Simulating effects of fire disturbance and climate change on boreal forest productivity and evapotranspiration

Sinkyu Kang; John S. Kimball; Steven W. Running

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2005.11.014

Simulating effects of fire disturbance and climate change on boreal forest productivity and evapotranspiration

Sinkyu Kang
, John S. Kimball
, Steven W. Running

Numerical Terradynamic Simulation Group

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

68 Scopus citations

Abstract

We used a terrestrial ecosystem process model, BIOME-BGC, to investigate historical climate change and fire disturbance effects on regional carbon and water budgets within a 357,500 km² portion of the Canadian boreal forest. Historical patterns of increasing atmospheric CO₂, climate change, and regional fire activity were used as model drivers to evaluate the relative effects of these impacts to spatial patterns and temporal trends in forest net primary production (NPP) and evapotranspiration (ET). Historical trends of increasing atmospheric CO₂ resulted in overall 13% and 5% increases in annual NPP and ET from 1994 to 1996, respectively. NPP was found to be relatively sensitive to changes in air temperature (T_a), while ET was more sensitive to precipitation (P) change within the ranges of observed climate variability (e.g., ± 2 °C for T_a and ± 20% for P). In addition, the potential effect of climate change related warming on NPP is exacerbated or offset depending on whether these changes are accompanied by respective decreases or increases in precipitation. Historical fire activity generally resulted in reductions of both NPP and ET, which consumed an average of approximately 6% of annual NPP from 1959 to 1996. Areas currently occupied by dry conifer forests were found to be subject to more frequent fire activity, which consumed approximately 8% of annual NPP. The results of this study show that the North American boreal ecosystem is sensitive to historical patterns of increasing atmospheric CO₂, climate change and regional fire activity. The relative impacts of these disturbances on NPP and ET interact in complex ways and are spatially variable depending on regional land cover and climate gradients.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	85-102
Number of pages	18
Journal	Science of the Total Environment
Volume	362
Issue number	1-3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2005.11.014
State	Published - Jun 1 2006

Funding

We thank Robert E. Keane at USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station for his helpful comments on our fire simulation and analysis. This work was supported by grants from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Earth Science Enterprise. Regional land cover and climatological data were provided through the BOREAS data archives at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory Distributed Active Archive Center, which is sponsored by NASA. Tower flux data were kindly provided by NOBS, SOAS and SOBS AmeriFlux site research teams with financial support from the Department of Energy and NASA. S. Kang was additionally supported by grants from Sustainable Water Resources Research Center of 21st Century Frontier Research Program (code: 1-8-2) and from the ‘Eco-technopia 21 Project’, Ministry of Environment, Korea.

Funders	Funder number
Ministry of Environment Korea
1-8-2
National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Keywords

BOREAS
Boreal forest
CO
Climate change
ET
Fire
NPP
Simulation
Spatial modeling

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1016/j.scitotenv.2005.11.014

Cite this

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title = "Simulating effects of fire disturbance and climate change on boreal forest productivity and evapotranspiration",

abstract = "We used a terrestrial ecosystem process model, BIOME-BGC, to investigate historical climate change and fire disturbance effects on regional carbon and water budgets within a 357,500 km2 portion of the Canadian boreal forest. Historical patterns of increasing atmospheric CO2, climate change, and regional fire activity were used as model drivers to evaluate the relative effects of these impacts to spatial patterns and temporal trends in forest net primary production (NPP) and evapotranspiration (ET). Historical trends of increasing atmospheric CO2 resulted in overall 13\% and 5\% increases in annual NPP and ET from 1994 to 1996, respectively. NPP was found to be relatively sensitive to changes in air temperature (Ta), while ET was more sensitive to precipitation (P) change within the ranges of observed climate variability (e.g., ± 2 °C for Ta and ± 20\% for P). In addition, the potential effect of climate change related warming on NPP is exacerbated or offset depending on whether these changes are accompanied by respective decreases or increases in precipitation. Historical fire activity generally resulted in reductions of both NPP and ET, which consumed an average of approximately 6\% of annual NPP from 1959 to 1996. Areas currently occupied by dry conifer forests were found to be subject to more frequent fire activity, which consumed approximately 8\% of annual NPP. The results of this study show that the North American boreal ecosystem is sensitive to historical patterns of increasing atmospheric CO2, climate change and regional fire activity. The relative impacts of these disturbances on NPP and ET interact in complex ways and are spatially variable depending on regional land cover and climate gradients.",

keywords = "BOREAS, Boreal forest, CO, Climate change, ET, Fire, NPP, Simulation, Spatial modeling",

author = "Sinkyu Kang and Kimball, \{John S.\} and Running, \{Steven W.\}",

note = "Funding Information: We thank Robert E. Keane at USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station for his helpful comments on our fire simulation and analysis. This work was supported by grants from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Earth Science Enterprise. Regional land cover and climatological data were provided through the BOREAS data archives at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory Distributed Active Archive Center, which is sponsored by NASA. Tower flux data were kindly provided by NOBS, SOAS and SOBS AmeriFlux site research teams with financial support from the Department of Energy and NASA. S. Kang was additionally supported by grants from Sustainable Water Resources Research Center of 21st Century Frontier Research Program (code: 1-8-2) and from the {\textquoteleft}Eco-technopia 21 Project{\textquoteright}, Ministry of Environment, Korea. ",

year = "2006",

month = jun,

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doi = "10.1016/j.scitotenv.2005.11.014",

language = "English",

volume = "362",

pages = "85--102",

journal = "Science of the Total Environment",

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publisher = "Elsevier B.V.",

number = "1-3",

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TY - JOUR

T1 - Simulating effects of fire disturbance and climate change on boreal forest productivity and evapotranspiration

