Jet stream position explains regional anomalies in European beech forest productivity and tree growth

Citation

Dorado-Liñán I, Ayarzagüena B, Babst F, Xu G, Gil L, Battipaglia G, Buras A, Čada V, Camarero JJ, Cavin L, Claessens H, Drobyshev I, Garamszegi B, Grabner M & Jump AS (2022) Jet stream position explains regional anomalies in European beech forest productivity and tree growth. Nature Communications, 13 (1), Art. No.: 2015. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-29615-8

Abstract
The mechanistic pathways connecting ocean-atmosphere variability and terrestrial productivity are well-established theoretically, but remain challenging to quantify empirically. Such quantification will greatly improve the assessment and prediction of changes in terrestrial carbon sequestration in response to dynamically induced climatic extremes. The jet stream latitude (JSL) over the North Atlantic-European domain provides a synthetic and robust physical framework that integrates climate variability not accounted for by atmospheric circulation patterns alone. Surface climate impacts of north-south summer JSL displacements are not uniform across Europe, but rather create a northwestern-southeastern dipole in forest productivity and radial-growth anomalies. Summer JSL variability over the eastern North Atlantic-European domain (5-40E) exerts the strongest impact on European beech, inducing anomalies of up to 30% in modelled gross primary productivity and 50% in radial tree growth. The net effects of JSL movements on terrestrial carbon fluxes depend on forest density, carbon stocks, and productivity imbalances across biogeographic regions.

Keywords
Atmospheric dynamics; Climate-change ecology; Climate-change impacts; Environmental impact

Notes
Additional co-authors: Andrew Hacket-Pain, Claudia Hartl, Andrea Hevia, Pavel Janda, Marko Kazimirovic, Srdjan Keren, Juergen Kreyling, Alexander Land, Nicolas Latte, Tom Levanič, Ernst van der Maaten, Marieke van der Maaten-Theunissen, Elisabet Martínez-Sancho, Annette Menzel, Martin Mikoláš, Renzo Motta, Lena Muffler, Paola Nola, Momchil Panayotov, Any Mary Petritan, Ion Catalin Petritan, Ionel Popa, Peter Prislan, Catalin-Constantin Roibu, Miloš Rydval, Raul Sánchez-Salguero, Tobias Scharnweber, Branko Stajić, Miroslav Svoboda, Willy Tegel, Marius Teodosiu, Elvin Toromani, Volodymyr Trotsiuk, Daniel-Ond Turcu, Robert Weigel, Martin Wilmking, Christian Zang, Tzvetan Zlatanov & Valerie Trouet

Journal
Nature Communications: Volume 13, Issue 1

People

Professor Alistair Jump

Dean of Natural Sciences, NS Management and Support