Exploring Nitrogen - Albedo Linkages Across a Range of Biomes and Spatial Scales: Functional Relations and Potential Climate Feedbacks
Scott
V.
Ollinger, University of New Hampshire, scott.ollinger@unh.edu
(Presenting)
Lucie
C.
Lepine, University of New Hampshire, lucie.lepine@unh.edu
David
Y.
Hollinger, USDA Forest Service, davidh@hypatia.unh.edu
Mary
E.
Martin, University of New Hampshire, mary.martin@unh.edu
Andrew
D.
Richardson, Harvard University, arichardson@oeb.harvard.edu
Terrestrial ecosystems influence the Earth’s climate through a variety of processes involving exchanges of matter and energy with the atmosphere. Using data from remote sensing, field measurements and eddy flux towers, we have demonstrated that two important mechanisms of climate regulation, uptake of CO2 and total shortwave surface albedo, are strongly correlated and co-vary with the nitrogen status of forest canopies (%N). While the specific mechanisms driving the observed linkages remain unclear, these findings have important and far-reaching implications for ecosystem-climate interactions. Here, we explore the C-N-albedo relationship across a wider range of biomes and spatial scales by incorporating global scale data from a synthesis of FLUXNET variables and landscape scale data a from experimental forests in New England, as well as leaf-level spectral properties. Results from these analyses demonstrate similar trends at global, local, and leaf-level scales, and provide some insights towards a better understanding of the mechanisms responsible for the observed carbon-nitrogen-albedo trends.
Presentation Type: Poster
Poster Session: Ecosystems Science
NASA TE Funded Awards Represented:
Ollinger, Scott
Exploring Relationships among Carbon Cycling, Vegetation Nitrogen Status and Surface Albedo across North American Ecosystems to Improve Land Surface Models