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    Original Research Papers

    North American gross primary productivity: regional characterization and interannual variability

    Authors:

    Ian T. Baker ,

    Atmospheric Science Department, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO; 1371 Campus Delivery, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523-1371, US
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    A. Scott Denning,

    Atmospheric Science Department, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, US
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    Reto Stöckli

    Climate Services, Climate Analysis, MeteoSwiss, Zurich, CH
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    Abstract

    Seasonality and interannual variability in North American photosynthetic activity reflect potential patterns of climate variability. We simulate 24 yr (1983–2006) and evaluate regional and seasonal contribution to annual mean gross primary productivity (GPP) as well as its interannual variability. The highest productivity occurs in Mexico, the southeast United States and the Pacific Northwest. Annual variability is largest in tropical Mexico, the desert Southwest and the Midwestern corridor. We find that no single region or season consistently determines continental annual GPP anomaly. GPP variability is dependent upon soil moisture availability in low- and mid-latitudes, and temperature in the north. Soilmoisture is a better predictor than precipitation as it integrates precipitation events temporally. The springtime anomaly is the most frequent seasonal contributor to the annual GPP variability. No climate mode (i.e. ENSO, NAM) can be associated with annual or seasonal variability over the entire continent. We define a region extending from the Northeast United States through the midwest and into the southwestern United States and northernMexico that explains a significant fraction of the variability in springtime GPP. We cannot correlate this region to a single mechanism (i.e. temperature, precipitation or soil moisture) or mode of climate variability.

    How to Cite: Baker, I.T., Denning, A.S. and Stöckli, R., 2010. North American gross primary productivity: regional characterization and interannual variability. Tellus B: Chemical and Physical Meteorology, 62(5), pp.533–549. DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0889.2010.00492.x
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      Published on 01 Jan 2010
    Peer Reviewed
     CC BY 4.0
     Accepted on 1 Jul 2010            Submitted on 31 Dec 2009

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