AU - Kang, Sinkyu

AU - Kimball, John S.

AU - Running, Steven W.

N1 - Funding Information: We thank Robert E. Keane at USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station for his helpful comments on our fire simulation and analysis. This work was supported by grants from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Earth Science Enterprise. Regional land cover and climatological data were provided through the BOREAS data archives at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory Distributed Active Archive Center, which is sponsored by NASA. Tower flux data were kindly provided by NOBS, SOAS and SOBS AmeriFlux site research teams with financial support from the Department of Energy and NASA. S. Kang was additionally supported by grants from Sustainable Water Resources Research Center of 21st Century Frontier Research Program (code: 1-8-2) and from the ‘Eco-technopia 21 Project’, Ministry of Environment, Korea.

PY - 2006/6/1

Y1 - 2006/6/1

N2 - We used a terrestrial ecosystem process model, BIOME-BGC, to investigate historical climate change and fire disturbance effects on regional carbon and water budgets within a 357,500 km2 portion of the Canadian boreal forest. Historical patterns of increasing atmospheric CO2, climate change, and regional fire activity were used as model drivers to evaluate the relative effects of these impacts to spatial patterns and temporal trends in forest net primary production (NPP) and evapotranspiration (ET). Historical trends of increasing atmospheric CO2 resulted in overall 13% and 5% increases in annual NPP and ET from 1994 to 1996, respectively. NPP was found to be relatively sensitive to changes in air temperature (Ta), while ET was more sensitive to precipitation (P) change within the ranges of observed climate variability (e.g., ± 2 °C for Ta and ± 20% for P). In addition, the potential effect of climate change related warming on NPP is exacerbated or offset depending on whether these changes are accompanied by respective decreases or increases in precipitation. Historical fire activity generally resulted in reductions of both NPP and ET, which consumed an average of approximately 6% of annual NPP from 1959 to 1996. Areas currently occupied by dry conifer forests were found to be subject to more frequent fire activity, which consumed approximately 8% of annual NPP. The results of this study show that the North American boreal ecosystem is sensitive to historical patterns of increasing atmospheric CO2, climate change and regional fire activity. The relative impacts of these disturbances on NPP and ET interact in complex ways and are spatially variable depending on regional land cover and climate gradients.

AB - We used a terrestrial ecosystem process model, BIOME-BGC, to investigate historical climate change and fire disturbance effects on regional carbon and water budgets within a 357,500 km2 portion of the Canadian boreal forest. Historical patterns of increasing atmospheric CO2, climate change, and regional fire activity were used as model drivers to evaluate the relative effects of these impacts to spatial patterns and temporal trends in forest net primary production (NPP) and evapotranspiration (ET). Historical trends of increasing atmospheric CO2 resulted in overall 13% and 5% increases in annual NPP and ET from 1994 to 1996, respectively. NPP was found to be relatively sensitive to changes in air temperature (Ta), while ET was more sensitive to precipitation (P) change within the ranges of observed climate variability (e.g., ± 2 °C for Ta and ± 20% for P). In addition, the potential effect of climate change related warming on NPP is exacerbated or offset depending on whether these changes are accompanied by respective decreases or increases in precipitation. Historical fire activity generally resulted in reductions of both NPP and ET, which consumed an average of approximately 6% of annual NPP from 1959 to 1996. Areas currently occupied by dry conifer forests were found to be subject to more frequent fire activity, which consumed approximately 8% of annual NPP. The results of this study show that the North American boreal ecosystem is sensitive to historical patterns of increasing atmospheric CO2, climate change and regional fire activity. The relative impacts of these disturbances on NPP and ET interact in complex ways and are spatially variable depending on regional land cover and climate gradients.

KW - BOREAS

KW - Boreal forest

KW - CO

KW - Climate change

KW - ET

KW - Fire

KW - NPP

KW - Simulation

KW - Spatial modeling

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U2 - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2005.11.014

DO - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2005.11.014

M3 - Article

C2 - 16364407

AN - SCOPUS:33646567492

SN - 0048-9697

VL - 362

SP - 85

EP - 102

JO - Science of the Total Environment

JF - Science of the Total Environment

IS - 1-3

ER -

Simulating effects of fire disturbance and climate change on boreal forest productivity and evapotranspiration

Abstract

Funding

Keywords

UN SDGs

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