Continental runoff: a quality-controlled global runoff data set

Gedney et al. attribute an increase in the twentieth-century continental runoff to the suppression of plant transpiration by CO2-induced stomatal closure, by replicating a continental runoff data set. However, we have concerns about this data set and the methods used to construct it, in addition to those already raised, which we believe may undermine their conclusions.     

Projected increase in continental runoff due to plant responses to increasing carbon dioxide

In addition to influencing climatic conditions directly through radiative forcing, increasing carbon dioxide concentration influences the climate system through its effects on plant physiology. Plant stomata generally open less widely under increased carbon dioxide concentration, which reduces transpiration and thus leaves more water at the land surface. This driver of change in the climate system, which we term 'physiological forcing', has been detected in observational records of increasing average continental runoff over the twentieth century. Here we use an ensemble of experiments with a global climate model that includes a vegetation component to assess the contribution of physiological forcing to future changes in continental runoff, in the context of uncertainties in future precipitation. We find that the physiological effect of doubled carbon dioxide concentrations on plant transpiration increases simulated global mean runoff by 6 per cent relative to pre-industrial levels; an increase that is comparable to that simulated in response to radiatively forced climate change (11 +/- 6 per cent). Assessments of the effect of increasing carbon dioxide concentrations on the hydrological cycle that only consider radiative forcing will therefore tend to underestimate future increases in runoff and overestimate decreases. This suggests that freshwater resources may be less limited than previously assumed under scenarios of future global warming, although there is still an increased risk of drought. Moreover, our results highlight that the practice of assessing the climate-forcing potential of all greenhouse gases in terms of their radiative forcing potential relative to carbon dioxide does not accurately reflect the relative effects of different greenhouse gases on freshwater resources.     

Nitrogen limitation constrains sustainability of ecosystem response to CO2

Enhanced plant biomass accumulation in response to elevated atmospheric CO2 concentration could dampen the future rate of increase in CO2 levels and associated climate warming. However, it is unknown whether CO2-induced stimulation of plant growth and biomass accumulation will be sustained or whether limited nitrogen (N) availability constrains greater plant growth in a CO2-enriched world. Here we show, after a six-year field study of perennial grassland species grown under ambient and elevated levels of CO2 and N, that low availability of N progressively suppresses the positive response of plant biomass to elevated CO2. Initially, the stimulation of total plant biomass by elevated CO2 was no greater at enriched than at ambient N supply. After four to six years, however, elevated CO2 stimulated plant biomass much less under ambient than enriched N supply. This response was consistent with the temporally divergent effects of elevated CO2 on soil and plant N dynamics at differing levels of N supply. Our results indicate that variability in availability of soil N and deposition of atmospheric N are both likely to influence the response of plant biomass accumulation to elevated atmospheric CO2. Given that limitations to productivity resulting from the insufficient availability of N are widespread in both unmanaged and managed vegetation, soil N supply is probably an important constraint on global terrestrial responses to elevated CO2.     

Increasing risk of great floods in a changing climate

Radiative effects of anthropogenic changes in atmospheric composition are expected to cause climate changes, in particular an intensification of the global water cycle with a consequent increase in flood risk. But the detection of anthropogenically forced changes in flooding is difficult because of the substantial natural variability; the dependence of streamflow trends on flow regime further complicates the issue. Here we investigate the changes in risk of great floods--that is, floods with discharges exceeding 100-year levels from basins larger than 200,000 km(2)--using both streamflow measurements and numerical simulations of the anthropogenic climate change associated with greenhouse gases and direct radiative effects of sulphate aerosols. We find that the frequency of great floods increased substantially during the twentieth century. The recent emergence of a statistically significant positive trend in risk of great floods is consistent with results from the climate model, and the model suggests that the trend will continue.     

近50年渭河关中地区地表径流变化及其归因分析?

采用流域水文过程模拟和水文气象统计学相结合的方法,归因分析了近50a来渭河关中地区地表径流的变化.通过对关中地区1958—2008年水文气象要素进行趋势检验分析,发现近50a来该区域地表径流量呈现显著下降趋势,而降雨量和潜在蒸散发量没有明显的变化,说明径流的变化主要受人类活动的影响,并用Mann-Kendall法检验出1990年为径流过程的突变点.基于此,构建SIMHYD月降雨—径流水文模型,以1958—1989年为模拟预处理期,1990—2008年为模拟检测期,通过模拟分析获得气候变化和人类活动对径流影响的归因分析结果.同时采用改进的气候弹性系数法对上述径流变化归因分析进行验证,也得到了近似的结果.结果表明,气候变化对径流减少的影响程度为18%~22%,而人类活动为78%~82%.     

