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Influence of dynamic vegetation on climate change arising from increasing CO2

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Abstract

A dynamic global vegetation model (DGVM) is coupled to an atmospheric general circulation model (AGCM) to investigate the influence of vegetation dynamics on climate change under conditions of global warming. The model results are largely in agreement with observations and the results of previous studies in terms of the present climate, present potential vegetation, present net primary productivity (NPP), and pre-industrial carbon budgets. The equilibrium state of climate properties are compared among pre-industrial, doubled, and quadrupled atmospheric CO2 values using DGVM–AGCM and current AGCM with fixed vegetation to evaluate the influence of dynamic vegetation change. We also separated the contributions of temperature, precipitation and CO2 fertilization on vegetation change. The results reveal an amplification of global warming climate sensitivity by 10% due to the inclusion of dynamic vegetation. The total effects of elevated CO2 and climate change also lead to an increase in NPP and vegetation coverage globally. The reduction of albedo associated with this greening results in enhanced global warming. Our separation analysis indicates that temperature alters vegetation at high latitudes such as Siberia or Alaska, where there is a switch from tundra to forest. On the other hand, CO2 fertilization provides the largest contribution to greening in arid/semi-arid region. Precipitation change did not cause any drastic vegetation shift.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to M. Kimoto, J. Matsumoto, T. Oki and T. Oikawa for their valuable comments and helpful discussions. I. C. Prentice and S. Sitch, whose comments and advice are greatly appreciated, kindly agreed to provide the LPJ dynamic global vegetation model.

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  1. Center for Climate System Research, University of Tokyo, Kashiwa, Japan

    Ryouta O’ishi

  2. Frontier Research Center for Global Change, Yokohama, Japan

    Ayako Abe-Ouchi

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  1. Ryouta O’ishi
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Correspondence to Ryouta O’ishi.

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O’ishi, R., Abe-Ouchi, A. Influence of dynamic vegetation on climate change arising from increasing CO2 . Clim Dyn 33, 645–663 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-009-0611-y

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