Journal Article

Pronounced and unavoidable impacts of low-end global warming on northern high-latitude land ecosystems

Ito, Akihiko, Tian, Hanqin, François, Louis, Hickler, Thomas, Thiery, Wim, Ciais, Philippe, Chang, Jinfeng, Forrest, Matthew, Chen, Min, Ostberg, Sebastian, Shi, Hao, Reyer, Christopher P O, Gädeke, Anne

2020

Overview

Arctic ecosystems are particularly vulnerable to climate change because of Arctic amplification. Here, we assessed the climatic impacts of low-end, 1.5 °C, and 2.0 °C global temperature increases above pre-industrial levels, on the warming of terrestrial ecosystems in northern high latitudes (NHL, above 60 °N including pan-Arctic tundra and boreal forests) under the framework of the Inter-Sectoral Impact Model Intercomparison Project phase 2b protocol. We analyzed the simulated changes of net primary productivity, vegetation biomass, and soil carbon stocks of eight ecosystem models that were forced by the projections of four global climate models and two atmospheric greenhouse gas pathways (RCP2.6 and RCP6.0). Our results showed that considerable impacts on ecosystem carbon budgets, particularly primary productivity and vegetation biomass, are very likely to occur in the NHL areas. The models agreed on increases in primary productivity and biomass accumulation, despite considerable inter-model and inter-scenario differences in the magnitudes of the responses. The inter-model variability highlighted the inadequacies of the present models, which fail to consider important components such as permafrost and wildfire. The simulated impacts were attributable primarily to the rapid temperature increases in the NHL and the greater sensitivity of northern vegetation to warming, which contrasted with the less pronounced responses of soil carbon stocks. The simulated increases of vegetation biomass by 30-60 Pg C in this century have implications for climate policy such as the Paris Agreement. Comparison between the results at two warming levels showed the effectiveness of emission reductions in ameliorating the impacts and revealed unavoidable impacts for which adaptation options are urgently needed in the NHL ecosystems.

• Publisher: IOP Publishing,Institute of Physics Publishing
• Subject: Arctic / Atmospheric greenhouse / Atmospheric models / Biomass / Biomass accumulation / Biome sector / Boreal forests / Budget control / Carbon / Climate change / Climate models / Climate policy / Climatic impacts / Continental interfaces, environment / Earth sciences & physical geography / Ecosystem models / Ecosystems / Emission control / Emissions control / Environment models / Environmental impact / Environmental policy / ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES / Global climate / Global climate model / Global climate models / Global temperatures / Global warming / Greenhouse effect / Greenhouse gases / ISIMIP2b / Latitude / Modeling variability / Net Primary Productivity / Northern high latitudes / Ocean, Atmosphere / open climate campaign / Paris Agreement / Permafrost / Photosynthesis / Physical, chemical, mathematical & earth Sciences / Physique, chimie, mathématiques & sciences de la terre / Phytoplankton / Pre-industrial levels / Primary productivity / Productivity / Sciences de la terre & géographie physique / Sciences of the Universe / Simulation / Soils / Terrestrial ecosystems / Tundra / Vegetation / Wildfires