人类活动对老哈河流域近50年径流变化影响的定量评估

以中国北方典型的半干旱区老哈河流域为研究区,基于分布在流域内的53个雨量站、10个径流站和4个气象站数据研究老哈河10个子流域近50年来关键水文要素的时空变化规律。利用MK检验及Pettitt突变点检验,分析降水与径流的变化趋势和显著性水平,并计算其突变点。采用半分布式可变下渗能力(variable infiltration capacity,VIC)模型对10个子流域基准期的降雨径流过程进行模拟。基于率定后的模型参数,对变化期自然径流进行重建,从而定量分割出气候变化和人类活动对该流域径流急剧下降的影响。结果表明:自1980年以来,老哈河流域90%的径流下降是由人类活动引起的,而仅有10%归因于气候变化;就人类活动而言,特别是中下游地区大面积的农业灌溉用水是整个老哈河流域地表径流急剧下降的根本原因。此外,研究还发现人类活动对径流下降的贡献率随流域干湿变化而不同,在枯水年人类活动影响所占比重较大,而在丰水年人类活动的影响相对较小。     

湘江流域近30年径流量与水位的长期变化规律研究

河川径流量和水位变化是反应气候变化和人类活动的重要表征,对其长期变化规律的研究结果可为该区域的水资源管理与洪水灾害风险研究提供重要的参考.本文选择频受洪水严重威胁的湘江流域为研究对象,利用近30年的径流量和水位观测的日资料及派生出的月、季和年资料,采用Mann-Kendall趋势检验法对湘江流域主要水文站的径流和水位进行了趋势分析和突变检验,并从气候变化和人类活动两方面分析其造成洪水危险性增大的原因.结果表明:(1)近30年来,湘江流域中下游的年径流量表现出增大趋势,而多数站点年最大径流量变化不大;(2)湘江流域径流的季节变化明显,多数站点春、冬季径流量没有明显变化趋势,但夏、秋季径流量呈显著上升趋势,这与夏季降水量的增大有关;(3)湘江流域7月和8月径流量呈增大趋势,5月份径流量呈减少趋势,7、8月径流量的突变点与夏季降水突变时间基本吻合,由降水变化导致径流增加的贡献率达57%以上;(4)湘江流域多数站点年平均水位和年最高水位均呈现显著的上升趋势.对比湘江流域年径流量,年平均水位的增长趋势更为明显,这可能是由于植被破坏,水土流失严重造成的淤积所致.     

Fire as the dominant driver of central Canadian boreal forest carbon balance

Changes in climate, atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration and fire regimes have been occurring for decades in the global boreal forest, with future climate change likely to increase fire frequency--the primary disturbance agent in most boreal forests. Previous attempts to assess quantitatively the effect of changing environmental conditions on the net boreal forest carbon balance have not taken into account the competition between different vegetation types on a large scale. Here we use a process model with three competing vascular and non-vascular vegetation types to examine the effects of climate, carbon dioxide concentrations and fire disturbance on net biome production, net primary production and vegetation dominance in 100 Mha of Canadian boreal forest. We find that the carbon balance of this region was driven by changes in fire disturbance from 1948 to 2005. Climate changes affected the variability, but not the mean, of the landscape carbon balance, with precipitation exerting a more significant effect than temperature. We show that more frequent and larger fires in the late twentieth century resulted in deciduous trees and mosses increasing production at the expense of coniferous trees. Our model did not however exhibit the increases in total forest net primary production that have been inferred from satellite data. We find that poor soil drainage decreased the variability of the landscape carbon balance, which suggests that increased climate and hydrological changes have the potential to affect disproportionately the carbon dynamics of these areas. Overall, we conclude that direct ecophysiological changes resulting from global climate change have not yet been felt in this large boreal region. Variations in the landscape carbon balance and vegetation dominance have so far been driven largely by increases in fire frequency.     

