October 31, 2017 | Published: June 1, 2017

Citation

Fang Y., A.M. Michalak, C.R. Schwalm, D. Huntzinger, J. Berry, P. Ciais, and S. Piao, et al. 2017. Global land carbon sink response to temperature and precipitation varies with ENSO phase. Environmental Research Letters 12, no. 6:Article No. 064007. PNNL-SA-127177. doi:10.1088/1748-9326/aa6e8e