Temperature extremes of 2022 reduced carbon uptake by forests in Europe
Publication date
2023-12
Authors
van der Woude, Auke M.
Peters, Wouter
Joetzjer, Emilie
Lafont, Sébastien
Koren, Gerbrand
Ciais, Philippe
Ramonet, Michel
Xu, Yidi
Bastos, Ana
Botía, Santiago
Editors
Advisors
Supervisors
Document Type
Article
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Abstract
The year 2022 saw record breaking temperatures in Europe during both summer and fall. Similar to the recent 2018 drought, close to 30% (3.0 million km2) of the European continent was under severe summer drought. In 2022, the drought was located in central and southeastern Europe, contrasting the Northern-centered 2018 drought. We show, using multiple sets of observations, a reduction of net biospheric carbon uptake in summer (56-62 TgC) over the drought area. Specific sites in France even showed a widespread summertime carbon release by forests, additional to wildfires. Partial compensation (32%) for the decreased carbon uptake due to drought was offered by a warm autumn with prolonged biospheric carbon uptake. The severity of this second drought event in 5 years suggests drought-induced reduced carbon uptake to no longer be exceptional, and important to factor into Europe’s developing plans for net-zero greenhouse gas emissions that rely on carbon uptake by forests.
Keywords
Assimilation, Co2, Drought events, Fluxes, Heat, Impacts, Net ecosystem exchange, Respiration, Separation, Summer
Citation
van der Woude, A M, Peters, W, Joetzjer, E, Lafont, S, Koren, G, Ciais, P, Ramonet, M, Xu, Y, Bastos, A, Botía, S, Sitch, S, de Kok, R, Kneuer, T, Kubistin, D, Jacotot, A, Loubet, B, Herig-Coimbra, P-H, Loustau, D & Luijkx, I T 2023, 'Temperature extremes of 2022 reduced carbon uptake by forests in Europe', Nature Communications, vol. 14, no. 1, 6218. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-41851-0