Soil moisture-based study of the variability of dry-wet climate and climate zones in China

An ensemble soil moisture dataset was produced from 11 of 25 global climate model (GCM) simulations for two climate scenarios spanning 1900 to 2099; this dataset was based on an evaluation of the spatial correlation of means and trends in reference to soil moisture simulations conducted using the community land model driven by observed atmospheric forcing. Using the ensemble soil moisture index, we analyzed the dry-wet climate variability and the dynamics of the climate zone boundaries in China over this 199-year period. The results showed that soil moisture increased in the typically arid regions, but with insignificant trends in the humid regions; furthermore, the soil moisture exhibited strong oscillations with significant drought trends in the transition zones between arid and humid regions. The dynamics of climate zone boundaries indicated that the expansion of semiarid regions and the contraction of semi-humid regions are typical characteristics of the dry-wet climate variability for two scenarios in China. During the 20th century, the total area of semiarid regions expanded by 11.5% north of 30°N in China, compared to the average area for 1970–1999, but that of semi-humid regions decreased by approximately 9.8% in comparison to the average for the period of 1970–1999, even though the transfer area of the humid to the semi-humid regions was taken into account. For the 21st century, the dynamics exhibit similar trends of climate boundaries, but with greater intensity.     

Influences of double aerial CO2 concentration on plant root surface area and viability and infection intensity of vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi

Using recently developed methods for root research, an investigation initiated concerning effects of doubled atmospheric CO2 concentration on root surface area and infection of vesicular-arbuscu-lar mycorrhizal (VAM) fungi in seedlings of maize, wheat and soybean. Results showed that doubled CO2 concentration significantly extended root system surface area and promoted VAM fungal infection intensity and viability. However, interspecific variation existed in these responses. It is suggested that plant community succession would be changed due to altered characteristics of roots among species in the future climate.     

径流对气候变化和人类活动的响应——以渭河流域为例

定量区分气候变化和人类活动对径流的影响,对区域水资源管理具有重要的现实意义.本文基于实测径流数 据和前人重构的自然径流数据,借助趋势分析、突变检验、多元线性回归等方法,定量分析渭河流域气候变化和人类活动 对径流的影响,并通过与水文敏感性系数方法的分析结果相比较,进一步验证结果.结果表明:1965-2012年华县站、张 家山站和状头站的实测径流分别以7.99×108、2.86×108 和0.787×108 m3·(10a)-1的趋势减小(α<0.05).气象要素 中,渭河干流的风速和相对湿度呈显著减小的趋势,气温呈显著增加的趋势(α<0.05);泾河流域的相对湿度呈显著减小 的趋势,潜在蒸散发和气温呈显著增加的趋势(α<0.05);北洛河流域各气象要素的变化趋势同泾河流域相似.突变检验 表明华县站、张家山站和状头站的年实测径流分别在1993、1996 和1994 年前后发生了突变,其径流分别下降了 38.81%、47.67%和42.22%.多元回归分析表明气候变化对华县站、张家山站和状头站径流变化的贡献率分别为 49.30%、38.05%和69.86%.水文敏感性分析方法的结果同多元回归方法相似,气候变化对3个水文站径流变化的贡献 率分别为48.61%、39.21%和64.86%.      

黄垒河流域气候与土地利用变化对径流的影响

以山东胶东半岛黄垒河流域为研究区,构建了SWAT分布式水文模型,采用SUFI-2算法进行模型参数敏感性分析、率定与验证研究,对巫山水文站2011—2018年月径流量数据进行模拟,在此基础上设置3类变化情景,定量识别黄垒河流域内气候变化与土地利用变化下的水文响应情况。结果表明:1）SWAT模型在黄垒河径流模拟中具有较好的适用性,模型率定期的R2、E_NS分别为0.74和0.71,验证期R2、E_NS分别为0.69和0.72;2）综合型情景模拟分析得出,气候变化、土地利用变化及二者共同变化均引起流域内年均径流增加,分别使年均径流量增加0.14 、0.05 、0.19 m3? s?1,径流量对气候变化比土地利用变化更敏感,径流变化由气候变化主导;3）气候变化情景模拟分析得出,流域内年均径流量与降水变化成正相关,降水增加比降水减少对径流变化作用更显著,气温升高对流量变化有负效应,流量对气温升高比气温降低更敏感;4）极端土地利用情景模拟分析得出,城市扩张情景、耕地保护情景、退耕还林情景、城市绿化情景下,年均径流变化率分别为5.04%、2.71%、?8.17%、?4.23%,居民地、耕地具有增流作用,且居民地增流作用大于耕地,林地则具有较显著的减流作用. 需加强对流域内气温和降水,特别是强降雨的预测和防汛预警,并通过优化土地利用结构及空间布局减缓气候变化带来的水文负效应,实现流域水量平衡.      

The HIC signalling pathway links CO2 perception to stomatal development

Stomatal pores on the leaf surface control both the uptake of CO2 for photosynthesis and the loss of water during transpiration. Since the industrial revolution, decreases in stomatal numbers in parallel with increases in atmospheric CO2 concentration have provided evidence of plant responses to changes in CO2 levels caused by human activity. This inverse correlation between stomatal density and CO2 concentration also holds for fossil material from the past 400 million years and has provided clues to the causes of global extinction events. Here we report the identification of the Arabidopsis gene HIC (for high carbon dioxide), which encodes a negative regulator of stomatal development that responds to CO2 concentration. This gene encodes a putative 3-keto acyl coenzyme A synthase--an enzyme involved in the synthesis of very-long-chain fatty acids. Mutant hic plants exhibit up to a 42% increase in stomatal density in response to a doubling of CO2. Our results identify a gene involved in the signal transduction pathway responsible for controlling stomatal numbers at elevated CO2.     

Global warming preceded by increasing carbon dioxide concentrations during the last deglaciation

The covariation of carbon dioxide (CO(2)) concentration and temperature in Antarctic ice-core records suggests a close link between CO(2) and climate during the Pleistocene ice ages. The role and relative importance of CO(2) in producing these climate changes remains unclear, however, in part because the ice-core deuterium record reflects local rather than global temperature. Here we construct a record of global surface temperature from 80 proxy records and show that temperature is correlated with and generally lags CO(2) during the last (that is, the most recent) deglaciation. Differences between the respective temperature changes of the Northern Hemisphere and Southern Hemisphere parallel variations in the strength of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation recorded in marine sediments. These observations, together with transient global climate model simulations, support the conclusion that an antiphased hemispheric temperature response to ocean circulation changes superimposed on globally in-phase warming driven by increasing CO(2) concentrations is an explanation for much of the temperature change at the end of the most recent ice age.     

Climate-driven trends in contemporary ocean productivity

Contributing roughly half of the biosphere's net primary production (NPP), photosynthesis by oceanic phytoplankton is a vital link in the cycling of carbon between living and inorganic stocks. Each day, more than a hundred million tons of carbon in the form of CO2 are fixed into organic material by these ubiquitous, microscopic plants of the upper ocean, and each day a similar amount of organic carbon is transferred into marine ecosystems by sinking and grazing. The distribution of phytoplankton biomass and NPP is defined by the availability of light and nutrients (nitrogen, phosphate, iron). These growth-limiting factors are in turn regulated by physical processes of ocean circulation, mixed-layer dynamics, upwelling, atmospheric dust deposition, and the solar cycle. Satellite measurements of ocean colour provide a means of quantifying ocean productivity on a global scale and linking its variability to environmental factors. Here we describe global ocean NPP changes detected from space over the past decade. The period is dominated by an initial increase in NPP of 1,930 teragrams of carbon a year (Tg C yr(-1)), followed by a prolonged decrease averaging 190 Tg C yr(-1). These trends are driven by changes occurring in the expansive stratified low-latitude oceans and are tightly coupled to coincident climate variability. This link between the physical environment and ocean biology functions through changes in upper-ocean temperature and stratification, which influence the availability of nutrients for phytoplankton growth. The observed reductions in ocean productivity during the recent post-1999 warming period provide insight on how future climate change can alter marine food webs.     

滹沱河上游流域径流变化归因分析

以滹沱河上游流域为研究对象,采用4种基于Budyko假设的弹性系数法和SWAT模型,量化气候变化和人类活动对径流变化的贡献率．结果表明:1961—2016年,滹沱河上游流域年降水、年径流分别呈下降、显著下降趋势,而潜在蒸散发呈显著上升趋势,流域的干旱化趋势明显．基于弹性系数法的计算结果显示,气候变化对径流减少的贡献率为49.62%~61.67%,人类活动的贡献率则为38.33%~50.38%．而SWAT模拟结果却表明:气候变化的贡献率高达84.42%,而人类活动贡献率仅为15.58%．这种差异性主要源于Budyko方程中的下垫面参数反映的不仅是人类活动,还包括气候变化的影响．因此,气候变化是滹沱河上游径流减少的主要因素,但人类活动对径流的影响正日益增强．使得滹沱河上游径流减少的具体人类活动并非是土地利用类型的改变,而是经济、人口的增长所导致的水资源的过度开发利用．      

Increased soil emissions of potent greenhouse gases under increased atmospheric CO2

Increasing concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO(2)) can affect biotic and abiotic conditions in soil, such as microbial activity and water content. In turn, these changes might be expected to alter the production and consumption of the important greenhouse gases nitrous oxide (N(2)O) and methane (CH(4)) (refs 2, 3). However, studies on fluxes of N(2)O and CH(4) from soil under increased atmospheric CO(2) have not been quantitatively synthesized. Here we show, using meta-analysis, that increased CO(2) (ranging from 463 to 780 parts per million by volume) stimulates both N(2)O emissions from upland soils and CH(4) emissions from rice paddies and natural wetlands. Because enhanced greenhouse-gas emissions add to the radiative forcing of terrestrial ecosystems, these emissions are expected to negate at least 16.6 per cent of the climate change mitigation potential previously predicted from an increase in the terrestrial carbon sink under increased atmospheric CO(2) concentrations. Our results therefore suggest that the capacity of land ecosystems to slow climate warming has been overestimated.     

A short-term sink for atmospheric CO2 in subtropical mode water of the North Atlantic Ocean

Large-scale features of ocean circulation, such as deep water formation in the northern North Atlantic Ocean, are known to regulate the long-term physical uptake of CO2 from the atmosphere by moving CO2-laden surface waters into the deep ocean. But the importance of CO2 uptake into water masses that ventilate shallower ocean depths, such as subtropical mode waters of the subtropical gyres, are poorly quantified. Here we report that, between 1988 and 2001, dissolved CO2 concentrations in subtropical mode waters of the North Atlantic have increased at a rate twice that expected from these waters keeping in equilibrium with increasing atmospheric CO2. This accounts for an extra 0.4-2.8 Pg C (1 Pg = 10(15) g) over this period (that is, about 0.03-0.24 Pg C yr(-1)), equivalent to 3-10% of the current net annual ocean uptake of CO2 (ref. 3). We suggest that the lack of strong winter mixing events, to greater than 300 m in depth, in recent decades is responsible for this accumulation, which would otherwise disturb the mode water layer and liberate accumulated CO2 back to the atmosphere. However, future climate variability (which influences subtropical mode water formation) and changes in the North Atlantic Oscillation (leading to a return of deep winter mixing events) may reduce CO2 accumulation in subtropical mode waters. We therefore conclude that, although CO2 uptake by subtropical mode waters in the North Atlantic--and possibly elsewhere--does not always represent a long-term CO2 sink, the phenomenon is likely to contribute substantially to interannual variability in oceanic CO2 uptake.     

Indirect radiative forcing of climate change through ozone effects on the land-carbon sink

The evolution of the Earth's climate over the twenty-first century depends on the rate at which anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions are removed from the atmosphere by the ocean and land carbon cycles. Coupled climate-carbon cycle models suggest that global warming will act to limit the land-carbon sink, but these first generation models neglected the impacts of changing atmospheric chemistry. Emissions associated with fossil fuel and biomass burning have acted to approximately double the global mean tropospheric ozone concentration, and further increases are expected over the twenty-first century. Tropospheric ozone is known to damage plants, reducing plant primary productivity and crop yields, yet increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations are thought to stimulate plant primary productivity. Increased carbon dioxide and ozone levels can both lead to stomatal closure, which reduces the uptake of either gas, and in turn limits the damaging effect of ozone and the carbon dioxide fertilization of photosynthesis. Here we estimate the impact of projected changes in ozone levels on the land-carbon sink, using a global land carbon cycle model modified to include the effect of ozone deposition on photosynthesis and to account for interactions between ozone and carbon dioxide through stomatal closure. For a range of sensitivity parameters based on manipulative field experiments, we find a significant suppression of the global land-carbon sink as increases in ozone concentrations affect plant productivity. In consequence, more carbon dioxide accumulates in the atmosphere. We suggest that the resulting indirect radiative forcing by ozone effects on plants could contribute more to global warming than the direct radiative forcing due to tropospheric ozone increases.